RAISED BY GRACE
Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10
The Bible tells us that all people are born with a sinful nature, the legacy of the fall from grace by Adam and Eve. As Christians we should be burdened with a desire to see people freed from the constraints of sin, constraints that are the shackles preventing them from reconciliation with God. In Psalm 51, David writes, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (51.5), and the meaning of this is that a person possesses a sinful nature from the very moment of conception. It is sin that separates us from God, for to Him all sin is an abomination. Yet even though we are born in sin we have been given the opportunity to be redeemed to God, according to His grace, in and through Jesus Christ. So we learn that though we are born sinful we don’t have to live and die in sin.
In accepting Christ as Saviour through what He did on the cross we are given a new nature and become, as Paul puts it, transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12.2), advising us that if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature (2 Cor. 5.17). In the passage that we have read today from his letter to the Ephesians, Paul provides great encouragement for believers, striking at the very heart of the three stages of our being; who we once were, who we now are, and who we will be in the future. In verse 1 he speaks of who we were: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and in this he is speaking not of a physical death but a spiritual death. Because of sin we are separated from God, and for those who continually reject Jesus Christ, this leads ultimately to the second death which is eternal separation from God.
The important word in verse 1 is were. Paul says that you were dead. As believers in Christ we are saved from spiritual death by Him, because we have been transformed by God’s grace and are now no longer dead in sin. Paul continues in the next two verses to outline our unrighteous lives prior to our transformation, the lives that condemned us to eternal separation up to that point. By the use of the word formerly in verse 2, Paul transfers his focus from death to life, describing the life that we lived which brought only the promise of death with it.
It is difficult for the average person to identify fully with what Paul says about them, and we are able to do so only when the Holy Spirit leads us to discover Christ for ourselves. With the transformation that comes with meeting Christ for the first time we are brought face to face with our natures and convicted of the sin that exists, and has existed, in our lives to that point. With the vivid description of our lives prior to accepting Christ, Paul is saying to us quite clearly that this is the way that we were, but in the next verses he tells us that we have something to celebrate, saying, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (Eph. 2: 4-5). Because God loves us so much He has poured out His grace through our salvation.
For those who reject Christ in this life, believing that they are ‘good people’ and have no need of repentance and the subsequent salvation through Christ, Paul paints a very grim picture, pointing out that for all who remain spiritually dead they will deserve God’s wrath. For those who continually reject Christ and the offer of salvation that we have through grace, there is no reason for them to hope, for life devoid of Christ’s leadership and companionship is filled with hopelessness, and it is this hopelessness that raises the hope that believers have in Christ even higher. Because of God’s grace we share in the hope of eternal life spent in His presence, for it is by grace that we have been given this wonderful gift of salvation through the faith which we have in Jesus Christ. The amazing thing is that even this faith is in itself a gift of grace as well.
We can see that there is much to celebrate for the believer. Jesus Christ is the mediator, God the designer and the Holy Spirit is the prompter, together drawing us to the point where, recognising ourselves as sinners, we are brought through a state of repentance to the very foot of the cross, and it is then, whilst gazing on the broken body of Christ, that our transformation takes place. It is there that we experience God’s mercy to the fullest extent. Ephesians 1:7 says, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. By God’s grace we are pardoned and have been changed into new beings in Christ. Up to that moment we have been imprisoned by sin, but in Christ our pardon is complete and we are changed people. Salvation cannot be earned. Paul makes it clear that is a gift from God, and from God alone, and for that reason, we are to celebrate the present.
In verse 6 we are told that not only did God save us from the power if sin, death and wrath, but also that we were ‘raised up’, this to prepare us for the time when we will be enthroned with Him in heaven, in Christ. Because of His great love and mercy, God reached down to the very depths of our sin, saved us from death and raised us up.
The evangelist, D.L. Moody, once said: "God is so anxious to save sinners He will take everyone who comes. He will take those who are so full of sin that they are despised by all who know them; who have been rejected by their fathers and mothers, who have been cast off by their wives and their husbands. He will take whose who have sunk so low that upon them no eye of pity is cast."
So we see where we were and where we now are. The cause for us to celebrate is both for the blessings in this life that we receive through knowing Christ and also the promises contained in the Bible for our future lives when we follow Him. So what are these promises? Firstly we are promised that there will be no death. In the Book of Revelation we read, He shall wipe every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; for the first things have passed away. (Rev 21:4).
We are promised eternity with Jesus. Paul writes, Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4.17).
We are promised that we will be in the presence of God the Father. In Revelation 22.4 we read, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
The book of Revelation contains a detailed description of the New Jerusalem, which is where our promised home will be, and it will be the most wonderful place, judging from the description that we have. John writes that he saw no temple in the city for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple (21.22); and he goes on to point out that there will be no need of sun or moon to light the city because it will be lit by the glory of God (21.23).
Paul message fills us with hope. If you are in Jesus Christ, although you were once dead, now you are alive. You were unrighteous, but now you have been purified in the blood of the lamb. You were objects of wrath, but now you stand before God forgiven by His mercy, through grace.
Because of God’s love, we have been transformed from our past sinful natures and recreated according to His grace in Jesus Christ. He has saved us. He has lifted us up, and He has given us a promise of hope for the future that comes about only through a decision to repent, and to accept and follow Jesus Christ. Most people in our world believe that they’re going to heaven, but the truth is that they can only go in Christ. For, as Peter said of Christ, at his trial, there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved (Acts 4.12)
Amen
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