In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for God's intervention in the lives of spiritually dead individuals. He highlights the initiative of God in verses 4, 5, and 6, showing that there is hope for such people. The preacher shares a personal experience of being told by Lloyd-Jones that he was blind and hopeless, which eventually led to his conversion. The sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer in evangelism and the need to share the Gospel with others. The preacher also mentions how the world is consumed with worldly pursuits and values, without any reference to God. However, God displays His grace and kindness in His people, using their testimonies as monuments to His grace and glorifying Himself through them.

Ephesians chapter 2 and beginning our reading at the first verse And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus for by grace are ye saved through faith and 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 hath before ordained that we should walk in them Amen This morning we're focusing on the glory of God's grace and power in salvation in Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 1 to 10 I appreciate I'm only giving you an overview and a very basic introduction to this important section but there is continuity with the preceding verses and this is indicated again by this conjunction and the beginning of verse 2 and verse 1 and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and in sins the apostle has been praying for the Ephesian Christians in verses 17 to 23 he's been praying that they should know God better that they should appreciate the great hope which is ahead of them as believers in addition he's been praying that they will appreciate the great power of God which is at work in and on behalf of his people that same power which raised the Lord Jesus from the dead which took him into heaven and seated him at the right hand of God the Father and that appreciation at the same time of the meritorial lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ over all things in heaven and upon earth and that prayer is a prayer that we should all be praying for ourselves and for our churches in our own day but having prayed this prayer the apostle now proceeds to give some important teaching particularly in verses 1 2 and 3 concerning the sinful condition of humanity outside of Jesus Christ now the apostle underlines the fact of God's sovereign grace and power immediately in verses 4 down to verse 10 now the apostle is establishing a most crucial point here and that is that humanity not only does God save by his grace and by his power but apart from the exercise of God's power and grace no one can ever be saved we are totally dependent upon God not just in terms of the planning of salvation not only in the accomplishment of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ but also in its application God must work in us in his power to bring a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ I want to approach these verses pastorally and as we come to verses 1 2 and 3 I want to remind you all of the seriousness and the reality of this description which the apostle is giving to us of those people who are outside of Jesus Christ those of you for example who are Christian parents and you may have unconverted children they may be young as yet or they may be teenagers they may be in their 20s or 30s but despite your prayers and your teaching you're taking them to church in the earlier years they are not converted rightly so this is a burden to you you pray for them you long to see them converted and here the apostle is really describing what your unconverted children are like spiritually outside of Jesus Christ you're seeing your children as God sees them without a savior or those of you who are Christian young people you may have unconverted parents unconverted grandparents unconverted brothers and sisters unconverted friends in college or in work or in school and here the apostle is giving us a very realistic picture of your relatives and your friends this is what they're really like in relation to God himself and for all of us involved in Christian work and Christian witness maybe in Sunday school teaching non-Christian children young people perhaps in the youth fellowship reaching out to teenagers as we live in our neighborhood try to witness to our non-Christian neighbors as we're involved in open air work door-to-door visitation and repeatedly there is no response to the gospel as we share it perhaps repeatedly they are not interested in what we're telling them about the gospel now the apostle Paul in verses one two and three is really telling us the reasons why they do not respond to the gospel it's because they're like this here in verses one two and three that they do not welcome you as a Christian and they do not embrace your message concerning Jesus Christ and for all of us as Christians involved in evangelism these verses must influence the way in which we evangelize whatever the condition is and we're going to look at it in verses one two and three these people need to hear the gospel and so our witnessing our evangelism must be word gospel based but then as we share the gospel we need to be praying hard knowing that only God can make that gospel we're sharing effective we also need to be living godly lives in front of those non-Christians so I trust as we look at these opening verses that we will realize their relevance for our own situations and that we'll be prepared to think through again the way in which we are approaching evangelism notice that there are five important details which the apostle gives to us of unbelievers in verses one two and three the first detail is out of death in verse one right into these Ephesians he says and you the verb comes late in verse five who were dead in trespasses and sins this is a very powerful picture you can stand by a person who has just died you may love that person you may be stunned by that person's death you may talk to that person you may wait for a response perhaps a movement of an arm or a leg or may want to hear words from that dead person but the person is dead and you Paul writes to these Ephesians you were dead in trespasses and in sins that is on account of and through your trespasses and sin sin has brought us into spiritual death and these two words trespasses and sins point to the immensity the variety the extent of all our sins as unbelievers unbelievers are spiritually dead spiritually dead now your child or friend or parent or neighbor may be physically alive extremely healthy they may even be very active in sport mentally alert financially comfortable but socially involved as well committed in terms of the family but in relation to god spiritually dead all unbelievers are spiritually dead there is no spiritual response to god at all and as you share the bible as you bear witness to the lord jesus christ there is no response in the heart spiritually to what they are hearing very often they will rebel they will complain they will tell us that they are bored they are spiritually dead i'm humbled to to to realize that even here in Aberystwyth for nearly two terms i was in that state spiritually dead and blind i was surrounded by a small group of christians some of them witnessed to me one person in particular witnessed to me as often as he could and would come to my room in whole almost daily for one term and a half and remember towards the end of february that in that second term he gave up on me i still remember him saying to me in my room i didn't understand what he was trying to tell me but he told me you are blind you're hopeless and he gave up on me three four weeks later i was converted spiritually dead and if such spiritually dead people are to be saved god in his power and grace has to intervene in their lives i'm not going to change them i'm not going to bring them to christ by mimes or by drama or by music by any other technique god by the holy spirit has to regenerate them they need to be changed from the inside given spiritual divine life and brought effectively irresistibly to christ when we are involved in evangelism prayer is absolutely basic we must be active we must be sharing the gospel we must ensure that people everywhere are hearing the the glorious news of the lord jesus christ but our activities in themselves will not change them god by the spirit must work in the gospel and in their hearts and lives spiritually dead but notice secondly in verse two worldliness i've written somewhere a story about a swansea fishmonger because it it intrigued me some six years ago because this swansea fishmonger had a 15 stone shark in his shop that he was just getting ready to cut up and to sell and he explained that within hours it would be sold there was such a demand in swansea for such fish the story is that this large shark was basking the warm waters off the the west african coast then there came a freak winter storm and this shark was turned off course and it was eventually caught by trawler men off the south coast of england and this swansea fishmonger very enterprising bought it i mentioned the story just to illustrate that what the bible is saying that we've all gone off course as humans the bible makes it clear that before he sinned adam was on course he was fulfilling the purpose set for his life by god namely glorifying god obeying god enjoying god that's the reason why god created adam and the entire human race in revelation 4 verse 11 we read for thy pleasure they are and they were created so before he sinned adam's whole life centered around god all that he thought all that he desired all that he said all that he did honored god adam wasn't living for business or for money or for sex or for sports or fame he was living for god so you might think well that must have been a very miserable existence not at all he was exceptionally happy and fulfilled he was on course glorifying god obeying god enjoying god suddenly as you know the bible says there was a crash adam sinned turned off god's road onto this dark sinful miserable road of sin and this mold of the world becomes true of all who live in adam for example a boy about 19 years of age converted some months ago his parents are not christians to his knowledge there were no christians at all in his family and a few weeks after his conversion his parents became very concerned about him before his conversion he was one of the boys regularly drinking coming home drunk on friday saturday sunday night going to nightclubs a popular young boy had everything going for him parents were proud of him and then he was converted to their consternation stopped drinking stopped going to the nightclubs he had new friends he was getting up on a sunday morning going to church instead of lying in bed he was going to church again in the evening tuesday night he was going to the prayer meeting thursday night to a bible study friday night to young people saturday night he had a prayer meeting and his father one day had a shock of his life he was going around the houses with some christians giving tracts out they were angry their son had become odd different the father spoke to him and expressed his concern that he thought he was going to catch religious mania why aren't you still like your friends you see he didn't fit into the the pattern that the world accepts or come into one of these halls of residence during term time those of you staying in halls of residence i would urge you to pray for christian students who come here and for non-christian students it's not easy for a christian coming into university living amongst non-christians it's particularly difficult in the opening days of a term and there's so much drink and wilderness amongst the students maybe in a flat the christian is only one of seven or or 12 students there just the one christian maybe in a block in a hall of residence there's only one christian out of 60 or 70 students drugs are used they go pubbing social life is pretty intense many of them are sleeping around and the christian stands out as being different at least should do the non-christians can't really understand but there's pressure on these christian young people to conform to the standards and the pleasures of the world there are these enormous pressures on our christian young people and i urge christian young people to resist these pressures don't be afraid to be different to be holy or if you listen to your colleagues in the office or the factory or listen to people in the supermarket as you're waiting to pay your bill on the way out listen to the topics of conversation the east enders coronation street don't know how many times in the supermarket i heard details about big brother three people are absolutely fascinated excited talking about the booze and the party and the behavior talking about their parties dance money this was their world this was all that mattered to them see their their thinking their values their their pleasures their pursuits all without any reference to god and so paul says in verse two in which you once walked according to the course of this world and that's what your unconverted child basically is like your unconverted parents and friend and colleague they're in the grip of the world and you cannot change them though god wants you to witness to them and to pray to them and to live a holy life in front of them you'll never change them verse two again we're told about the the devil according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience the devil is here described as as a prince or a ruler the lord jesus in john's gospel chapter 12 and 14 and 16 use the title the prince of this world to refer to the devil and here the apostle paul describes the devil as the prince of the power of the air indicating that there is an area if not literally in the air but an area in which the devil and his hosts are operating they seek to further their evil designs they seek to perpetuate worldliness disobedience to god his laws encouraging rebellion against god himself the supernatural world is is real it's not something which is miles away from us it's it's all around us you know that fascinating story in two kings chapter six advice shows being hunted by the syrian king because all his secret plans for war against israel were being discovered before he moved his soldiers and he eventually realizes that elisha the prophet is responsible he's getting this knowledge so the king sends an army to to arrest him and his servant looks out of the house and looks at the hills the mountains and he panics he sees hundreds possibly thousands of syrian soldiers and their horses and chariots all around the place and he rushes back to life and says what on earth shall we do that's a modern translation elisha tells him don't be afraid remember the famous words of elisha for those who are with us are more than those who are with them and elisha then prays for the servants lord he said open his eyes that he may see and when the servant goes out he then looks at the same scene and this time he sees a mountain full of horses and chariots of fire all around the the angels of god elisha is perfectly safe the spiritual world is very real very near to us in ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 the apostle paul tells us that we're not wrestling against flesh and blood but against rulers against authorities against the powers of this dark world against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms the devil is real and the legion of spirits who serve him and they have an influence and a grip on an unbelieving world now you know that there's an upsurge of interest in devil worship satan worship you'd be surprised the kind of respectable people often business people middle class and working class and more important people who are involved in satanism they worship satan they follow his rules they break and violate every command that god has given in the bible magic witchcraft spiritism people are fascinated by it they are exploiting it and people can be influenced but notice how the apostle goes on in verse two you may be horrified to know what the devil is doing in these dreadful areas of satanism but the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience the the devil and his cohorts are actively at work in the lives of people god of this world blinds the minds of them which believe not they seek to snatch away the the word being sown they seek to trap and to entice and ensnare even christians it's a spiritual battle no man no woman no christian can free an unbeliever from the tyranny of sin and of satan if you've never read luther's bondage of the will it may be good summer reading for you i recently read it and reread it it says in one place if we believe satan is the prince of this world ever ensnaring and opposing the kingdom of christ with all his strength and that he does not let his prisoners go unless he is driven out by the power of the divine spirit it's apparent there can be no free will only god can do it that's what your unconverted child is like notice fourthly in verse three the flesh now in case you stand by your son or daughter say well okay they're not converted but we can blame the world and we can blame the devil the apostle paul corners you it says look you have to be much more realistic your unconverted parent or unconverted child or friend or neighbor may be very nice they may think the world of you they may do anything for you to help you but the major problem is inside them not outside and the term flesh refers not just to the body but to what we are as humans our soul our mind our affections our will it's human nature and a state of sin and estrangement from god himself so paul is telling us that my whole person is affected and polluted by sin this is what all unbelievers are like including my relatives and my friends yes they may be very nice respectable good citizens caring relatives but sin and rebellion permeates and controls every part of their nature this is what we mean by total depravity that the sin has permeated every area of our lives it doesn't mean that we all indulge in every gross sin doesn't mean that we cannot perform civil good we're made in the image of god there is common grace we can be very nice people and yet the bible says our problem is ourselves our sin our nature notice in the rest of verse three fulfilling the desires the commands the dictates of the flesh and the mind sin is in control god-given desires and appetites are spoilt by sin sin empowers and enslaves us he that commits sin says the lord jesus is the slave of sin only god can change such a person that is finally in this description at the end of verse three and we're by nature the children of wrath just as others that word phrase by nature is important we're born in adam we come into the world with sin with original sin death is passed on to all in adam so we are by nature the children of wrath just as the the others i rejoiced with some of the young people yesterday over some of the examination results i do recall a situation where i was in a shop somewhere in wales when the gcse results came out and there are about five women in front of me and strange enough they were all crying and i really thought that someone had died and so when the crying subsided i i sent to one of the women what's the matter who's who's died oh no one has died we've just had the gcse results we've just been to the school my daughter's not got the grades she needs her son disappointed they're breaking their hearts one or two of them were believers but i i really hadn't seen or heard those christian women and mothers crying over the spiritual state of their unconverted children you can have eight ten 12 a's and if you're unconverted you are a child of wrath perhaps it points to our wilderness as christian parents sometimes that education is exaggerated in terms of importance the spiritual is often minimized a child's right relationship to god is the most important thing outside of jesus christ my child my parents my grandparent my friend is a child of wrath the cloud of god's wrath is is over that person and the cloud of wrath is getting darker and darker and darker as the years go by the end of their lives that cloud of wrath will will break and take them into hell for eternity to suffer the punishment of god children of wrath we say we believe it but i i wonder christian friends it's a horrible teaching i don't like it but i i have to believe it i have to teach it because it's here in the bible by nature however nice the people are however much i i love my children my parents by nature they are the children of wrath i need to pray for god to come and change them i must hurry let's move to verses four onwards and i want to divide it up very simply first of all the initiative of god in verses four five and six is there hope for such people of course there is and the apostle reminds the ephesians of what has happened in their lives but god if you ever heard lloyd jones preach on that you'll never forget the phrase if you've read his sermon you'll be familiar but god he makes all the difference the greatest person god can change sinners some months ago i read in a reputable newspaper of a a young man who was very concerned over a neighbor who'd suffered an injustice in the interpretation of some regulations of government concerning some agency help and the the young man decided that he would try and get justice for his his neighbor so he went along to local and county councillors and they were very supportive but said well there's really nothing we can do about it it's central government so he went along to the member of parliament and he again was supportive sympathetic i can't do very much for he said but i will write to the minister concerned and so he wrote on behalf of his constituent some weeks later he had a letter back from the mp with a copy of the reply from the minister saying that while the minister was sympathetic he was not minded to help with this particular problem and it would be monitored over the next three four five years this young man was aware that the neighbor was suffering because of this injustice and then he heard that there was a radio program i think it was radio one a phone in and the prime minister was answering questions he managed to get onto the program he mentioned this problem prime minister had to listen didn't he and he said well write to me send me the details and i'll consider it so he did he had an acknowledgement of the letter being received i think it's about two months later he had a letter signed by the prime minister that he agreed there was an injustice that the regulation somehow had been interpreted wrongly that he was informing the minister that he was to act and tell other officials what to do the young man was absolutely delighted what had he done he'd gone to the top very often sinners often their confusion ignorance they're running around looking for help yes experts in various fields can give help in limited ways sometimes valuable ways but they cannot change the sinner that they cannot free him from the the mold of the world or from the grip of the devil god can and we've got to be confident and pointing people to god himself he's independent he's self-sufficient he's eternal he's unchangeable he's omnipresent he knows everything he's faithful he's holy he's righteous he's powerful he's the absolute ruler and he cares and he loves no one less than god can change and save and we must go to the top i say it reverently in our prayer meetings pleading with god to save don't expect the pastor to do it and in our witnessing and our praying at home pleading with with god to do it and this great god is a great lover as paul brings out in verse four who is rich in mercy this word mercy really is he's trying to translate the hebrew word chesed translate in different ways in english loving kindness tenderness compassion motherly kindness there's pity here there's a feeling of care helping someone in in desperate need it's what god is like it's not like that minister who was not minded to help god is rich in mercy and if you feel you're unconverted children if you have compassion i can tell you that god has unlimited compassion if you're concerned for unbelievers in your community god himself has pity and has love if you shed tears for for unbelievers in the heart of god there is compassion and there is pity he is rich says the apostle in mercy there's an abundance of it and don't hesitate to call upon him don't hesitate to invite sinners to come and to trust him then paul adds it's on account of his great love with which he loved us it's not a momentary pity it's not an occasional compassion it arises from the very heart and nature of god he loved us greatly when he appointed his son as mediator when he entered into covenant with his son with his elect when he chose us in him he loved us greatly he loved us greatly when he sent his son into the world god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son the greatest possible gift he loved us at calvary he that spared not his own son but freely delivered him up for us all here is love says 1 john 4 10 not that we love god but that he loved us and send his son to be the propitiation for our sins if you want to see the love of god supremely look at the cross says the apostle here is love one welsh preacher who was quite a character preaching on john 3 16 and describing the immensity of god's love he pictures the angel that's in heaven being absolutely shocked when god the son leaves heaven and becomes the god man and when he is dying on the cross of calvary the same shock amongst the angels the immense love of god towards sinners and paul says he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and in sins in our rebellion our blindness our spiritual death defying god he still loved us notice in verse 5 this great power of god even when we were dead in trespasses he made us alive together with christ by grace you have been saved when god intervenes in the life of an unbeliever he changes them from inside he imparts life to sudden work of the spirit it's essential it's prior to conversion it's a secret work of the spirit within us we are passive in it i may be unaware of the spirit working and regenerating me but the effects are now this great god makes us alive it's exciting you can be preaching and there in the congregation god is dealing with someone and they're listening they're listening they're coming under conviction the miracle happens often under preaching of the word life is changed maybe an old man an old woman maybe a student remember an american student telamine banger it was in the middle of a sermon he said he could remember the the part of the verse then he said i saw it i was so different i was changed i wanted to stand up in your church and tell everyone this great god has the power to make dead sinners alive unto himself there's a disposition which he gives a new heart and we're changed from within verse six we have a further explanation of being made alive it includes being raised up made to sit together in the heavenlies in christ jesus no longer are we dead to god but we're alive to him new desires new values new standards new goals we're placed to an opposition of spiritual access and authority in the heavenlies in christ we fellowship with god we can pray we're in direct contact with the lord jesus christ we're in union with him god does this by his power notice secondly and i move on quickly in verse 7 the intention of god why has god done this well because of his glory we're told in chapter 1 and verses 6 12 and 14 but here paul adds that god wants to exhibit his grace in christ to us in the ages to come it's a similar reference in chapter 3 and verse 10 god is using his church to display his grace and his kindness towards us in christ when will he do it in the ages to come some commentators have postponed this to the future after death i believe it has an immediate application through succeeding generations and beyond this life into the next and in successive generations god is is saving his people and in their lives and in the church he's displaying his grace and his kindness you think of luther or calvin or zwingli or latimer or daniel roland's think of the revival in bath gallet in 1817 1818 and one young man who was present in that revival was so amazed by the changes in the lives of notorious characters in the village violent people drunkards he was so amazed and his amazing one day he said i really think that the angel should arrange a trip and come down and see what god's grace has done god is displaying exhibiting his grace his kindness in his people for the world to see that he may be glorified i can refer again to lloyd jones a drunkard in his 50s sitting in the club on sunday afternoon listening to some men talking about the the preacher the evangelist and they said the words well the preacher said no one is hopeless there's hope for everybody and this man decided well if there's hope for everybody there must be hope for me so he went along to church eventually he heard the gospel and and he was converted almost immediately a few days later in the fellowship meeting the doctor said to him stand up and these are the words i'm quoting let them see here the latest monument to the grace of god it's what god is doing he is displaying his grace he wants all these testimonies and monuments of grace and his kindness in the churches in the community and in displaying his grace in our lives he's glorifying himself he gathers in his elect the jews and the gentiles and in glory his grace and mercy will be exhibited in a far more wonderful way but notice in closing the insistence of god that's what i'm calling this section verses 8 9 and 10 it's a fascinating crucial section and i think that sometimes as preachers we're guilty and isolated verses 8 and 9 are not dealing with them in the proper context there's a very close link with verse 7 and the whole section of verses 1 to 7 so what we're having in verses 8 9 and 10 is a summary of the argument in verses 1 to 7 but god is confirming through the apostle that only by his grace and power can we be saved and he's insisting upon it there must be no human boasting when it comes to salvation paul has argued this in other places remember romans 3 27 after describing god's redemptive grace where is boasting then his reply is it's excluded shut out there's no place for pride and for for boasting end of 1 corinthians 1 no flesh should glory in his presence he who glories let him glory in the lord let me identify four arguments quickly and i will be very quick grace alone there's no place for boasting it's free and merited undeserved love and mercy and this is central to the gospel amazing grace said john newton i think one of the most outstanding examples of grace in the old testament is king manasseh remember the story king for 55 years in jerusalem there'll be no king before him as wicked as he was dreadful man lots of sleaze about him he was an idolater he encouraged idol worship he encouraged and paid for the extension of this idol worship he sacrificed even two of his own sons to the idols he dabbled in the occult he placed a huge idol in god's temple and desecrated it he killed some of the prophets of god he killed some of the righteous people in jerusalem he couldn't stand them the end of his life this wicked man prayed prayed to god for mercy do you know what happened he was accepted he was forgiven he was given mercy a dreadful man a wicked man god accepted him justified god pronounced him not guilty he's in heaven with the apostle paul john with luther calvin whitfield he's there amongst the wicked man he didn't deserve it and nor do we it's grace do you believe it it's grace alone that there's no place for boasting one of our welsh preachers robert roberts was preaching on revelation 320 and he pictured a local man walking through the village in northwest wales and as he walking through the village he saw this very important rich majestic looking person knocking at the door of of one bungalow he was impressed by the stranger but he knew that the man living in in this house was was a baddie a couple of hours later the the local man was returning through the village and this stranger this important looking man was still there knocking at the door and so the local man said to the the visitor the person living there is not worth the trouble i wouldn't knock anymore he's not a very good man robert roberts in his own inimitable way pictures of lord jesus christ replying i came all the way from eternity into this world i became man i became a servant i went to the cross i bore the sins of my people i died for this man and i'm going to bring him out shortly i will accept him grace amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me it's not just grace alone it's faith alone in verse 8 for by grace you've been saved through faith it's the instrumentality of faith it's not just knowledge it's not just a sense of need but receiving christ faith is really the hands of a beggar stretching out receiving grace and mercy receiving christ william cowper describes how he came to faith reading verses in romans chapter 3 and reading these words he said i received power immediately to believe i believed and received peace of the gospel my eyes filled with tears i could only look to heaven in silent fear an overflowing love and wonder faith alone there's no room for boasting but the end of verse 8 and verse 9 it's a gift alone paul adds not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest anyone should boast now god comes literally at first here god's is the gift it contrasts with yourselves earlier as if paul is saying to us well don't you dare suggest that sinners can create saving faith they cannot produce it it's god's gift it's a grace and god's gift is not just faith god's gift is grace and the whole of salvation is god's it's given to us then he says it's not of works it's a further emphasis explaining that the faith aspect of salvation paul deals with this more thoroughly in collations and romans i believe here works represents human effort in general as individuals try to achieve salvation through their own efforts or performance and paul says it's not of works lest anyone should boast if you've read spurgeon's autobiography you'll know that before he became a christian he he struggled with this whole concept of doing something to win god's approval and he says if i could find something i must do i would do it if the preacher had asked take off your shoes and your socks run all the way now to jonah groats i would not even have gone home first but started off immediately that i might win salvation when spurgeon refers to the words of the lord jesus to zacchaeus when our lord said to him on the tree make haste come down and god spoke to spurgeon this way spurgeon felt he had to come down from his tree of pride and good works self-sufficiency so he describes himself as falling down some branches then falling again then spurgeon says but i can do nothing i'm ruined then he pictures waters coming over him and shut the light shut out from felt a stranger to god's family and god said to spurgeon get lower again you've got too much pride and spurgeon speaks of seeing his own corruption his wickedness his filthiness then he says i saw one on the cross i saw the tears in his face i saw the blood flowing i saw the enemy surrounding him i heard his groanings i heard his words i heard the words of scripture the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost and out of my life went my supposed merits i could see myself in a ditch so deep it seemed like my grave it was all over i could see that only god could save me i could do nothing it's what paul is saying not of works there's no contribution you can make and finally god alone in verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them again the emphasis in the pronoun early in the verse is his workmanship we are as i close come with me in your imagination meet an ungodly man it's a real story he's in his late 40s he's married he's got children he's a very worldly person unpleasant a vile temper he could be violent over the weekends his family hardly saw him because of drinking and other things the children his wife knew how to stay out of his way not to provoke him he too went unexpectedly one sunday to hear the gospel preached the congregation was shocked to see him walking into the building a notorious character filthy mouth they're even more shocked later in the week when he came to a prayer meeting he returned the next sunday and as they talked to him after these meetings they realized that this man was being changed he was different he'd been converted the same church the unconverted son of an elder very respectable living a nice life not doing anything outwardly outrageous parents assumed he was a christian but he knew in his own heart he wasn't he knew the sin the corruption of his heart and the preaching of the word of god round about the same time as that that older man he too was converted the respectable man the worldly wicked man being regenerated being the workmanship the handy work of god being created it's a word which paul uses romans 1 to speak of of creation god creating a new creation the unbelieving son of a church elder the ungodly man in his late 40s his family were afraid of becoming new persons someone once said of a christian and the life change i don't know what's happened he's got the same skin but there's a new man inside it that's god's workmanship created it's god's work in us we can't take any credit we haven't contributed how has he done it in christ jesus mediated by christ but in union with christ the purpose is for good works which god has foreordained and prepared that we should walk in them let us worship and love and serve this glorious god who has saved us let's pray lord god again we ask for the holy spirit to impress deeply upon our minds and hearts the truths of your word working as that which is well pleasing your sight grant that we may share something of that love and grace with our unbelieving relatives and friends and colleagues lord display your grace in our lives for your glory and praise we ask it in jesus christ amen