In the sermon titled 'The Good News,' Pastor Tom Horn explores the profound message of the Gospel, emphasizing the dichotomy between the bad and good news as outlined in Ephesians chapter 2. He begins by elaborating on the 'bad news,' which highlights humanity's inherent spiritual death, separation from God, and the universal curse of sin. According to the Apostle Paul, all individuals are born into a state of disobedience and are deserving of God's wrath. However, Pastor Horn contrasts this with the 'good news,' which centers on God's rich mercy and grace. Through His great love, God offers salvation, not as a result of human works, but as a gift of grace. God's mercy forgives the debt of sin, while His grace adds immeasurable riches to the believer's spiritual account in Christ. The sermon underscores that salvation is not just about escaping hell or going to heaven, but becoming part of God's family. The ultimate purpose of salvation is to transform sinners into co-heirs with Christ, sharing in His inheritance and glory. Pastor Horn concludes by urging listeners to trust in the provision of Jesus Christ as their Savior, emphasizing that faith in Christ is the only way to salvation.

I am thrilled about the theme of the conference. We certainly all need to learn more and be encouraged and committed to actually preaching the word. And so we're thankful for that. I'm actually going to start off this morning by preaching the central message, the very theme of the Word, the Gospel. And if I'm going to do so anywhere in the vicinity of 40 minutes, I'm going to have to get to it.

So take your copy of God's Word and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. If you want to write in the title for this message, the title is the good news. The good news. Ephesians chapter 2, This is the apostle Paul to the Ephesus Church.

Actually according to chapter 1 verse 1 it is to the apostle Paul to the faithful saints of the Ephesus church. So that means that this, what he is about to show, write to them is a reminder, encouragement and instruction concerning the good news and what that means to them as faithful saints of the Lord's Church. So Ephesians 2 beginning in verse 1, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Wherein in times past you 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 lust 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 have quickened us together with Christ by grace you 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 shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are you 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. The term gospel comes from the Greek word eugenlion which simply means good news. The gospel, God's gospel, is good news. It is good news.

So if I said to us today, let me tell you some good news. The silent implication of that statement is that there is bad news as well, right? And sure enough, that is exactly how Paul begins this section of his letter in verses 1 through 3 by reminding the Ephesian saints and the Holy Spirit reminding us of the bad news. And y'all the bad news is really bad. It's really bad.

Verse one, and you hath he quickened who were, before this gracious quickening, before they were rescued, before their salvation, they were dead in trespasses and sins. I'm mindful of who's writing this. This is the Apostle Paul. He was a former Pharisee. Think about how death, what death meant to him.

Death was defilement. Death would make a person unclean, ceremonially unclean. Everything about death was negative, negative, negative, so much more even than we think about death. Death in his mind, in that Jewish, especially, phariseeical mind, death was, was nothing, Nothing about it was positive. And that's what he says here and he knows what he's saying.

He's writing under the inspiration of the Spirit. Back in chapter 1, Paul begins this letter by declaring the blessedness of our God. But here he reminds them that they and we, because of our sins, because of our trespasses, because of our sinfulness against God, we became dead to Him. We became dead to God. We were all separated.

We were all alienated from him and his blessedness. So the bad news is we are all born into this world in spiritual death. We are all born into this world in spiritual separation. We are all born into this world in alienation from or away from God. We are born into this world without any ability or willingness God-ward.

Dead. Dead to God. And then verse 2, Paul continues with the description of the bad news. And y'all the bad news just goes from bad to worse. We're in in times past you walked in this death, that's what he's talking about.

You walked, you lived in this death according to the curse of this world, according to the course of this world, this fallen world, I guess it could be expressed according to the curse of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So in this death we were, or perhaps maybe some here today still are, not only dead to God, but we were or are so because we are controlled by self, A fallen and corrupt disobedient self and even Satan himself. He's that spirit that Paul is referring to here. And then notice verse 3.

The news goes from bad to worse to terrifying. Among whom also we all, so this bad news is universal bad news, we all had our conversation or we all conducted ourselves in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind that have prayed flesh, that have prayed mind, and were by nature then the children of wrath, God's wrath, even as others. So the bad, worse, terrifying news is not just death but disobedient death. In Romans 8 Paul writes of it as being enmity or hostility against God and in this disobedient rebel death we are under and justly so We are under the wrath of God Himself. Or as is recorded in John 3, in this disobedient death, the wrath of God abides presently upon us.

Do we all hear? Do we all understand? This is God's word to us. This isn't a fable. This is God's word to us.

This is God speaking to us through this man in the power of inspiration, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we all hear this bad, this worse, this universally bad and terrifying news? Wow. And understand, this is all of us as we are born into this world. This is all of us of ourselves.

We are all corrupt sinners. We are all without exception rebellious trespassers. We are all slaves to self and to Satan himself of ourselves. We have all earned death. We've all earned separation, alienation.

We've all earned, we all deserve the impending judgment and the wrath of God Almighty. Do we all understand that? Can we all say, yes Lord, I agree. I agree with you, you're right. That's me, you know me better than I know myself.

I know oftentimes we don't want to think like this, right? Oh no, that's not true, it's not that bad. Yes, it is. It is that bad. And if we understand that, we should also understand that as bad, exceeding bad, terrifying as this news is, it's even worse still.

Because realize this bad news affects every aspect of our existence. Or let me say it like this, we're about to get to the good news and thank God there is good news because this bad news is so pervasive that without the good news all there is and would ever be and completely is bad news. Meaning as good, even as religious as you may think your life is if you have not truly heard, if you are not now presently believing into this good news, It's all bad. Everything is bad news. It really is.

Without the good news, everything and everyone will add up to being an eternal curse to you and possibly even being eternally cursed by you because of you. So about now We should all be crying out to God, God, Lord. Please tell us, please show us, please cause us to hear the good news, right? Well, you gotta know the bad news. You gotta know how bad the bad news is before you can know how good the good news is.

That's exactly right. Yes. Lord, please tell us, though, the good news. Yes, and so thankfully he does. Verse 4.

But, so in contrast, this word is a contrastive, in contrast to this bad, worse, terrifying news, but. But God. The good news is God. The good news is God. The good news is God.

The good news is the blessed God and Father of chapter 1. The good news is God Yahweh. And look, we gotta see this good news about God. But God, who is rich in mercy, God is the God of mercy. Oh, but not just the God of mercy.

He is rich in mercy. He abounds in mercy. He has mercy, and he has mercy to spare. His mercy is more. His mercy is more, more, more, more.

And notice where his mercy comes from. But God who is rich in mercy for or because of his great love with which he loved us. So God abounds in mercy towards us. He abounds in mercy towards his people who in chapter 1 he has chosen in Christ unto salvation before the foundation of the world. And this abounding mercy is born out of his sovereign love.

Amen. Love, mercy bestowed upon us freely, as verse five says, even when we were dead in our sins. God's abounding mercy came to us. So let me tell us some good news, and this is good news. God, God Yahweh, He is the God of salvation.

He is the God of sovereign saving love. And because of His love, He gives mercy to dead and dying, wrath-worthy sinners. Y'all hear that? Because of His mercy, because of His love, He gives mercy to dead, dying, wrath-worthy sinners. And listen, this is good, good, glorious news because understand what mercy is.

Mercy is not giving us what we have earned. Mercy is not giving us what we deserve. Or here, let me put it in banking terms. Mercy would be forgiving the debt of someone who is helplessly bankrupt. I mean his account is so far in the red that the bottom can't be found.

There's no way that he could ever possibly repay that but then amazingly his debt is forgiven and his his balance is brought out of the negative out of the infinite red to zero. That's mercy. That's mercy. Mercy is plucking us from, plucking us out of the eternal fire and the torments of hell. Mercy is removing us from the wrath, the rage, and the fury of God Almighty Himself that we have earned and that we deserve.

This is mercy. So yes, absolutely. Glory! This is good news. God has chosen out of His own sovereign love only out of himself to give his people mercy, to give mercy to sinners who deserve only eternal death and the wrath of God.

This is good news, right? Yes. Praise God. But let's not stop now, because the good news gets even better. How in the world could it get better than God giving mercy to us?

Well, just look. Look at verse 5. Actually, let's read verse 4 again. He tells the bad, worst, terrifying news in 1 through 3, but verse 4, he gives us this contrast, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ by grace, by grace, by grace, by God's free, His own free unmerited favor. His own free unmerited favor, ye are saved.

So let's understand here that Paul is saying something very specific here. It's not something general. It's specific because mercy and grace are actually two separate things. Or back to our banking illustration. Mercy forgives the debt.

Mercy brings the balance back out of the red to zero. But grace brings the account from zero into the black. Grace brings the account from zero into a positive balance. Grace adds. So the bankrupt debtor is not only in mercy for giving his debt, but then in grace, funds are added to his account.

Funds are added to his account. And if we were wondering how many funds, well look down at verse 7, that in the ages to come, so many are the funds added to our account saints, it's going to take the eternal ages to count. Because look, so that in the ages to come, he might chew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us. God's grace adds. God's grace is exceeding.

It is surpassing riches What's that telling us God's grace is? Immeasurable we we can't even count what God's grace has added to our account We can't count the balance it is so high it is too high And all of it is freely given to us, what does he say at the end of the verse, through Christ Jesus. In by because of Christ Jesus. This love and mercy born grace gift Is all bound up in the perfect person and the redeeming work of Christ Jesus. His perfections, his person, his perfections, his proven righteousness, the law, you know, the law proves us all to be guilty, but the law proved him to be perfect because he kept every part of it.

But then he laid that perfect light down as a sacrifice, a substitute for these very people that he's speaking of here. He was dead for three days buried in the tomb but then he arose and he arose not just as a miracle either well as a miracle obviously but he arose for purpose to ascend back into heaven to the right hand of God and to ever live to make intercession for us his perfection that's this positive account that's added to our account. This immeasurable positive account of grace, of perfection that we are given through Christ. So saints, this love and mercy born grace give an account our new balance in Christ Jesus is far too high to count. But you know what we can actually see it if the Holy Spirit would let us and would enable us, we can actually see it right here in the text.

Follow me a minute. So the bad news is death, separation, wrath, God is against us. But God, God, God Yahweh, He is the God of salvation. He is the God of good news. He is the God of sovereign love and mercy and he is the God not only of good news He's the God of even better news.

He's the God of grace And in this grace notice, let's read it again beginning at verse 4 but God who is rich in mercy for because of his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins. Hath or he has quickened us together with Christ for by grace are you saved and hath and hath he has raised us up together." Literally in the original syntax, the sentence structure here it is, God is the antecedent in this sentence. So God has raised us up together with him and made us sit together with Him, with God Himself in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So why does Paul keep repeating the word together here? Or literally together with Him, together with God Himself in verse 6, because He is showing them and us.

He is emphasizing what it means to be truly alive. He is emphasizing what it means to be truly saved from our death, from our separation. The good and even better news is that God is in His free and sovereign love, mercy and grace, takes us sinners from the debt and bankruptcy of our own spiritual death, our own spiritual defilement, and He fills and He overflows our account with the immeasurable balance of life instead of death. Life as unbelievable as this is in to these minds and these bodies living in this world, life even right now Life, even right now, with Him. Even right now, together with Him, in the heavenly places.

Because of His mercy, we are no longer separated. We are no longer estranged from Him. Because of His mercy, He is no longer against us. And then, because of His grace, we are with Him. Because of His grace, He is for us.

Because of His grace, He is for us. Because of His grace, He is all in for us. You see, this is good, even better news. Isn't it? Praise God, right?

Glory to God, right? Well, guess what? Hang on. Because we haven't even gotten to the best news of all yet. So back to our banking illustration once more.

In God's mercy, in his rich mercy, He brings us bankrupt sinners out of the red. In his grace, he then overflows our account with life, really the infinite riches of himself. Get that. That's what life is. The infinite riches of God Himself.

That's what He's given us, saints. He's overflowed our account. Think about that as expressed all throughout the scripture. We have access to him. Free access.

Unbridled access in Christ to come to him. He has given us every, how does the book of Ephesians begin, the letter of Ephesians, he's given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in him. He overflows our account with with the immediate infinite riches of himself, of himself. Salvation is not about something. Salvation is someone and it's about someone and it's centered in someone and it's lived for someone.

It's not about something. It's not about your religion, our religion, my religion. It's about someone. But here's the thing. God doesn't do all of this.

He doesn't give His people this free gift of an overflowing account just to make us customers. Look at the text again. Look how Paul exposes this best news of all. Again in verse 4, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love or with he love us even when we're dead in sins have quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might shoo he might declare prove prove before us the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.

Amen. Okay, so can we all see, can we all hear the best news of all? Yes, God in his love and his mercy, he saves people from their just deserves of hell. Absolutely, absolutely. But y'all, that's not all.

No. That's not only. True. He also in his free grace gives them life, life with Him, where there was once only death, separation, alienation from Him. Yes.

Absolutely. Praise God. Absolutely. Even that and it's hard to say Even that is not only Even that is not all Because the Apostle here repeatedly tells us, restresses to us, that God does all of this how? In Christ Jesus, through Christ Jesus.

So get this remember, context, context, context. God does all of this in and through Christ Jesus, the very same Christ Jesus who in chapter 1 is the beloved Son of the blessed God and Father. In other words The best news of all is that God in choosing to save sinners does not just save them so that they can be saved from hell, nor does He save them just so they can be spectators in heaven. No, God, Yahweh, the God of love and mercy and grace, he saves us and he does so in Christ Jesus, his perfect son, because in him, once dead and dying, hell-worthy sinners, in him they become his sons and his daughter. Now sure, being saved from eternal torment in hell, that's good news, right?

Absolutely. I mean, no one. Anybody here want to go to hell? Anybody here want to spend forever in the fires and in the torments of hell where the flame is not quenched and the worm died? No, right?

So to be saved from that torment, that's good news. Yes, absolutely. And then to be saved to go to heaven to be safe you understand heaven is not about something either heaven is about someone God is heaven without God heaven is not heaven Regardless of the streets of gold and gates of pearl, all those things that people make it to be, primarily it is all of that. But John's just expressing in those terms that everything that is so valuable to this world will be stuff we walk on in the glories of heaven. Will be nothing inferior to God himself, who is the greatest of all goods.

So anyway, being saved to go to heaven, to go to God himself, absolutely. That's even better news than just being saved from hell. Who would not want to go to paradise and live forever in the presence of our perfect creator? Only an insane person would not want to go and be with our perfect creator just as he intended when he created human beings. But y'all the best news of all is that God, he intends more, infinitely more for us.

He puts us in Christ. He saves us in Christ. He seals, sees, and deals with us in Christ. And in Christ, we become co-heirs, sharers of His inheritance, of Christ's inheritance, even in a sense, and this is hard to fathom, but we become sharers of his glory. We are told in scriptures that in Christ, we become like him.

In Christ, we have all and everything that he has earned and worked for for us. Let me say that again. In Christ we have all and everything and the everything really is everything that he has earned and worth for for us. Saints the best news of all is that God doesn't just want us to be escapees from hell or customers or consumers of heaven. God has put us in Christ and we are in Christ, saints.

We are in Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus is our salvation because God, our Father, as Jesus puts it in Matthew 6 our Father he wants us to be his family he wants us to be his forever family not just escapees from hell. Not just consumers of heaven. Oh no! Something more, much more. Remember His mercy is more, more, more.

His grace is immeasurable. He intends much more for us. He intends for us to be his family. That's almost unbelievable. Especially knowing the bad news.

Who we are, what we're worthy of. And God, though we were against him, at enmity hostile towards him, God would want for us something so high, something so glorious, something so wonderful, something so much more than we could ever ask or imagine. I mean is that really what Paul is getting at here? I say to you it is. Look at verse 19.

Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints but he doesn't just stop there. And of the household of God. What's that word household mean? When you talk about your household, what are you talking about? Same thing that Paul is talking about.

Family. Family. Look at chapter 5 verse 1, look over there. But ye therefore be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. What's he talking about?

He's talking about his dear children. How do we know that? Well look and walk in love as Christ, God's only begotten son. Be like him, that his dear child be like, he's telling us to be like him, his dear child, because we are the children of God. Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior.

Look down to verse 8, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. What's he saying? Walk as the children of the Lord. Family. Family.

That's exactly what Paul's getting at here. And God gives us this position and this possession in Christ, this right of sonship, this right of family, as Paul writes here in verse 8, back in chapter 2, not because of anything or any merit or any work on our behalf, but completely as a free gift of his sovereign grace. Matter of fact, in verse 10, we learn that though we were dead towards God, it was amazing, in verse 10. Look at verse 10. For we are his workmanship.

Now it starts off, you were dead to God and it winds up here, for you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So yes we were dead to God but God was not dead towards us. But He was, and He is at work working His plan to save His people, to save sinners, and give even their life here on earth. Meaning, He saved us unto good works. He saved us so now we can do good works.

Remember, I mentioned to us earlier that without the good news, it's all bad news. There is no good work for us in this death and separation from God. But here's the opposite. With this good news, because of who God is and what he has done, because of Christ Jesus, when we truly hear this good, better, and best of all news. God does such a work in us.

His workmanship is such upon us that we, our entire lives, become so affected by this good news that we become examples and advocates of the good news. Actually, everything becomes good news and about the good news to us. So this is the gospel. This is the good news. Have you heard the good news today?

You have. You have, but have you really? Have you truly? I guess the response to this good news, to God's good news could be a few things. First for the saints of God here this morning, a mind of thankfulness, gratitude, praise, worship.

Shouldn't that mind be welling up and overflowing in us to hear of the greatness and the glory of our God in Christ Jesus. Shouldn't our minds? I know we're hampered so much by our flesh. I know we're hampered so much by our lives in this world. But at hearing this message from God, His good news from God, shouldn't our minds be welling up and overflowing in gratitude, thankfulness and worship.

Oh, thank you God for you. Thank you God for your Son, for giving us the Lord Jesus. Thank you for such glorious, this glorious gift of your mercy and your grace, this glorious gift of salvation. You are so good. You are so wonderful.

Oh Lord, you are such a good, good Father. And then there may be others who don't know if they have actually received such a gift as this. Maybe you are someone who realizes even today, even now, that though you've been very religious, you've never truly heard or understood the true gospel until right now. Would it surprise you to know that today there are professing Christians sitting all over Church views? Not necessarily today, but tomorrow.

Who, if you ask them what the gospel is, they can't tell you. They can't tell you. Statistics say that 55% of professing Christian doesn't even believe that Jesus alone is the Savior. They've obviously never heard the good news. Though they may be professing Christians, religious, church going.

They've never heard it. Maybe that's you today. Or maybe you're someone who knows that no, no, I don't have such a hope of salvation as this. I don't have this Savior. And so some may be thinking, how do I receive this gift of mercy, God's mercy, His grace?

How do I receive this gift of the salvation of God? How do I become a recipient of this good, better, best news of all news? How? Tell me how. Serves, what must I do to be saved?

Look one more time at verse 8. Again written to these previously dead and dying sinners. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourself, this being this faith, but also this great salvation. It is not of yourself, it is, all of it is, the gift of God.

For by grace you've been saved through faith we know by Paul's other letters but we can certainly see it here as well, that God's salvation is by God's sovereign love, mercy, grace alone, through faith alone. And this faith, true saving faith, all true saving faith, is upon Christ Jesus alone. The person and the work of Christ Jesus alone. In his letter to the Rome Church in chapter 4, Paul basically explains to them that faith, though it is indeed a supernatural work of the Spirit of God, is also very tangible. It is believing.

It is trusting. Literally, It is believing into the record of God concerning His Son. That's what faith is. It is believing into the record of God concerning his Son. So if you are here this morning considering, wondering if you have this gift of God's grace, salvation, Let me ask you this one question.

Do you have the Son Himself? Do you have the son himself? Do you have Christ Jesus as your salvation? Everything else is nothing without him. The gospel according to Paul Galatians, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians here.

The gospel is Christ is and must be everything or He is nothing. So do you have God's Christ? Do you have the Son as your salvation? That's the question. Do you have him as your only hope of acceptance before God?

And if you have the Son, If you have the Son, this Son of God, this Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, the Son of God of the Bible, if you have Him as your salvation, you can be assured that indeed you have received this indescribable gift of God's salvation. Do you have the Son? For by grace are you saved through faith, through faith in Christ Jesus. You have the Son. He is my Savior, He is my salvation.

He is everything. Do you have Christ Jesus, the Son? And if you realize even now that no, no, I don't have him, well then believe. Believe without delay. Believe the record of God.

Believe God's Word concerning His Son. Trust God. Trust God about what He says about you, the bad, worse, terrifying news. Trust Him. Agree with Him.

Say, yes Lord, you're right. Yes Lord, you're right. Save me from this death. And trust the Son. Because that's how He saves us from this death in Christ, through Christ.

It's the only way that He saves us. God is the God of salvation. It's salvation on his terms or no salvation. Well his terms are wonderful. His terms are so much more glorious than any terms you can make for yourself.

His terms are free. His terms are forever. His terms are satisfying and fulfilling. His terms are everything and they fill your heart and your life with joy. Follow, trust His terms.

Don't follow your heart. It will deceive you and it it'll cast you into destruction forever. Amen. Believe and trust in God. Trust the provision, His provision of His perfect Son as your Savior, as your salvation today while it is yet today.

Now, now this moment turn from your unbelief and believe. Turn from your love of self and love of sin and love and trust Christ Jesus. Follow him as your Lord, as your master and become his faithful disciple by the mercy and the free grace of God believe now upon Believe now into the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Amen. Amen.

What glorious news this is for sinners like us isn't it? Amen.