The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: friend, you don't know how to be happy and live a full, wonderful life that is truly alive without God's grace. That's what the word says.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. Now, here's pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: Sermon today is taken from Ephesians chapter two, verses one through 10. New life now, that's the title of the message. God has blessed us with Jesus. His precious blood has cleansed us from all our sins. Today, we are new persons, a new creation in him. Let us worship him in spirit and in truth. Come with me into the sanctuary, hear this message. God is doing a new thing. And friend, if there's any boredom or staleness or downness in your life, listen to this message. There's going to be resurrection for you and for all who believe and hear and receive the message today.

This message is blessed and anointed of God, not because I preach it, but because it's the word of God. God is breathing his word into his people and they are experiencing resurrection and life spiritually, emotionally, even physically. Let's go into the sanctuary and hear the message and be blessed. The title of the message is New Life Now. God is doing great things now, today. Oh yes, I I think that the future is going to be bright and glorious more so than even now, but it is bright and glorious now because he is alive from the dead.

I'm speaking of Jesus. He is alive from the dead and present with us now. Now, if he were still dead, we would be worshiping on some other day of the week, I'm sure, not on Sunday, not on the first day of the week, not on the day he arose and made himself alive. So every first day, every Sunday is a time to remember he arose and he arose for us to be present with us, to bless us, to forgive us, to help us. Jesus is here. That is an awesome awesome truth, but he is present with us.

Where two or three are gathered in his name, that does not simply mean two or three Christians getting together. That means that we come together in the name, in the love, in the joy, in the forgiveness of sins, and we're aware of it. It's on our mind. Two or three Christians can get together and then say God is in our midst. Maybe not. Maybe not. He is with us when our mind and heart is focused on him and on that which is spiritual and setting our affections on things that are above. Friend, put your mind in gear today and think of Jesus.

Now he's going to be in our midst. Think of what he's done for you. Forgave you, saved you, blessed you, was with you, healed you, ministered to you, answered your prayers, and on and on I could go. But you know, sometimes we come to church as this you know, he is Hey, I hadn't thought about that, but he has. Let's think about it and let's rejoice in the Lord because when you think about it, you can't help yourself but to begin to rejoice in the Lord. Now we're going over to the second chapter of Ephesians.

There were about four sermons on the first chapter. In the second chapter, in the first three verses, the first three verses plumbs the depths of pessimism. The first three verses of chapter two tells us what we are by nature. Then we go to chapter four through 10, the next six verses, and it tells us what we are by grace. Now when we look at the first three verses of chapter two, we not we may not be so happy about what we're reading because it it tells it like it is. Yeah. We were not very nice people before Christ came and salvation and before the grace of God.

But Paul doesn't pull any punches. He doesn't sugarcoat anything because really it's the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul and God speaks the truth. And when God tells the truth and speaks the truth, that truth sets us free. In the last six verses, verses four through 10, it scales the heights of joy and optimism. So the first three verses, we look at it, we try to move beyond it, but then the next six verses, we are so blessed and so encouraged in the Lord. Now, Paul prayed I'll go back to chapter one. In verse 18, Paul prayed for that his readers would have their eyes open to see the inner things of God and that the inner eyes of our inward being, figuratively speaking, might see God and experience God's blessings upon us.

And he he says in verse 18 let let me just read it to you. Chapter one, verse 18, he said I pray. Now Paul has prayed for us. We have prayed for ourselves. I've prayed for myself and I've prayed for you and God answers prayer. And if this prayer isn't answered, you're not getting a whole lot out of your Christian life. But once this prayer is answered, oh my, the glory that comes down upon you, that new life is experienced. Now this is what Paul prays in verse 18. He said I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order why?

In order that you may know the hope to which he has called you and the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Paul is saying oh my my my my if you could only see and know and experience. But once you see, you'll know and you will experience. And he prays God open our eyes. God open our eyes. God help us to see that it's more than just church and Sunday and and singing and preaching and it's Jesus. God open our eyes that we might see this and this wealth of our inheritance. Now what he is talking about is the resurrection of Jesus.

That is the most powerful thing that God has ever done. Nothing in this world and in this life has happened like that. We're living in the 21st century. We have sent people to the moon and to outer space, but society and science and on and on has never raised anybody from the dead. We're able to maybe postpone death, but death eventually comes. But when death comes, it's death for eternity. Now Jesus did raise Lazarus from the dead. Remember that? He raised Lazarus from the dead. But Lazarus had to die again. Lazarus had to die two times.

He raised Lazarus from the dead back into this natural life. But when Jesus rose from the dead, he rose into a heavenly spiritual life that knows no end. And Paul is saying every Christian has that blessing and that opportunity and can look forward with great optimism. And he's praying God help us. We don't seem to realize the power that you have and that you're giving and that we are going to experience even now, not someday, but that resurrection power is part of our inheritance right now. You see, you're a child of God, you're a beneficiary, you're in his will.

He has blessed you and he has more blessings. And Paul was praying God open our eyes. God open our eyes. God help us to see. God help us to understand that we just won't be passive in our relationship with you, but that we will see things that the eye has never seen. Eye hasn't seen, neither ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared right now for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. Now God's power is for now and also for eternity.

How are we by nature? Okay, we're going to look at it. How are we by nature? verses one, two and three, chapter two. This is how we were. No doubt about it. The Holy Spirit spoke through Paul. We can't say oh I'm a good person. I was a good person and I still am and and on and on I and and a lot of people are thinking that and that 's why they're not in church today or serving the Lord today, but Paul says as for you, you were dead. Now that's how we were by nature.

You were dead in your transgressions and in your sins. Dead. Now think about it. God help us. What's he talking about? This isn't this isn't fictional. This isn't um make believe. This isn't a figurative of of speech. Paul is saying, the Holy Spirit is saying, the Holy Spirit is the voice of God. God is saying when you were born into this world and the life that you lived after you were born, your childhood, your youth, your adult life, you were dead. Okay. Now he goes on to tell us in chapter two, verse two. He said I'll tell you how you were.

You followed the ways of the world. Look at it. Followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the spirit that now works into the children of disobedience. But hey, it's that's not a pretty picture of how I used to be, how you used to be. And now he goes to verse three and he says you were gratifying the cravings of your spiritual nature. You had desires and hungers and cravings within you and you did it all. You did it all. What a life we lived. It wasn't very nice.

It wasn't very pretty. See, as I said, he's talking factually. We were dead. I'm not going to ask you to turn to your neighbor and say you used to be dead before you were saved. Uh don't do that. Don't do that. But that's exactly how it was. You see, when the prodigal son came home after living in the pig pen of the world and squander his life thinking he was having a great time, he came home and his father said this my son who was dead. Dead. Oh he he was living, but spiritually, emotionally, in his heart he was dead.

Friend, you don't know how to be happy and live a full, wonderful life that is truly alive without God's grace. That's what the word says. That's what the Bible tells us. Those people those people who are dead, they're blind. Now the the the the athlete, the the doctor, the lawyer, the neighbor, the teacher. How about the teacher? The teacher has studied in the university all those years, acquired all those knowledge, teaching us wonderful things. And the Bible says that teacher is dead even though that teacher has the mind of a scholar. That athlete is dead even though his body is responding in every way.

They're dead in trespasses and sin. Now friend, that's a pretty sad definition story of how they are, but that's how we are without Jesus. That's how we were without Jesus. We were dead in trespasses, transgressions and sins. As unresponsive to God is a corpse. Those people I just mentioned, the teacher, the athlete, the doctor, the lawyer, the neighbor, they're blind to spiritual things, absolutely blind. They they really see no real purpose in in in worshiping God and singing a hymn. They don't even know those hymns. I have more funerals in this church and I I we we sing a hymn and the hymn that the family wants to sing.

Well, people they work with come to the funeral. Friends come and I I look out over the congregation and they're like this looking at me. We're singing Amazing Grace there. What a friend we have in Jesus. You know, they must like to watch me sing. Minister Hooper and Maz and some of them we're standing up here singing away. It's like we're singing a a trio or a duet and a couple family members are singing, but the other people first time they've been to church in ages because they're blind to spiritual things. They they're deaf to the word of God.

They they can hear it, but it doesn't seem to magic matter. You know, boy, I'm glad the funeral's over. I I I know out of courtesy I should have been there. I worked with that man for years, you know, but there there's nothing there. There there are unresponsive as the corpse that is before me. The funeral of the person that I'm preaching. They're blind. They're deaf. They're dead. Now friend, think about it. That's exactly that's a description of you and me. That's exactly how we were before Christ came into our life. That's a that's that us.

Not a pretty picture, but the Bible tells it like it is, doesn't just like it is. Now how are we now? Oh, I'm glad to get off of verses one, two and three. Woo. See, there's three verses of pessimism, but there's six verses, double the verses of optimism. Let's let's get into the optimism now. Here we go. Verse four. It says but because of his great love, you know, we were dead, we were living in trespasses and sins. We were blind. We were deaf, but God. There it goes now. Look at verse four. But because of his great love, God who is rich in mercy.

Oh, I could just say that over and over again. His great love for us. His rich mercy for us. His great love for us. His rich mercy. You want me to say it some more? Is it getting to you? I heard a song when I was just a real young and it was a couple guys playing a guitar in a church and they were singing away. How was that? All I remember is they sang oh there I there it comes. Thank God I am what I am today, not what I used to be. Friend, don't forget what you used to be.

Remember what you used to be. That'll help you to appreciate what and who you are today because of Jesus. Thanks be to God. We're saved all because of his grace, his great love to us. He is rich in mercy. Now his mercy and his love for us, what has it done for us? Well, now verse five it says made us alive with Christ. Now notice, please notice this, with Christ made us alive not only in Christ, but when Christ came out of the grave in all actuality, potentially and and right now we came out of the grave with him.

He he died to all that was physical. He never sinned. He lived a perfect life, but he took our sin. And then he died to our sin. And then when he came out of the grave, our sin was all left behind. Trust the Lord and you are a new person in Jesus Christ. Now sometimes if we're not careful, we're going to begin to act like we used to be. Our temper, our attitude, our disposition, our judgmentality. You know, it it's easy to revert. But friend, when that happens, we need to say God, you saved me.

That's not the person like Jesus is and that's not what you want me to be. Forgive me, cleanse me, purify me. Let Jesus be king of kings and Lord of lords in my life again. Friend, we've got to take some action. We've got to be honest. We've got to turn to Jesus and he's always there. He's always available. Hey, right now he's there. He's available to bless and to do great and wonderful things. So the first thing he did was to made us alive in Christ. What he did was he reversed the condition, that dead condition.

Just as he reversed it with with Lazarus, he reversed the order of death and brought him out. And just as God breathed on Jesus, like God breathed into Adam's soul and Adam became a living soul, God now is breathing into us and bringing us he's he's reversing it. Friend, listen to me today that we had a hypnosis here yesterday. I've never been hypnotized in my life, but I thought hey, why not? Somebody said hey, he hypnotized me and stole my wallet. No, he didn't do that. It's it's certainly not what you see on television and in the movies.

No, not at all. It's just a a nice state of relaxation. Now why am I telling you all of that? But but God blesses us, ministers to us, comes to us and he is with us now to bless and to do great and mighty things. The hypnotist said yesterday hey, I can help you if you have a smoking problem. I can help you if you have a have a a habit that you want to break. I can help you if you have anger. I can help you to relax and control that. I can do this and I can do that.

Cost you $115 an hour, but I can do all of that. Jesus says I can make you a new creation. Old things being passed and all things becoming new. You can be born again, not just correcting some old things in your life, old habits, old attitudes, old angers, just correcting them one by one by one. No, you can be born again. Born again, born anew, born from above. Now he says in verse six, we are seated together in heavenly places. Wow, do you know where you are today? Now some says I'm in the depths of despair.

You know, I'm down, I'm sad. Things have happened. Well, if that's where you are, let me tell you something. Jesus can lift you out of there today. He arose. He arose. You mean to tell me the resurrection day and Easter was for nothing? You're still carrying that same old attitude and behavior and habit. Friend, there's a new person. You are in Jesus. You can be alive now and seated in heavenly places. You know, we're we're very much aware of being seated down here, living down here, being acted upon by influences and happenings down here. We need to remember hey, I'm living I'm living up there.

Even though I'm walking down here, I'm living with grace in my life. I'm living with Jesus in my life. He's my savior, he's my Lord, he's my resurrection, he's my life, my new life now. We were dead in in our capacity, but today we're enthroned. Do you know that? He he's enthroning you. Hey, get up and get out of that place you where you are. No one has any right now that you're a Christian to to have feelings, thoughts, attitudes, behavior, things that you don't like about yourself. God will cause you to like yourself. Once you have your focus on Jesus and you see Jesus, don't remember the old things and stop talking about it.

You keep rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing until now it has become part of the fiber of your being and you wonder when is it ever going to it's not going to get over until you repent and confess and talk to Jesus and then it happens and the new life comes now. So you have the power. It's all within your means whether you can become new and wonderful and new forgetting the things that are behind and pressing forward to the things that are ahead. It's all together up to you, you and me. Amen. Because of his great love to us.

Guest (Male): If today's message strengthened your faith, we invite you to stand with the Healing Word through your prayers and your generous support. Every gift helps us take the gospel to more people who desperately need to hear that Jesus still saves. Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.