Listen to another message from the book of Ephesians 2 and 10. Ephesians 2 and 10. Let's read it here from the Amplified Bible for a moment. For we are His workmanship, His own master work, a work of art. created in Christ Jesus, reborn from above, spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used for good works which God prepared beforehand for us, taking paths which He set so that we would walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us. Now let's go back to The Gospel of John, for a moment I will just read it to you. You don't have to go there. You can follow me if you want to. I remember Kathy in our class there so many years ago. She could go to a verse before I could get it out of my mouth almost. John the third chapter. John 3. I want to read this whole thing here to you. Because it's all very important. It's our lesson today. What grace produces. The works that grace produces. And we're already spiritually dead until Christ redeems us and rescues us. Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler and member of the Sanhedrin court among the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, teacher, master teacher, doctor of theology, we know. Now he comes here, Nicodemus comes to Jesus, they all say he was sneaking there at night, he was doing this, he was doing that, he was all troubled. He is a representative of the Sanhedrin court. And he comes here probably with an entourage of others, the guards. There was a certain man among the Pharisees, Nicodemus, a ruler, a member of the Sanhedrin court, and a representative among the Jews, who came to Jesus by night as a representative of the Sanhedrin court, and said unto him, Master, Teacher, Doctor, of theology, we know without a doubt, we, members of the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees, we know that you come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs, these wonders and these attesting miracles that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him and said, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born from above, and spiritually transformed and renewed and sanctified, he cannot ever see and experience the Kingdom of God. Now, you have to remember something else right here in verse number three. Nicodemus had probably baptized many proselytes. And a proselyte, when you came from a foreign religion, you were dogs, you were carnal, you were idolaters, you were When the heathen came to the Jewish people, the Jews looked upon the heathens as dogs, as not human. But when they became enthralled and convicted by the Word of God that they wanted to follow the religion of the Jews, Judaism, then they would take them and they would do a catechism They would have to get up before a synagogue and make statements and things, actually outside the synagogue, speaking to the members of the synagogue. And then they would be taken out, they would be baptized. They died by immersion, by the way, people. There's only one form of baptism, and that's immersion. Everything else is an excuse, as simple as that. It is an aversion to it. dip him, they would shave his eyebrows off, shave his hair off, shave all the hair off the body, clip his fingernails back real short, and then they would dip him, baptize him in batza, and he would die to his old nation and raise anew unto the nation of God. And so that was being what they called being born again. Being born again. So now Jesus tells Nicodemus and the rest of the Jews and the Sanhedrin, you guys need to be born again. Born from above. And Caiaphas, the high priest, the problem with him is he didn't believe in any of this. He was not spiritual at all. He didn't believe in angels. He didn't believe in a personal God. He didn't believe in miracles or anything. Visions, angels, nothing. Now he says, I assure you most solemnly that unless a person is born again from above and spiritually transformed and renewed and sanctified, he cannot ever see and experience the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter into his mother's womb the second time and be born again? Now this is a fog wash. Simple as that. Because Nicodemus, when he baptized a proselyte, he said, you died to your old national and you're raised anew to the nation of Israel. Being born again. How did he get born again? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again? And I assure you, most solemnly, and say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot ever enter into the Kingdom of God. First of all, the first time you're born into this world, you come forth, your mother's water breaks, and you come into the world, and that's a carnal birth. But, that's not enough. That birth only gives you death. But when you're born from above, born again, born of the Spirit, then you have the first birth and you have the second birth, born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. He tells you that when you were born of this world, when you came into the world with the water of your mother through childbirth, that is a physical and merely a physical birth. And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I have told you that you must be born again, reborn from above and spiritually transformed, renewed and sanctified. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it and you do not know where it's coming from or where it's going. So it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be possible? And then Jesus answers again, You are the great and well-known teacher of Israel, and you do not know nor understand these things from Scripture. You're a master teacher. He was a rabbi. a master teacher, and he said, you don't know. Then verse number 11, he said, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we absolutely know and testify what we actually have seen and eyewitnesses and still you reject our evidence and do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things that happened right here on earth, and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust me if I tell you heavenly things? No one has gone up into heaven, but there is one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man himself, and whose name, whose home is in heaven. Verse number 14, just as Moses lifted up the bronze servant in the desert on a pole, so must the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross You have to realize these Pharisees and everything, they had lots of rules they went by, but they actually made their own rules. They made their own rules. God gave them ten commandments, but they had a whole lot more. So that whoever believes will in him have eternal life after physical death and will actually live forever. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Verse number 17, now this is where we come to. God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, that is to initiate the final judgment of the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him as personal Savior and Lord is not judged for this one. There is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation. But the one who does not believe and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord is judged already and that one has been convicted and sentenced already. Because he has not believed and trusted in the only name of the only begotten Son of God, the one who is truly unique, the only one of his kind and the one who only can save him. This is the judgment that is because of the indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence. The light has come into the world and the people love darkness rather than light for their deeds were evil. Now the deeds of a child of God should be good. The deeds of the world, even the religious world, are evil. We talked about in the last class, we talked about Islam going out and murdering and killing in the name of jihad, and they rape because that is their fringe benefits of jihad. And if they die, and whatever they do, whether they rape, pillage, kill, whatever, murder, It's okay, because they're doing it in the name of Allah. The Catholic Church, when the Catholic Church instituted indulgences, when they instituted indulgences, they told them that when you bought and conquered, when they went into different lands, and they would convert them by the sword. They'd take them out in rivers, by the way. They only baptized them one way, and that's by immersion. But they took them out in the rivers and they'd hold a knife to the throat. As they held the knife to the throat, they would ask them, do you believe? Do you want to be part of the Holy Catholic Church in this empire? Or do you want your throat slit and you slide down the river of death? Well, you know, I'm really going to be a Catholic. I'm going to be a devout Catholic. They didn't want their throats cut. But that's what they did. They did that in those times. When Muhammad was in Mecca, he said all religion is voluntary. But when he went to Medina, he said, you go out and you conquer. You bring all nations, all religions into submission. Islam. Islam means to submit. And you don't have peace until you submit. He declared war on the world of religion. Only his religion would last. This judgment is final. It's the final indictment. It's the final test, which people are judged by the basis of sentence. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than light, for their deeds were evil. Everyone along the river hates the light and does not come to the light, but shrinks from it. for fear that his sinful, worthless activities will be exposed and condemned. Whoever practices the truth and does what is right and morally ethical and spiritually comes to the light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are, the accomplishments by God through him, divinely prompted and done with God's help and dependence upon him. Now let's go back to 2 and verse 11. 2 and verse 10 in the book of Ephesians. But before we go there, let's go to Romans again. We talked about salvation. Romans 8. Verse number 24, for in this hope we are saved by faith. But hope, the object of which is seen, is not hope. When you can see something, it's not hope. It's not faith. For who hopes for what is already seen, or whatever he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly await with patience and composure. In the same way, the Spirit comes to us and helps us in our weakness. That's when you're involved with the Spirit of God. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it up. We should, but the Spirit Himself knows our need and at the right time intercedes on our own behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words. And I have experienced this many times. I think you have too. Sometimes these horrible trials that we go through in life bring us closer to God than ever. He who searches the hearts and knows the mind and the spirit is because the spirit intercedes before God on behalf of God's people in accordance with God's will. And we know with great confidence that God, who is deeply concerned about us, causes all things to work for the good as they plan for the good of those who love God and to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. God's plan and purpose is for you to walk in Him. It's for you to walk in Him. You become a little Christ, Christians. That's God's plan for your life. For those who He foreknew and loved and chose beforehand, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, and ultimately share in this complete sanctification so that we would be the firstborn of the most beloved and honored among many believers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified and declared free from guilt of sin. And those whom he justified, he glorified, raising them to a heavenly dignity. What then shall we say of all these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? If He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for all, who would not also along with Him graciously give us all things in this world? You know, people. In this prosperity gospel we have today, they take this little verse out of here and said, you believe, and God wants you to have this. He wants you to be rich. He wants you to have a Cadillac. He wants you to have a Rolls Royce. He wants you to have this or that, a castle to live in. But that's what I'm talking about. The Bible is so anti-material in so many ways. You know, back in history, the Catholic Church, the Knights of the Templar. The Templar, the Knights Templar. They went into the, what they called the holiest land, Palestine. They went into that area, and people who would come in there, they would say, entrust your money into us, and we'll watch after you, we'll guard you as you visit the holy land. And they become very wealthy. And then in France, many years later, They had owned a lot of property. Actually, the cross sign you see up in the banks up in Sweden and up in that area up there, the Swiss knives and all that has this cross on them from the Knights Templar. And these offshore banks, so to speak, that people put money in was actually at one time part of their society, Knights Templar. Well, the Bible It doesn't tell you to be poor, but the Bible doesn't tell you to spend all your time becoming rich. And everything that we have comes from God. But anyway, they went in there in France and they arrested the Knights Templar because they wanted to take over because they thought they had too much power. And they arrested all these people and they tortured them. And one of the reasons that they arrested them, why are these people so rich when the Bible tells us all of these monks and everything are poor? So they're the opposite, so they went in and arrested those people. And they tortured them, and imprisoned them, and executed them. What shall we say, all these saints of God for us, who can be successful against us, he did not spare even his own son. who will bring any charge against God to elect His chosen ones who justifies and declare the blameless and putting us in right relationship with Himself. Who is the one who condemns? Christ is the one who died to pay for our penalty, and more than that, He also raised us from the dead. Who is the right hand of God and interceded with the Father for us? You know, the New Testament sometimes has a future perfect in it. In Hebrew we have that, that's while consecutive and perfect. While consecutive perfect, that is. While consecutive perfect, God speaks about something as if it's already done. When God looks at you, you are already with Him, in Christ, in heaven, forevermore. Because He is omniscient and He is omnipotent. And He can see you that way, we can't see ourselves that way. Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword? Sometimes that's happened to God's people. Just as it's written, and forever remains written, for your sake we are put to death all day. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through him who loved us. so much that He died for us. For I am convinced, and continue to be convinced, Paul said, beyond any doubt that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor any other things present, threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the unlimited love and grace of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are all what we might call messages from the different books that all teach the same thing. Now let's go on verse number 10 and look at that. The works that we do for Christ come from us. There's always that intuition in us that leads us unto good works if we're in Him and He is in us. autu gar esmen, poeimath ketaisthenetes in Christo esu, epi ergoes agathoes hoes pro eto me eis in ho theos hina in autoes perapateus omen. Four is where we start that little casual particle there, gar. That's how the sentence starts. It's the second word in the sentence, but that's where the sentence begins. For, out of him. Out told. That's the operative synonymized in the third person form. Out of him. We exist. Essman. First person plural, present indicative, active. We exist out of Him. We exist in Him. Salvation exists. We exist in salvation. And for verse number 2 and 8, if we go back over there, we have the same figure of speech there. For in grace ye keep on existing, having been saved through faith. And this is not out of yourself. Now it says, for out of Him we exist. And then it says, poiema. This word in this way is used two times in the New Testament. We are His poem. His poiema. We are His poem. Our word poem comes from this word. We are God's poem. We are God's poetry in action. We are God's poetry in action when we're His. We are His product of employment. It comes from Pollo. We are His poem. It's used also in Revelation 1 and 20. A poem is a product of a man's mind. Our lives in Jesus Christ are a poem written in flesh in the kind of life we are. Catis centes, having been created, that's nominative plural masculine, first aorist participle passive, having been created in, in that preposition, page 137 there, in Christ, blockative singular masculine, in Christ Jesus, we're created in Christ Jesus. Like I said in the former message, we're like two boards put together, God and us. And we're nailed and glued together with Him. And through that glue, we have God, and through Christ, we can do all things. Having been created in Christ Jesus, epi ergoes. That preposition, page 153 and 54 there, Epic. Upon works. First of all, it took a lot of work for Christ to save us, didn't it? He lived 33 and a half years, what most people believe, upon this earth in perfect harmony with the Godhead in heaven. He was not a sinner like we are. When God created Adam in the garden and He breathed into him the breathings of life, which He breathed into him the blood of life, He failed. But His Son, when God brought His Son into the world, He breathed into Him life through the sperm in Mary's womb. He came out in the world and He remained sinless and perfect. The works of Jesus Christ were just like the works when He stood in eternity past and created the heavens and the world. The worlds, the universe. Upon works, agathos. Agathos, it comes from Agathos. It means works good. It means spiritual works. Spiritual works. This is not just the word for work, but it's spiritual works. Good. Good. Witches, that deity plural there, and this one here, the third person singular, first person, indicative, active, which he prepared beforehand or previously prepared. God, when He saves your soul, He expects you to walk in His ways. He does. He expects that. Because we're His children. We're emissaries. We're created like Him. Beforehand, the God, Ho Theos, nomine singular masculine, definite article, and nomine singular masculine, noun, Theos. In order that, that little conjunction there, in them. He created these works, these good works, and in them we should walk around. We should spread ourselves around as J. Louis Guthrie said about this. First person plural, first heiress, subjunctive active. We may do this in our daily life. We may do this in our daily life. God gives you something to do in the world. In the garden, when God created man, He created him to be busy. B-U-S-Y, busy. When He creates you in Christ, He expects you to be busy doing something for Him. I remember when I was a young man, my grandmother got killed and she was my foundation in this world. She was my mother, really. My mother gave me away when I was a day old and she took care of me. I remember her taking care of me from the time I was a baby, just an infant. And I saw in her total, pure love. And that pure love brought me through life. It still does today. I still imitate her. She was the hardest worker that you ever saw in your world, in your life. There was no one that worked harder than her. I would go to sleep with her singing and ironing, with flat irons and ironing people's clothes. She was out there in the yard. with a wash tub with homemade soap in it, making, washing clothes. And she would dry them and then she'd iron them with flat iron. And she would wrap them up in paper and take them back to whoever, some lawyer, some doctor, whatever, whoever she was ironing clothes for. She took in laundry. And she'd do that until late, late, late night. And before daylight she would be up working and cooking for us and ready to send me out to the cotton fields or whatever we were going through that day as infants. I remember that. She worked. She loved her family. She worked. God loves you because you're part of his family. And look at the works he did for you. As I saw my poor grandmother's hands bleeding and cracking from all the hard work she did, and she'd have tape on them, taping her fingers. blood coming out of her fingers as she worked. I saw that. The blood came out of our Savior's hands and feet and sides and body. Well, if the Shroud of Turin is correct, there were over 700 lash marks on Jesus. He was bleeding from head to foot. And that was works. He created us with His good works. He created us unto. to follow like Him in good works. Our Father, we thank You for this message from Your Word. Please supply it to our hearts. Give us the strength as we follow You to do this and always convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. And Father, thank You for the salvation You give us so freely. Please forgive me for I fail You. Use Your Word wherever it goes. Touch hearts with it throughout the world. In Jesus name I pray.