Lessons from the Grace Yard

All right, well, let's take our Bible turn back to Ephesians chapter two. Like I said earlier, we're going to be back in verses one to 10. And sometimes I do ask you to turn to a few other places, but I will not ask you to do that. We'll be right there in these verses that we are familiar with. And I will not put any information on the screens. Usually I do put some information, the outline up there. I try to help facilitate you taking notes and studying what we are learning together. But this morning, it just doesn't fit into an outline. And I would just like you to follow me with your mind, with your heart and with your understanding.

And as I say, often, if you need some help, you just come see me. If you need my notes, I'll be glad to give those to you. And I will even offer a translation for my notes because sometimes they have to be translated. Now, this morning, I think it's obvious to you that I'm not going to divide the verses that are next up and our study through the Book of Ephesians. We should be starting the second section of chapter two. And the second second section of chapter two is verses 11 to 20. Now, I say starting. We should be starting this section because it will take us at least three messages to adequately cover those verses.

Some of you who know me are looking at those verses and thinking about what I said. Three messages. It could be three. It could be four. It could be five. We just see how it plays out as I study and prepare to preach and teach. We're going to take our time. I think you know that. But this morning, I'm going to do what I call preaching back into a portion of scripture that we have already studied. We have covered verses one to 10 and three messages. We examine verses one to three and what I call the living dead. We studied verses four to six and what I called alive in Christ.

And then we studied verses seven to ten and what I called made alive for the purposes of God. Now, what do I mean when I say preaching back into the scriptures? What do I mean when I say I'm preaching back like that? We covered verses one to ten very thoroughly. I divided those verses in three very important messages. But there is some additional teaching and application that I believe we really need, all of us. We really need. And as your pastor, I see that I need to carry the teaching that's found here in these verses a little further into your life. And this has really been on my mind since we finish up these verses back in December.

I was sharing with Brother Keith earlier. I do regret that this message could not come right on the heels of all of the work that we did in those three messages. But we just take the calendar as it is given to us. Now, I want to give you a friendly little warning here for any of you here this morning or for anyone that could be listening to this message because it is recorded and it is made available for anyone that maybe is condemning because I am not preaching what's called a purely exegetical sermon this morning. Do not tune me out. There are sometimes folks that will condemn a pastor if they preach a topical sermon.

Now, listen, I have faithfully divided these verses and given you messages that have been very instrumental in teaching you what the Lord is giving us here in these messages and these verses. But I feel the need to further take this teaching into our lives. So take what I'm giving you this morning. Take what we have studied in verses one to 10. You study, you pray, and you ask the Lord to instruct you and mold you how he sees fit and how we all need. Now, this is how we're going to approach the message this morning. First, I want to give us an overview of what I taught you in verses one to 10.

And then second, I want to take you through two reasons. This teaching is vital. Two reasons. And then I want to show you three ways people handle the teaching that is taught here. Now, some of you might be saying, Pastor, you can't give all of that in one message. I believe we can. So just take a step back and let's let's dive in. So first, I want us to have an overview. I want to give you an overview of what we studied in verses one to 10. And we had three messages here. And I want to make three statements, three observations that come right out of those messages. First, we saw that we are the living dead.

We saw in verses one to three that we are the living dead. Let's go back to our verses, verses one to three. Paul says to the Ephesian church, the Ephesian Christians, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among them. We too all formally lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Now, we learned that before we come to faith in Christ, we are truly the living dead. I said that we are the zombies. We are literally walking dead people. We can truly be seen as the death walkers. And as the death walkers, Paul showed us our condition in life and our position in life. He shows us our condition in life and our position in life. Our condition in life before Christ is that we were dead, not physically dead, but spiritually dead, all while being alive physically. The scriptures often use the word life to describe the condition of a man who has union with God. They know God. They are spiritually alive.

Well, spiritual death is the opposite. Spiritual death is the condition of one that lives when they do not have God. They are alienated from God. They are estranged from God. They do not have the spirit of God, so they are spiritually dead. So as they live their life, their condition spiritually is death. And I know that that can seem contradictory to some. And our position in life, our position in life before Christ, is that we are in the text uses two words, our trespasses and sins. And Paul wasn't just saying that we sin.

He wasn't merely saying we commit sins, but that before we have come to Christ, before we are born of the spirit of God, our actual position in life before God was sin. Sin was the realm. It was the arena in which we live. It was the arena in which we existed. And this is not just individual sins. This speaks to an ultimate sinfulness. This speaks to a position in life before God. Paul continued. He continued to show us how we live as the living death walkers. Again, this is before we've met Christ. He shows us three things about our lives. We walked in rebellion. We lived in our lusts. And we were children of God's wrath.

Of course, he is describing our life before Christ. In walking in rebellion, we walked the way of the world, following the world's customs, the world's morals, the world's standards and the world's values. We walked following after the prince and the power of this world. That would be Satan. And we walked following the people of the world. But there's more. We lived in the lust of satisfying our own sinful desires and our own appetites. We lived out our strong desires to gratify the sinful desires of our bodies and our minds. But that is not all. Paul continues. He says that we were also children of wrath.

By nature, we were born children of wrath. We were born in Adam. We were born in the sin of Adam. And we were not born for a wrath to come, but we were born in the sin of Adam. Therefore, we were born as objects of God's wrath, literally under the judgment and the wrath of God in life. That can be strange for some to hear and even to absorb. But go and read John chapter 3 verse 18. We are familiar with verse 16, but we might not be familiar with verse 17. And most are definitely not familiar with verse 18. So we learned that before Christ, before we were converted to Christ, we were the living dead. We were the zombies, the death walkers.

We were living in sin and rebellion against God. And we were children of God's wrath living under God's wrath all throughout life. So this is our first observation. Anyone who is not converted to Christ is dead in sin. They are the living dead. They were living life. They are living life dead all while being physically alive. And the question for all of us is this. Will we accept what God's word says about us? See folks, you have to realize this. When God's word is proclaimed, the flesh, our sinfulness will reject that. And the question is this. Will we accept what God's word says about us? Or will we reject that?

Will we accept what God's word says about man, ourselves, even our loved ones? And will we act out of this information as we should? I thought about it like this. Sometimes this can be tough medicine to take. Because a lot of folks do not want to hear what God's word says about man and about themselves. And a lot of times people will look at their human goodness and the goodness of mankind. Of course, theologians describe that as common grace. But see, we can't look at mankind. No, I've said it like this. You can look to your left and find somebody that's worse than you. And look to your right and find somebody that's better than you.

But we can't look at human goodness. We have to look at ourselves in light of God. So the question is, will we accept what God's word says about mankind and not just mankind, us? And then second, we saw that we are made alive in Christ. This is out of verses four to six. We are made alive when we come to Christ. When we come to Christ, when we're born of God, we are made alive in Christ. Let's read those verses. Verse four, "But God..." I love those two words. "But God..." The bad news was in verses one to three. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us..." Let me pause there.

That's what we just were singing about. Verse five, "Even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you've been saved. And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Now, we learn that for the spiritually dead to be made alive, like we've read there, something had to happen to that man from another source. And the other source is God.

And like I said, I think two of the most precious words in all of the Scriptures are found in verse four, "But God..." Oh, the bad news of verses one to three is interrupted with those two words, "But God..." And Paul is describing this work of being made alive by God. Paul shows us God's character and God's actions. What God did here and his character, his character that is behind what he did. And all that God does here in making men alive, it comes out of these two things, out of his character. He is rich in mercy and great in love. In the case of the spiritually dead, they all deserve punishment for sin and their rebellion against God.

They deserve, we deserve eternal hell and damnation. But God is merciful. God is loving in his heart towards the spiritually dead. And this is important in that it speaks of what God did and more. This speaks of who God is and his character and it speaks of what God did in salvation and does in salvation. Paul continues by showing what God did. First, he showed the death walkers mercy and love. He demonstrated that mercy towards us, towards those who do not deserve it. But he does not stop there. He made the spiritually dead alive.

Look back at verse 5, even when we were dead, even when we were dead in our transgressions, it's implied he made us alive together with Christ. So what does this mean to be made alive? That's the million dollar question. The death walkers, the zombies need life. They need spiritual life. Remember, they are spiritually dead. And the spiritual life comes when the spiritually dead are born again of the Holy Spirit of God. The spiritual life comes to man and in a man when the spiritually dead are born spiritually by the Holy Spirit of God. And as a result, the spiritually dead one believed savingly in Christ. They trust in Christ.

This is the one who becomes alive to God through the power of the Spirit of God that enables them to turn from their sin and to trust in Christ. Truly, a miracle happens. You hear me, folks? The death walker, the zombie, the one that is spiritually dead in every way is made alive together with Christ. So we learn that the spiritually dead must have life. A life that is outside of them and beyond them. They are dead but God. But God, God who is rich in mercy and love demonstrated mercy and love by making the spiritually dead alive together with Christ. A miracle takes place. The spiritually dead, they're born of the Spirit of God.

So this is our second observation. God does a miracle, the miracle of miracles. Through His rich mercy and His great love, He makes the dead alive and not just alive but alive together with Christ. The dead are actually made alive with Christ, in Christ, together with Christ. And the question for us here is this. Will we accept what God's word says here? Will we believe what God says a man needs to be made right with God? Or will we hold on to our traditions? Will we hold on to our traditions? Will we hold on to what we've been taught? Will we hold on to even what our parents have taught us?

And look folks, this is mysterious and this is miraculous. Jesus looked at Nicodemus. Who knew all of these things intellectually? And he described it as the wind. What is he saying? This is mysterious and it is miraculous. You can explain it and understand it up to a certain point. This is beyond our comprehension and beyond what man can do for himself. This doesn't come from a particular denomination. It comes right out of the scriptures. So the question for us is this. Will we accept God's word here? Will we believe what God says a man needs to be made right with God? And then third, we saw that we are made alive for the purposes of God.

We are made alive for the purposes of God. I want to read verse 7 and then verse 10. Verse 7, "In order that," there's a transition there. What is Paul saying? "All of this took place. All the death walkers are made alive together with Christ. In order that, in the ages to come, he," that's God, "might show the surprising riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." Verse 10, "For we are his workmanship created in Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Now we learned here the reasons that God saves us are not usually what we hear.

They are not usually what we are taught, maybe even what we believe. The reasons God redeems men, it's not for man. It's not simply so that man can miss hell and get heaven. God makes men alive in Christ Jesus for reasons that bring God glory and even reasons which he determined in eternity past, even before men were born. If you remember, we ask an important question here. This is the age-old question of the purpose of life. Why were we born? What is the purpose of life? And more specifically, why does God give us life in Christ? Why does he save us? Well, here Paul shows us that God saves us for his school of grace.

I borrowed that phrase from the Bible scholar, William McDonald. God saves us for his school of grace and God saves us for his works in our life. After we are made alive in Christ, we enroll in the school of God's grace. Simply we begin learning of the immeasurable and indefinite riches of God's grace towards us in Christ Jesus. From the time we are converted to Christ, all throughout life and even throughout eternity, we will be learning of God's immeasurable and his indefinite riches of God's grace and mercy that have been bestowed upon us, those who believe. And that's not all here. We were saved to be God's workmanship, verse 10 tells us.

And we were saved for God's works. We were saved by God to be his masterpiece. This means that God creates us in Christ Jesus and he continues to form us like a precious work of art so that we could be made more like his son Jesus. But there's more. Not only are we a priceless work of art, God has works laid up for us, good works. The redeemed are created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared beforehand. That means that in eternity past, God prepared good works for his people and the redeemed should walk in those works. God actually has a roadmap already charted out for the lives of his people.

And his people, all they have to do is walk with God and walk in obedience to God and walk in those works. That's what we see in verse 10. So we learned that we are made alive together with Christ for the purposes of God. God performs this miracle of giving us life in Christ Jesus for his purposes. First that we may enroll in the school of God's grace from the time of being converted all throughout life and all throughout eternity, learning of God's priceless grace that is ours in Christ Jesus. And second that we may do good works, the works that he has prepared for us, that we should walk in those works. So this is our third observation.

We are made alive in Christ for the purposes of God. God saves us for his purposes. He gives us life for his purposes. These are things which he prepared beforehand. That grips some of you. It's right there plainly in the verse, verse 10. These are things which he prepared beforehand and all we should walk in them. And my question for you is this. Will we see our lives according to verse 10 and verse 7, verse 7 and verse 10? Will we see that we are to be faithful students in God's school of grace and that we are to be working in the works that he has prepared for us? We're to be walking down that map of life that he has charted for us.

Sometimes an illustration helps us. We live in a day of technology, you know, if we want to go from point A to point B, we turn on that friendly little device, the GPS. I'm old enough to remember when we had an Atlas, a road map. Some of you are nodding your head. You know, if we want to go from point A to point B, we turn on that GPS device and we listen and we follow the directions. Well, what does the Scripture say right here? We are to walk with God, simply doing the works that he has prepared for us beforehand. Now, at this point, I know that I've given you a fast overview of all that we studied.

I want to move into two reasons why this teaching is important. Two reasons, and we needed to zoom through because listen, these two reasons come out of all that we've learned and then we're going to wrap those two up together. And when I say this is important, I mean this is vital. Folks, this is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of heaven and hell. This truly affects our understanding of how to properly influence people for the gospel, how we influence our sons and our daughters, our friends and our neighbors, even the nations. And I'm going to really focus my application on our children.

So two reasons why understanding these verses, this teaching is so very important. First, Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 10. Really, verses 1 to 3 explains to us man's spiritual condition outside of Christ. Verses 1 to 3 tell us man's spiritual condition before they are converted to Christ. Verses 1 to 3 enables us to see the utter sinfulness of man and man's inability to come to God on their own. Notice in these verses that Paul uses very important descriptive language. In describing God's redemptive plan and work, Paul speaks in terms of God raising a man from spiritual death in sin to life in Christ.

Paul speaks of man as dead, dead in sin, and born under the wrath of God. It is a crucial thing to see here in that man is totally unable to come to God on his own. He is dead. He is dead. A spiritually dead man can't come to God on his own even if he is physically alive. Spiritually, he is dead. Now, why is that important? This pertains to a proper understanding of the doctrine of man. And if we don't truly understand man's position and condition before God, we will never see and understand how man can come to Christ. Let me repeat this.

If we do not have a proper understanding of the doctrine of man, specifically that man is dead in his sin and he can never come to God on his own, we will never see and understand how man can come to Christ. And if we fail here, we fail in our evangelism. We ruin the gospel. Let me show you what happens here. If we fail to understand that man is dead, that he is utterly sinful, then what we do is we automatically revert to unbiblical ways of evangelism. And we lead our loved ones and others astray. Listen, folks, here's where I'm trying to get to.

Our sons and our daughters, our children, our teenagers that are in our homes, yes, we must teach them the Word of God, yes, we must teach them the ways of God, yes, we must teach them what God's Word says, but it starts with teaching them who they are. Our little boys and our little girls are not good little boys and they're not good little girls. Oh, pastor, you're going to ruin their self-esteem. What does the Scripture say? And yes, we teach them what the Scriptures say. Yes, we teach them right and wrong.

Yes, we teach them what God's Word says, what the Christian life is, but we must draw a clear and distinct line in the sand and show them that they are dead. They are rebels against God, and we must explain to them their condition and their position before God. Listen, folks, nobody comes to Christ unless they see themselves as sinful. You see? This is vital, because listen, you'll never come to Christ. You will never come to Christ unless God gives you a glimpse of truly who you are.

And we have hundreds and thousands of young people in churches today, and they profess Christ, and they've walked the aisles, and they've been baptized, and they've been in our Sunday school classes, but they've never had even a glimpse of who they are in light of what God's Word says. So the first reason that we have here, this is so vitally important. This teaching helps us understand the doctrine of man, and I urge you, go back and study those verses. Listen to that message. Digest that, but take that into your home and faithfully teach your children who they are.

Look at your spouse if they're unconverted, and tell them this is who you are, your neighbor, your friends, your co-worker. Look, I'm so happy that when I was lost, I had someone come to me and put their finger in my face and said, "You are a sinner." I can't repeat to you how I acted after that. But God used somebody to communicate these truths, and what I'm trying to show you is this. Nobody will ever come to faith in Christ, our eight-year-olds and our 18-year-olds, unless they see themselves as the living dead, their death walkers.

On November the 14th, when we study verses 1-3, one of the families left, they have a child, and they sent word back and said, "My child came home and saw themselves as the death walker." They were gripped, and look, that could be the very thing that starts to lead them to faith in Christ. And second, Ephesians 2, verses 1-10, specifically verses 4-6. Verses 4-6 explains to us how the spiritually dead man can be made right with God. See, if we stop at verses 1-3, it's all bad. And verses 4-6 tell us of the great miracle which must take place when one is converted to Christ.

Verses 4-6 helps us see the miracle of the new birth when one is born again, born of the Holy Spirit of God. Again, notice that in these verses, Paul uses contrasting language, descriptive language. Paul speaks in terms of God raising a man from spiritual death to life in Christ. Paul speaks of the spiritually dead man being made alive. Man is actually made alive together with Christ. And that vital thing to see here is that God makes spiritually dead men alive. We see in verses 1-3 that man is dead, but things shift in verse 4, "But God..." Two of the most beautiful words in the Scripture.

When man was spiritually dead and unable to come to God, God intervened out of his rich mercy and his great love. He loved the spiritually dead, and he, this is God, made them alive with Christ. Now why is this important? This pertains to a proper understanding of the doctrine of regeneration, the new birth. John chapter 3, this pertains to understanding the fact that a man must be born again, born of the Holy Spirit of God. And get this, folks, if we do not understand this teaching, we can never, ever understand how a man can be made right with God. And if we miss this, we fail in evangelism. We fail in influencing people to Christ.

We lose souls, even the souls of our sons and our daughters. And look what happens here. If we fail here, if we fail to understand that all men, all men, every man, every woman, every young person, must be born again or made alive in Christ, we miss it. And again, our children and teenagers, not only must we teach them their condition before God, their position before God, we must teach them that they must receive the miracle of miracles. They must be born of God, born of the Spirit of God. God comes and gives them a new heart and a new mind, and he enables them to repent of their sin and trust in Christ. It is a miracle and you cannot do it.

I cannot do it. One of the greatest things that ever happened to me in ministry is when God showed me I could not do it. I quit begging people to come down the aisles. I quit stirring people to make emotional decisions. I quit. And I would preach the gospel and say, "God, you have to save." And listen, when I did that, teenagers would get saved on the church van coming home from a youth trip. People would go home and pray and receive Christ in their dens. See, I let the Spirit do and only the Spirit could do, and that is to bring people to a place where they are converted to Christ. I want to ask you a question, rhetorical.

You know, sometimes when the pastor asks a question, somebody will have the guts to answer it. And if you answer it, it's okay. Can anyone tell me why we should tell people that they must be born again? Is it a Baptist thing? Is it a preacher thing? Can anyone tell me why we should tell people they must be born again? Listen, folks, it's because they must be born again. No one, no one will be made right with God unless they're born again. Study John 3. Oh, there are passages that are bound, that back up the teaching of regeneration and the new birth, and we tell people they must be born again because they must be born again.

And we must sit down with our teenagers and our mothers and our fathers and our children and explain to them who they are before God, even if it wrecks their self-esteem, and tell them that they must receive the miracle of miracles. They must be born of the Spirit of God. And you know what? You don't have to put words in someone's mouth when God does it. What the thief on the cross do? Oh, God, have mercy. You don't have to have the magic church words. If God moves on you whereby you will trust in Christ, you'll just cry out, and God will do what only God can do.

And so the second reason that these verses, specifically verses 4 to 6 are crucial, this teaching helps us understand how man is made right with God. This is the doctrine of regeneration, the new birth. And look, we covered this thoroughly when we looked at the message "Alive in Christ." Go back and study that and make sure that is firmly fixed in your mind. And here, just two doctrines. This is all about the doctrine of man and the doctrine of the new birth. And understanding what the Scriptures say here about man and his need to be made alive in Christ. Look, this is the difference in heaven and hell with people that we know and we love.

A couple more questions before we transition into the conclusion, which is more application. Can you imagine teaching your son and your daughter that all they have to do is pray the sinner's prayer and they are okay with God? Can you imagine leading your own child and teenager simply to just commit their life to Christ Jesus and that they're okay with God? Could you imagine leading your son and your daughter to join the church and be baptized only to stand before God and God showed you that you handled it all wrong? Can you imagine a church doing that? Can you imagine ministers doing that? It happens all the time.

Listen, folks, what does the Scripture say? "Men are dead and they must be born again." They must be made alive in Christ. And this is why we must make sure we understand this teaching. It's our only hope. It's our only hope in our homes and with our sons and daughters. Now, at this time, I want to share with you three ways people handle this teaching. And all this has really been on my mind and my heart the past few weeks and I've just prayed over it and I think that this will help you in maybe some ways in which you are surprised. Three ways that people handle this teaching. Two are incorrect. One, only one is correct.

First, there is the one who believes these things but in theory, in theory only. Let me repeat that. First, there is the one who believes these things but it's only in theory. They believe what the Scriptures say here but only in theory. When someone believes something in theory, they believe it theoretically. It's really only in the hypothetical. And this is the opposite of putting it into practice. Well, that is how a lot of people believe these verses. It is in theory and not in practice. Now, as you pastor, I'm urging you to make sure that you don't merely believe these things in theory.

It does more harm than good to answer all the questions right here. It does more harm than good to affirm all of these doctrines even to loudly espouse this teaching all while not putting the information into proper practice. We must get that. It does more harm than good to espouse this teaching and not putting it into practice. Now, let me show you. Understanding the difference is spiritually discerned. Some of you get it and some of you are nodding your heads. And some of you will miss it totally. These things are spiritually discerned. And notice, there are those who believe it in theory.

And second, we have the one who believes these things in practice. They believe these things in practice. They believe what the Scriptures say and they put it into proper practice. When someone believes something and puts it into practice, well, it moves from the theoretical to the practical. They act on what they know to be true. It is one thing to believe these verses and to believe what we have here, but it is another to put it into proper practice, not perfect practice. And as you pastor, I'm urging you to make sure that you put this teaching into practice. We should be able to answer all of the questions here correctly.

Yes, we should be able to affirm these doctrines. Yes, even to explain them and even to teach them. But we must put them into practice with our children, with anyone that is in our life that needs Christ, even with our own self. And again, this is spiritually discerned. Some of you get exactly what I'm talking about, and you're starting to see the difference between the theoretical and the practical. Those who believe it in theory and those who practice it. Well, then third. Third, we have the one who believes in error here. They do not believe what the Scriptures say here, so they do not put these things into practice.

They may say they believe them. Not only do they not put this teaching into practice, but they practice error, therefore actually declaring that they do not believe these things. And look, as your pastor, make sure you do not do this. Make sure you do not say you believe this teaching, all while practicing error, therefore actually declaring that you believe an error. Now, let me help you here a little. Let me show you how people will believe an error, all while saying they believe what the Scriptures say.

A lot of times parents will put so much faith in educating their children, in teaching their children, they really think that educating them and teaching them and pouring the truth of God's Word into them, oh, that will save them. A lot of times parents will think that their efforts with their child will somehow produce a saved child, a saved young person, a saved teenager, all while missing what? The new birth. All while missing the new birth. And what I'm trying to show you is this. Anything that negates the fact that men are dead and they need the new birth is error.

And moms and dads, we should educate, we should train, we should teach, we should pour into our children, we should teach them the difference between a Christian life and a non-Christian life, but we cannot in any way think that our efforts and their ability to live the Christian life will produce the Christian life. Listen, they must be born again. Whether they're eight, 18, or 28. I cannot tell you how disappointed I have been throughout the years when moms and dads will say something like this, "Well, I've trained them. Oh, I've taught them. Oh, they know the faith. Oh, they're grounded in the things of God.

And they'll talk about all that they've done and all that their children have accomplished all while missing the fact that they must be born again." And listen, young people, listen to your pastor, listen moms and dads. We can train them in the most wonderful way. We can work hard, but if they are not born again, at best they'll grow up and be religious. The reason teenagers grow up and graduate from God and go the way of the world is because they are not born again. If our sons and daughters cannot go to college and live for God because they are born again, we can never send a missionary around the world.

We either believe in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints or we do not. Now, what I want you to see here, what I've been trying to do this morning is this, teach back into what we've already studied. And I'm trying to make further application so we will deal with these things properly. And again, much of this is spiritually discerned and might be difficult for some of you to get. Now, as I close, most of you know that I really like titles. You know, the title of a message helps us understand what we're studying. It should reflect what's there. It should reflect the verses and the teaching.

It should help us get our mind around what we are studying. Well, when you're looking at these verses, it's all about God's grace. Think about it. But God, He went into the graveyard of man's utter sinfulness and saved. But God, men and mankind and young people are dead and God goes into that graveyard and by His good grace, He saves. He makes them alive in Christ. And listen, all this that I've given you, it's all been about pastoral lessons, lessons in further teaching. And so all I'm doing is calling this lessons from God's grace yard. You might say, "Pastor, that's kind of cute." Listen, I was so dead. Oh, I was so lost.

And God intervened in my life. And He saved me. And I've never gotten over it. And I've been living in the grace yard ever since. I can look back and see how I used to live, how I was dead. And all I can do is look at God's grace. You see, folks, if you've really experienced God's grace, you're not very far from that grave. These are lessons. And if all you get from me this morning is this, how to better deal with your children, your sons, and your daughter while I've been a success this morning. So let's do this. Let's pray. Let's commit this to the Lord.

And let's pray and expect God to form us and make us better equipped to practically live this teaching out. Let's pray.