But God (Ephesians Sermon 9)

Well, that was a very moving story from Walter and it’s amazing how God works in grace, and I have my own story to tell, this morning, not exactly like his, but a year before I came to Christ, I almost drowned in Lake Winnipesaukee. I went with my fraternity, it was up in New Hampshire, I went with my fraternity from MIT, and we went every early September to a camp there, and we would work on the camp, and then we would play in the afternoon and have a good time, and I took this small sunfish out sailing in Lake Winnipesaukee and that was a pretty bold thing for me to do. Some would say pretty stupid because I’ve never been sailing before, but I thought I could handle the sunfish, evidently not. It was a very, very windy day, there was a lot of chop on the lake and I was flying along in this sail boat when suddenly I hit a significant wave, and got thrown from the boat. And I immediately swam back, like you’re supposed to do to the capsized boat. But then I noticed that the center board a little piece of wood from the center had floated away and I was afraid that I, you know, I was going to lose it, so I made an almost fatal decision, at that moment. I left the boat with no life preserver and swam out to get the center board. And I grabbed it and then turned around and the boat was now twice as far away from me as when I’d first swam away because the wind was blowing it away from me. So I began swimming with one arm around this board and the other just plowing through the water and I wasn’t even keeping up with the boat. So then I let the center board go and just started swimming and started to feel inside my heart a rising panic and I swam for a little while and I said, “I am not going to look at the boat,” because I was getting discouraged. And I just swam and swam and swam and swam and swam for a long time, and then I looked up and the boat, I had only made up half the distance to the boat, and I was getting very tired at this point. Then something strange happened to me at that moment, I went under the surface of the water because it was very choppy, and windy, and I was starting to panic and I just wanted to get my wits. So I just kind of went under the water and at that moment, this strange thought came to me. I started to decide if I wanted to live or not. It wasn’t a suicidal thought. I was just tired and I just wanted to decide if I would make the effort to live and I decided that I did. I was going to give everything that I had to stay alive. Again, I was not a Christian at the time.

Little did I know that at that particular moment, spiritually my soul was hanging in the balance between Heaven and Hell. So I was not a believer, I was close to death and I was not ready to die. And so I just swam and swam until I really felt that I couldn’t swim anymore, and there was the boat and I reached up for the boat, but it was hard to hold on to it. It was very slick and wet and I couldn’t grab hold of it. At that moment, some arms reached down and pulled me dead weight outta the lake, it was a guy on a motor boat, he had seen my plight and he pulled me out. I don’t know his name, I never saw him again. He might end up having been an angel, I’m not sure, because I didn’t see the boat much after he brought me to shore towing the sailfish behind. I don’t know anything else about the guy, but I know that I was almost dead and almost condemned as a sinner. But God stepped in and intervened. Just like he did with Walter, so he did with me and he would not let me die at that moment. It would be another year before I came to Christ. A year of rebellion, a year of fighting the Gospel, a year of saying no, but God would not let me die. And I stand before you today a trophy of God’s sovereign grace.

I. The Two Most Important Words in the Bible

And my point, the point of my sermon as was last week, so also this week is to say to all of you who are Christians so are each of you. Trophies of God’s sovereign grace. God intervened. And so we come in Ephesians 2:4 to, I think in some ways the two most important words in the Bible, if you understand them properly, “But God.” “But God.” Now, I’m aware the NIV starts with, “But because.” Whoever decided to be the only English translation to go with, “But because” instead of, “But God”, they’ll have to live with themselves. But the Greek says, “But God”, and every English translation  brings it over it’s “But God”, and it’s so powerful because the word, “But”, just grammaticality means we were going in one direction and now we’re going in a different direction. It captures the sense of a God-centered Gospel, a sovereign grace of His activity in my life and in the lives of every Christian of intervening, interfering, whatever you want to say, of stepping into space and time and saying, “No, it’s not going to go like that, it’s going to go differently for you.” It’s a contrast, we’re talking about a dynamic God intervening and working in a mighty way, God is the greatest force in the universe, He created the universe, Heaven and earth, and so these words “But God”, capture His dynamic activity in the world. And you see them again and again in Scripture, if you know what to look for, they’re there again and again. For example, Genesis 7 and 8, the flood of Noah, the text reads this way: Genesis 7:24, and then 8:1. “The waters flooded the earth for 150 days. But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark and He sent a wind over the earth and the waters receded.” Or again in Genesis 41:15-16, Pharaoh took Joseph out of prison and wanted him to tell him the meaning of a dream that he had had. “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it, but I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. I cannot do it,” Joseph said, “But God will give to Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Or again, later in the story, of Joseph, we have this amazing account, Joseph, now, that Jacob was dead, his terrified brothers were afraid that Joseph was going to punish them for their wicked actions against him and selling him into slavery, that he wanted to kill him. All of that, they were terrified. And Joseph said in Genesis 50:20, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good, to save lives as He is doing now.” “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Or the wise woman of Tekoa to King David. 2nd Samuel 14:14, “Like water spilled on the ground,” she said to him, “which cannot be recovered, so we must die, but God does not take away life. Instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him, but may be reconciled.” Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” And then I like this one, Peter and John preaching to the citizens of Jerusalem, “You killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. And we are all witnesses of this.” There are probably others. Have a fun time going and finding them.

But God intervenes. He steps in and he makes all the difference in the world. He’s the center of the universe, everything comes from God, and He alone can make the real changes in your life that must be made if you are to spend an eternity in joy and peace instead of in the torment that we all deserve for our sins.

So, we come to the uniqueness of the Christian message. The only hope for sinners like you and me, the only hope there is, is Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved.” There’s no other answer than Jesus. And so the Christian message begins with total human desperation. I think about Walter in that room. I think about me in the lake, nothing left, I had no strength left. I could not save myself from drowning but actually spiritually, the text says where it’s even worse, talking about human depravity, complete inability weakness, even spiritual death. Spiritual death. The Christian message doesn’t end there, however, the words “but God” means that God stepped into our spiritual death into our hopelessness and helplessness. So therefore, salvation comes from outside of us in. It’s starts out there with God, and steps into us, that’s the Christian message, that’s the Gospel. It’s God’s doing, it’s God’s work from beginning to end. This is so hard for us, prideful sinners to accept. We as Americans, we’re so used to the American dream, the idea where you can be anything you want to be. And so we have this message of, “Believe in yourself, do everything that you can. You can earn it, you can do it, you can make yourself whatever you want to be.” Yes, but you can’t make yourself a Christian, that you cannot do, you don’t have the power to make yourself a Christian any more, than you will have the power at your own funeral to make yourself rise from the dead. You can’t do that.

And so this morning, our task is to understand more completely our spiritual resurrection from the dead in Christ, that we’ll understand that, and that God will get the glory, more glory than ever before from you, and from me, for our salvation. And we’re going to do it based on these amazing two words as a gateway to these three verses of Ephesians 2:4-6. The Apostle Paul clearly asserts that every Christian is an astonishing miracle of spiritual resurrection through faith in Christ. This is true Christianity, this is it. Do you see Christianity, that way? Do you understand yourself that way? And the point of all of this, in the end, is to God alone be the glory for human salvation, to God alone be the glory. As it is written, “Let him who boast, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:31 and as it says three times, in Ephesians Chapter 1, “To the praise of His glory.” So we’re going to begin where we started last week. Ephesians 2: 1-3 with our condition apart from Christ, we were spiritually dead.

II. We Were Spiritually Dead (vs. 1-3)

Look at the verses, again, verse 1-3, just by way of review. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, and following its desires and thoughts, like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath.” So that’s what we looked at last week. This is the starting point of understanding God’s grace. We vastly underestimate our natural wickedness and sinfulness our condition, and we vastly underestimate God’s glory and grace and power and mercy in saving us. And so the idea of this preaching, the idea of study is so that we won’t vastly underestimate them as much anymore, and that our hearts will be moved and we will be empowered to worship God and serve Him with grace.

So last week we did a thorough probing of these dire verses. We started with the phrase, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.” Last week, I likened that to, spiritually, your pupils fixed and dilated, so if the EMT shone the light into your eyes, you wouldn’t respond to the light. It’s unresponsive to spiritual truth. Spiritual death means you’re not responsive, that’s the nature of that deadness. We were spiritually dead, but we were physically alive. And so the essence of the spiritual death was in our minds and hearts. In our minds the way we thought, in our hearts, what we loved and what we hated. Romans chapter 8 captures the nature of this deadness in our minds, “Those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mind set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” We had dead minds spiritually. And then it goes over into the heart, The heart is that part of you that loves and hates. You were attracted to what was evil, and you despised what was good and delightful. It says of Jesus, He has “loved righteousness, and hated wickedness.”

We were the opposite, we loved wickedness and hated righteousness, so that’s the nature of our spiritual deadness, and we were not responsive. Somebody could come and share the Gospel, we didn’t care, somebody would read some scripture, it didn’t hit us, we were not interested, we had no desire to be in church on Sunday, certainly no desire to read the Bible or pray. We were dead, spiritually dead, even while we lived. And we followed the ways of this world, we were surrounded by dead people, and so, we comforted ourselves in thinking we were fine because everybody else was doing the same things, but we were just following the ways of this world, and we were in bondage to Satan, the ruler of this world spiritually. He is “the god of this age” and he had blinded our minds so we couldn’t see the light of the Gospel of the glory of God in Christ, he had blinded us. And he was acting as an angel of light alluring us toward wickedness and sin, could be false religions, false philosophical systems, could be just the allure of materialism, but he had enslaved us.

And we had invisible chains around us, and we couldn’t break free. And we were following “the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” And all of us, this was universal, it wasn’t just some people, this is everybody. Now, you may say, “What about my sweet little children? What about my little babes? Were they enslaved in following the ways of this world?” And all that. Well, here’s what the scripture teaches. All of us died in Adam, positionally. Every human being is seen to be positionally a sinner in Adam, but it doesn’t take hold in the individual heart until that person recognizes moral law and especially as coming from God. And that’s written in our hearts in our consciences so that as soon as that little child, boy or girl starts to violate their conscience they die spiritually.

So Paul says in Romans 7, “Once I was alive, apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died”, and that death takes more and more root the more and more bad decisions that child makes, they become more and more corrupted, it becomes deeper and deeper. So early on it’s very, very weak. The hold of sin on them, but it becomes progressively more and more powerful and they corrupt themselves by violating their conscience. That’s what’s going on in your household right now. You who have little toddlers, you who have little ones growing up they are cute, but you know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you?  It’s going on right before your eyes. And so in the end, give it enough time, all of us also lived among them at one time. And no exceptions.

III. But God Raised Us from the Dead (vs. 4)

Well, that was our situation. Now, we need to meditate on this, don’t we? I mean I preached a whole sermon on it. I’m going to move on now to verse 4, but we need to know this, we need to understand the nature of our spiritual deadness. We didn’t feel it, we didn’t know we were dead. But we were. And now, it’s amazing, you can even be a Christian and not know just how bad it was. Paul’s writing this to Ephesian Christians, they’d already become Christians. And he says, “I want to tell you what you were, you probably don’t really know how bad it was.” And I tell you, the more you meditate on how bad it was, the sweeter the Gospel gets. Actually paradoxically the happier you get, the more you meditate on these dark things, because we have been rescued from all of that. But God stepped in and would not give us over to Satan into the flesh into the world, and He has rescued us. So we get to verse 4, “But God raised us from the dead. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive with Christ. By Grace you have been saved.” Or simpler, if I could just boil it down. But God raised us from the dead, raised you from the dead. That’s what he’s saying here.

So this is a radical transformation that happens, and I just love 2 Corinthians 5:17, it says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, behold everything has become new,” that’s what happens when you become a Christian, a radical transformation comes over. You’re a new creation. Like when God said, “Let there be light,” and there’s light. When God said, “Let there be a Heaven,” and there’s Heaven. “Let there be earth,” and there’s earth. God created you, in Christ. You’re a new creation. And we became instantly spiritually responsive. Then, if the EMT shown the light of the gospel in our eyes, we would see it. And we saw the beauty and the attractiveness of Christ and of the gospel and of the cross and we were allured to it and attracted to it. We were spiritually responsive, that’s what God did and we understood the significance of Christ and his beauty. He became beautiful to us. And we saw the beauty of his tenderness and compassion in dealing with sinners and in his power in showing and displayed in all of his miracles, the incredible things he did, walking on water and feeding 5000 people with five dinner rolls, and raising Lazarus from the dead, after four days and just the things he could do, and then we were amazed by it. And every time we’re reading the Gospels there’s a new discovery of the greatness of Christ and ultimately his love and laying down his life for sinners like you and me, and the power displayed in his resurrection. We were attracted to these things and our spiritual eyes were opened. That’s faith. The eyes of our hearts were enlightened, and we saw it, and we were alive, and we could see how glorious God is in Christ, and we were attracted.

So, the key concept in all of this, in these verses is a mystical, spiritual union that happens between the sinner and Christ by faith. You became united with Christ. So look at the text again, “But God made us alive together with Christ.” See that? In verse 6, “And God raised us up with him,” see that? “and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Now, that’s four times in these three verses that this idea of our union with Christ is taught. This is central, and again, it’s not something we feel, you know, like feel united with Christ. Well, you didn’t feel dead either, but this is something that’s true. If you’re a Christian, you have become spiritually united to Jesus. You’re one with him. You’re one with him. And so, his resurrection has become your resurrection, His life is your life, his death was your death. You died in Christ, to the Law. How powerful is that? And I mean, specifically, the Law’s ability to condemn you to Hell. You’re dead to that, it cannot condemn you to Hell. You died to the law in that power and you died to Satan’s power as well.

You don’t have to do anything the devil tells you the rest of your life. Amen! Isn’t that awesome? You can tell him “no,” “you can resist the devil and he will flee from you.” You’re not one of his subjects anymore. You’re not in his kingdom anymore. Those invisible chains that were around you, they have been broken by Jesus. And so, you are alive, you’re not dead in Satan’s kingdom of death anymore, but you are alive now, in Jesus. And you are mystically or spiritually members of his body, just like every other Christian in the world. We’re members of one another and of his body. You have become engrafted into an olive tree, and now you’re receiving nourishing sap from it, all these images of union with Christ. So Christ’s death once for all, has become your death, and his resurrection has become yours, and his life is now flowing through you, through the Holy Spirit. You’re alive. That’s what happened to you and me, and that’s awesome.

IV. What Moved God: Mercy, Love and Grace

Now, what moved God to do all this? Well, the text covers that too, it tells us what motivated God to do it. And we have these attributes, mercy and love and grace. Salvation glorifies God. To the praise of his glory, you know, “praise of His glorious grace.” What does that mean? Well, salvation puts God on display. So because he saves sinners like you and me, God is on display. He’s putting himself on display for everyone to see. So what’s on display? Well, nothing in all of the universe and anything that God’s ever done so clearly displays his attributes, his nature, as human salvation does. It’s the most glorious thing God does is save sinners. It puts him on display. Now, we’ve already seen in chapter 1 one of those attributes very, very clearly, and that is God’s power. God’s power is on display in our salvation. So you remember back in Ephesians 1 he’s praying that the Ephesian Christians, “The eyes of their heart would be enlightened, that they would know God better,” he prays, “And that they would know the hope of their calling, the riches of glorious inheritance in the saints.”

And then the third thing is, his incomparably great power at work in us who believe, and then he just takes off on power, he says that power, that “power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all ruling authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come.” “God exalted Christ from the grave to the right hand of power, and gave Him the name that is above every name,” it says in Philippians. So there, that’s the power of God. Now, that same power is at work in us. That’s the transition from Ephesians 1-2. Just like Jesus was physically, so you were spiritually. “You were dead in your transgressions and sins, but God has made you alive.” He’s already displayed His power in you. Look at verse 5, “It is by grace you have been saved,” do you see that past tense? It’s happened now, it’s perfected action. It is by grace you have been saved. I’m not denying there’s yet more salvation to come, there is, but here he’s focusing on your justification, the beginning of your salvation. “It is by grace you have been saved.” He’s talking about the power He’s already displayed in you by raising you from the dead. “By grace you have been saved.” And so, this power’s on display.

Now, power we use the word in two different senses, maybe many others, as well, but when it comes to a person and their power, think about authority, the right to command, the right to do something. Did God have the right to do this? We were sinners, we’d violated His law. Did He have the right to declare us not guilty in Jesus? Yes, He did. He is the King of Kings, He is the Lord of Lords, and He deals with His justice at the cross, He deals with that, but He has the right to do this, He has the power to do this. There’s a second sense of power. Can He do this, does He have the capability to do this? Oh yes, He does. He can raise dead sinners to life spiritually, He has that kind of power. We’ve already seen the power, but now we’re going to see these others, and that is mercy first, and then love and grace.

So first, mercy, “God being rich in mercy.” So you already heard from Daniel earlier about the mercy of God, and that was a great statement. God’s mercy, I think there’s different ways. It’s hard to distinguish between mercy and grace. I think it’s actually in some cases impossible, but one way to look at mercy is that it has to do with human misery and suffering and God has moved out toward the sufferer, toward the one who’s miserable and wants to rescue them out of that misery, and take that misery away. So you see, again and again, sick people or tormented people crying out for Jesus, the Son of David to what? Have mercy on us, Son of David. We’re blind, we want to have our sight. My daughter is demon possessed, she’s suffering greatly, and Jesus has mercy. So, it’s a sense of God seeing us like in Exodus chapter 2, where God speaks to Moses and says, “I have indeed seen the affliction of my people, and their bondage by reason of their taskmasters in Egypt, and I’m compassionate on them and merciful on them, and I want you to rescue them out of it.”

So that’s God delivering miserable suffering people from their misery and their suffering. And it says in the text that God is, “rich in mercy.” I mean, he flows in mercy. Just by way of application, can I just say, shouldn’t that make us want to be rich in mercy too? Just to look around and see suffering and want to move to it, and alleviate it? I mean, shouldn’t you want to find some suffering person today or this week, and go alleviate their suffering some way? That has to do with benevolence ministry, or evangelism or whatever, or even ministry of counseling in the church, but we should want to move toward misery and suffering and be rich in mercy, like God is. But that’s what God did with us, we were in Satan’s dungeon. We were tormented, harassed and helpless and God “rich in mercy” stepped in.

Another sense of his mercy, and Daniel picked up on this, has to do with forgiveness, where God just doesn’t give us what we deserve. We deserved punishment, and we knew it. But God had mercy on us, and did not condemn us, and that you get in the Parable of the 10,000 talents, where the King talks to this man who had owed him 10,000 talents of immeasurable debt. But he wouldn’t forgive one of his fellow servants. He hauled him back in, and he said, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?” So it’s a sense of forgiveness of sins. Now, this is something that God gives at his sovereign grace, he doesn’t have to do it. Romans chapter 9 says, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” You can’t demand mercy. No one can ever say, “God you owed me mercy.” Didn’t matter how many people God shows mercy to, it’s always sovereign grace, and so God shows mercy or he doesn’t, he doesn’t have to show it. But what’s incredible is, He will show mercy to everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation, and He is rich in mercy.

Secondly, because of, “the great love with which He loved us,” the love of God. Isn’t it a stunning marvel to you that God could love someone like you? I mean, it should amaze you. It’s like, “No, actually pastor, you don’t know me, I’m something actually.” Yeah, you’re something. You don’t probably see yourself the way the Scripture sees you, the way the Law sees you, the way God saw you apart from Christ, but here’s the thing, “God set His love on us while we were still sinners.” Well, maybe it’s a different kind of thing than the way we use the word love. I actually don’t think it is. Now we use this word, ”love,” a lot, don’t we? You know, husband loves his wife, parents love their children. You know, a child loves ice cream. I do too, actually. A photographer loves a great action shot. A sightseer loves spectacular scenery or a sunset. A fan loves it when his team wins the championship. All of us love to be praised and encouraged. Alright, well you’re saying, “What do all those uses of the word love have to do with it?” It’s the same thing, only just infinitely greater. Love has to do with a heart attraction that results in cheerful sacrificial action. That’s what love is. God is attracted toward us, even in our sins, and then is cheerfully sacrificing and giving for us. That’s what love is. And that’s what God did, he moved out toward us. He is passionately attracted to us as a husband is his wife and jealous over us. He is lovingly doting over us, the way a father is over his children. Protectively nurturing, the way a mother is with a nursing infant, all of those things are in the heart of God. And he “set them on us before we were even born, before God created the world,” because of His great love for us in Christ. And it moved him to be generous and give us Jesus on the cross for our sins and then to give us a kingdom which we can’t even imagine how beautiful and awesome it’s going to be. To give us all of that, cheerful generosity, sacrificial action, that’s love.

And then finally, grace, and I’m not going to spend hardly any time on it today, because we’ll get a second chance at it. Paul actually just kind of interrupts himself, he says, “It’s by grace you’ve been saved, you know that, right?” He’s going to come back and develop it more fully in Ephesians 2:8 and 9, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast,” so we’ll get to grace. But it’s just infinitely more than just simply unmerited favor. It’s infinite, blessing given to those who deserve infinite curse, that’s the grace of God. Those are the things that God put on display. That’s what motivated God. And what did God do to us?

V. Seated with Christ in the Heavenly Realms

Well, “He seated us in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Look what it says in verse 6, “He raised us up with Him,” spiritually raised up, “And seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Again, note the verb tense. This is a done deal. If you are a Christian, you are spiritually seated with Christ at the right hand of Almighty God. That just blows my mind. You think about that, it’s like, “Wow, we are at the right hand of God through our union with Christ.” What does that mean? Well, it means a number of things. It means absolute security. You know how secure you are at the right hand of God? Satan’s arm is too short to reach up there. He can’t get you down from there, no one can snatch you out of the Father’s hand, or out of Jesus’ hand. You’re at the right hand of God, you are safe, spiritually. How secure are you at the right hand of God? Well, what else does it mean?

Well, it means access, you have access to God. You get to call Him “Abba, Father,” and bring all of your mess, and all of your problems and all of your issues to Him any time you want, and He will welcome all of your prayers anytime, you have access to God through Jesus Christ, through a new and living way, open through the body of Christ, you have access now that you’re at the right hand of God, in Christ. And you have honor, it’s a place of honor, you’re honored to be there. Jesus said in Revelation 3:21, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.” So Jesus went out and won the victory of the battle and He gives you the honor, “Come and sit with me at the right hand of God.” How awesome is that? A position of honor. What else do you get? Well, you get wisdom. Think about the Queen of Sheba, remember how she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom? She was blown away. It says in the Hebrew that, “The breath was taken out of her,” she couldn’t even breathe because of how awesome Solomon was.

And she said, “How happy must be all of your servants who just get to stand around and listen to your wisdom.” Jesus said very quietly, later on, “Someone greater than Solomon is here.” We get to be at the right hand of God, and listen to his wisdom, the rest of our lives. How do you do that? Read the Bible. Through the Holy Spirit, He will speak wisdom into your hearts, you get to listen to him be wise in your life, the rest of your life. It’s a position of wisdom. It’s a position of joy, you get to be joyful there. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand,” it’s a pleasureful place to be at the right hand of God. God’s a happy being. Everything’s under control up there. Feels like it’s not under control down here, but even that’s under control. God is sovereign, he is happy, he is delighted. And, “at the right hand of God, is eternal pleasures forever more.”

And finally, it’s a position of fellowship. You get to just have a relationship at the right hand of God. You get to have a relationship with God, a friendship with God. Remember how God called Abraham His friend. Well, you’re His friend, you’re His son, you’re His daughter. You get to have fellowship with Him. I think about John 17:24, Jesus said, “Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory.” Well, see my glory is awesome, but just a step before that, “I want them to be with me.” I want them to have fellowship with me, I want to have a relationship with them. Father wants that too. And so, the right hand of God is a place of fellowship, as well.

VI. Application

Alright, applications really quickly. First, will you just marvel with me at all of this? Just marvel at God’s goodness. Rejoice in this, celebrate, worship God for these things. Understand how spiritually, frankly, you were just like I was in Lake Winnipesaukee, you were drowning, you were dead, you were gone, and God reached down and pulled you out of the deep and gave you life. He saved you. So just marvel at that.

And secondly, just understand that you are a miracle of God’s grace already. God’s already displayed His power. Understand how much power God has shown in your life that you’re a Christian, that you actually believe these things. Marvel at that, and then extend that to your brothers and sisters, each one of them are miracles of God’s grace. Celebrate what God’s done in a brother or sister, that will melt away unforgiveness and bitterness. It will melt away the divisions that can happen between people. Just understand, they are trophies of God’s grace, just like you are, and be humble and energetic in evangelism. Our job is to get out and take these words and share them in this community. We need to preach the Gospel. We do need to live out the Gospel so that our preaching isn’t undermined, but we need to proclaim these words. But just like Elijah on Mount Carmel with the animal there, the sacrifice and the wood, and all that, it’s all there, but they’re waiting. Elijah’s waiting for what? Fire from Heaven, right?

Only God can convert a sinner. So go out in the college campus, go out in the workplace, go out in your neighborhood, go out and interact with people you didn’t even know you’re going to meet. And you can do all of the arranging and you can preach the Gospel, but the fire has to fall from Heaven, and it will, if God wills. He has that power. So understand evangelism and missions that way, that’s what’s going on, the sovereign grace of God. Parents as you’re raising your kids, the fire has to fall from Heaven. It’s not behaviorism., BF Skinner, it’s not that. It’s that you can preach the Gospel, you seek to live it in front of them, but they have to be converted by sovereign grace, pray for it and teach them that that’s what has to happen. Marvel at these attributes of God. Marvel at his mercy. Marvel at his power, marvel at his love. Focus on these things and His grace.

Cherish each one and meditate on your union with Christ. I think we need to understand that more. It’s a kind of a hard thing to grasp. His death is my death, His life is my life, I’m united with Him, “I’m with Christ in the heavenly realms.” We need to ponder that mystery of our union with Christ more. It’s not easy to understand, but we need to ponder that. And let’s rejoice more in being seated at the right hand of God, take those six things that I listed, the fact that you have access to God and that you have security and access and honor and wisdom and joy and fellowship, all those things. And just feed on them, pray more, intercede more. You’re at the right hand of God through Jesus, intercede, pray for it. You have access, you have influence through prayer. Alright, all of that is for Christians.

I’m going to finish by just appealing to you who came in here today unconverted, though I hope you’re not still unconverted. I hope that as you heard the Gospel clearly proclaimed to you today, something moved inside you and your pupils were no longer fixed and dilated. You’re like, “I see it, I see that I am a sinner, I see that Christ is a savior, and I call on you, Jesus to save me. And I ask that you would forgive me of my sins and I ask that you would restore me to fellowship with God. I want to be in the family of God.” Call on the name of the Lord and he will save you.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time that we’ve had to study these amazing words, these incredible verses, and I want to just thank you for the Gospel, I want to thank you for saving each of my brothers and sisters that are here. Thank you for saving me. Father, I pray that you would do a work of sovereign grace around us all the time with other lost people. Help us, O Lord, to see them be safe, help us to be bold in evangelism in preaching the Gospel. And Lord help us to be rich in worship this week. Even as Daniel and the team leads in closing song, help us to just sing by the Spirit of our thankfulness to you, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

I.   The Two Most Important Words in the Bible

A.  “But God…!”

1.  I am aware that the NIV starts with “But because…”

2.  But every other major English translation begins with these epoch-making two words… “But God”

3.  The words capture the essence of a God-centered gospel, a gospel of total desperation giving way to consummated hope

B.  “But” is a Contrast… We Were Going in One Direction in the Sentence; now a completely different direction… a DYNAMIC GOD intervening and working in a mighty way

1.  This is the God of the Bible… the One who moves everything, the One who controls everything

2.  God is the greatest force in the universe… and “But God” captures His powerful actions in space and time

Genesis 7:24, 8:1 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Genesis 41:15, 16 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

[Joseph said to his terrified brothers who had thought to murder him and had sold him as a slave into Egypt] Genesis 50:20 You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

[The wise woman of Tekoa to King David] 2 Samuel 14:14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Acts 3:15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

God is the center of the universe… Everything comes from God; and He alone can make the real changes in your life that must be made if you are to spend eternity in joy and peace instead of agony and torment

C.  The Uniqueness of the Christian Message: The Only Hope for a Dying World

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

1.  The Christian message begins with total human desperation, total human depravity, complete inability, weakness… even worse—SPIRITUAL DEATH

2.  The Christian message doesn’t end there, however… the words “BUT GOD…” mean that God stepped into our spiritual death, our total hopelessness and helplessness… salvation comes from OUTSIDE US…it is something that was done FOR us, as well as something done TO us

3.  It is God’s doing, God’s work from beginning to end

4.  This is so hard for prideful, self-sufficient human beings to grasp

5.  We are so used to “The American Dream”, where we can be and do anything we want if we try hard enough, believe in ourselves, work diligently enough, and have the talent… America is a land of opportunity, a land of freedom of choice… you are what you make yourself

6.  But, you can’t make yourself be a Christian anymore than you can raise yourself from your own coffin at your own funeral

D.  This Morning… Our task is to understand more completely our SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD through faith in Christ

1.  We are going to do it based on these amazing words from Ephesians 2:4-6

2.  There the Apostle Paul clearly asserts that every Christian is an astonishing miracle of spiritual resurrection through faith in Christ

3.  This is true Christianity… and this astonishing spiritual resurrection is something that is true of every single Christian

4.  Do you see Christianity that way? A miracle of God’s grace that has been wrought in you by His sovereign power? Do you see the work of God FOR you and IN you? That is the goal of this sermon this morning…

5.  And TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!

1 Corinthians 1:31 as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace

II.   We Were Spiritually Dead (vs. 1-3)

Ephesians 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

A.  This is the Starting Point for Understanding God’s Grace

1.  We vastly underestimate both our natural sinfulness AND the greatness of God’s grace to us in Christ

2.  Because we underestimate our dire condition in Adam and apart from Christ, because we don’t realize that we were SPIRITUALLY DEAD in our transgressions and sins, we also underestimate how amazing is our spiritual resurrection in Christ

B.  Last Week: A Thorough Probing of these dire verses

1.  “dead in your transgressions and sins” = unresponsive, unable to respond to stimuli… “pupils fixed and dilated”

a.  A direct result of our transgressions against God’s holy law

b.  Paul put it well for us

Romans 7:9-11 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

c.  In other words, in our infancy and childhood, we were alive spiritually in some sense… though still positionally in Adam seen to be sinners

d.  But as soon as we understood the existence of God and his moral requirements (“You shall have no other gods, you shall honor your father and mother, you shall not murder, you shall not covet…”) we TRANSGRESSED

e.  At that instant, we DIED spiritually

2.  Spiritually though physically alive

a.  We were “dead even while we lived”

b.  We were functioning biologically, breathing, eating, sleeping, walking, thinking, loving, hating, dreaming, doing many things in God’s world

c.  Our eyes worked fine (if we were normal), so did our ears, so did our brains

d.  BUT these amazing capabilities were all meant for GOD the creator… they were meant to live toward God, to love God, to see God’s glory, to speak God’s praises, to serve God’s people… we did NONE of these things

e.  The essence of our spiritual death was in our minds and hearts

i)    In our minds: how we thought

ii)  In our hearts: what we loved and hated

f.  The sinful corruption went to the core of our being

i)  In our minds, our thinking was corrupt and dead

Romans 8:5-8 those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

ii)  In our hearts, our loving and hating was corrupt and dead

It says of Christ:

Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness

But the natural man, the unsaved man, the unregenerate woman… HATES righteousness and loves wickedness

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Micah 3:2 you … hate the good and love the evil

3.  Followed the “ways of this world”

a.  The worldly system of rebellion against God

b.  Every culture has its own patterns, but the essence of it all is IDOLATRY in worship and the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and boastful pride of life

4.  Followed the “ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient”

a.  We were enslaved to Satan in ways we could scarcely imagine

b.  He dominated us with temptations and accusations, with false ideas and visions of angels of light who are really demons; he is the “god of this age” and he blinded our minds especially concerning Christ:

2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

c.  Satan is the “strong man” who is fully armed and guards his dark fortress with relentless watchfulness, and will not allow any of his human prisoners to escape

5.  Universal sin: “All of us also lived among them at one time…”

a.  There were no exceptions, NOT EVEN ONE

b.  Every single human being born in the world is born into Adam’s rebellion and soon follows Adam’s pattern of sin… there are no exceptions of all that can understand God’s moral law, written on the human heart in conscience… ALL OF US ALSO… every single person!!

6.  Universal lusts: “gratifying the cravings of the flesh and following its desires and THOUGHTS”

a.  It was sin with the body’s lusts, and sin with the pride of the mind

b.  It was a prison of sin, and that was the ESSENCE OF OUR SPIRITUAL DEADNESS in Satan’s dark kingdom

7.  Effects in our bodies, our minds, our souls

a.  We were living corpses

b.  We were dying daily… corrupting ourselves by our lusts

c.  We were storing up wrath against ourselves for the day of God’s wrath when his righteous judgments will be revealed (Romans 2)

d.  Our bodies were storing up toxins, decaying and dying… preparing for the day when our heart would beat its last, our lungs will fill one last time with air, then exhale one last time… we were DEAD ALREADY even while we lived

C.  Application: Meditate on this Truth!!

1.  Non-Christians: this is true of you RIGHT NOW!

a.  You are physically alive, our you couldn’t have come here

b.  BUT God says you are spiritually dead even while you live

c.  This is the spiritual reality of your lives every single day… and you prove it by what you love and hate, what you live for, what you choose to do, especially when no one is watching

2.  Christians: this WAS true of you in the past!

a.  If you don’t understand this… if you underestimate this, you will fail to give God the proper glory for the spiritual resurrection he has worked in your life

b.  You will fail to fall at Christ’s feet and dissolve in tears of thankfulness for dying on the cross for you!!

Summary: WE WERE SPIRITUALLY DEAD, even while we lived

BUT GOD…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

III.   But God Raised Us from the Dead (vs. 4)

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved—

Or simpler… BUT GOD RAISED US FROM THE DEAD

A.  God Raised Us in Christ Spiritually

1.  Radical spiritual transformation!!!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2.  God has created something NEW in your soul!! Something eternal!!! Something that can never die!!!

3.  We became RESPONSIVE… our spiritual pupils were no longer FIXED and DILATED!.. God shone a spiritual light in our spiritual eyes, the “eyes of our hearts” (Ephesians 1:18) and we were stunned by the radiant beauty

a.  We saw the glory of God in the face of Christ in ways we had never seen it before

b.  We understood the significance of Christ… His identity as the Son of God, his various glories

i)  his kindness in dealing so gently and lovingly with sinners;

ii)  his power in performing so many awesome miracles, especially his own resurrection from the dead;

iii)  his love in laying down his life for sinners

iv)  his wisdom in how he spoke, how he taught the parables and the sermon on the Mount

c.  We understood the glories of the cross for the first time… and we saw the radiant display of the perfections of God and of Christ

i)  The cross became a “prism” for God’s glory… it took the white light of biblical truth about what happened when Jesus died and broke it out into a spectrum, a RAINBOW of glory for the first time

ii)  You could see in the cross the LOVE of God manifested plainly in the cross

Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here was perfect, unconditional love on full display… a cherishing of wicked sinners not BECAUSE of who they were or what they’d done, but IN SPITE of it…

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Romans 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

The kind of love Christ displayed at the cross is unlike any love there has ever been in history

We saw, gazing with the eyes of our hearts at Christ in agony, we realized the same truth that the thief spoke for us all:

Luke 23:41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.

iii)  You could see the JUSTICE of God at the cross… God’s fiery passion to pour out his just wrath for sin… not to simply let it pass by

Romans 3:25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness

The cross of Jesus Christ is the greatest display of the righteousness of God in history in that God would rather crush his Son as our substitute than allow us sinners to enter heaven with our sins unpunished

God’s righteousness is as immense and perfect as his love!!

iv)  You could see the POWER of God and the WISDOM of God at the cross

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

4.  These things were always there in the cross… but Satan, the god of this age had blinded our eyes to them, and we were DEAD to them… they meant nothing to us

5.  BUT GOD suddenly raised us from the dead… he transformed our hearts radically so that suddenly we could see the beauty of Christ crucified and resurrected… he gave us spiritual perception to see all these things and to DELIGHT IN THEM

B.  Key Concept: Our Spiritual UNION with Christ by Faith

Ephesians 2:4-6 But God… made us alive together with Christ… 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

1.  The key idea here is our mystical spiritual UNION with Christ BY FAITH

2.  Romans 6 is the main discussion of this essential idea

Romans 6:3-5 don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 ¶ If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

3.  At the moment we believe in Christ we become UNITED WITH HIM spiritually; God considers us dead to sin but alive to God IN CHRIST JESUS

4.  We are also free from the Law in its power of CONDEMNATION; we are free from Satan’s power to accuse; we have died to sin once for all and been raised with Christ from the dead spiritually

5.  Thus we are MEMBERS of Him eternally… part of His body; He is our head, we are part of Him forever

6.  So Christ’s death once for all has become ours, and Christ’s resurrection has become ours

7.  This results in an entirely new way of living… we WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit

IV.   What Moved God: Mercy, Love and Grace

A.  Salvation Glorifies God

1.  Clearly asserted three times in Ephesians 1 Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace Ephesians 1:12 for the praise of his glory Ephesians 1:14 to the praise of his glory.

2.  To “glorify” = to put God’s perfections, His attributes radiantly on display for all to see

3.  Nothing has so clearly put God on display as

B.  First Attribute: POWER

1.  Back in Ephesians 1, Paul prays for the Ephesian Christian to know God better

Ephesians 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

2.  He then prays for three things

Ephesians 1:18-19 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

3.  He then zeroes in on one of these: POWER… the “incomparably great power of God” shown to us who believe in Christ

Ephesians 1:19-21 That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion

4.  So, there is an ANALOGY being set up between Christ’s PHYSICAL RESURRECTION from the dead, and our SPIRITUAL RESURRECTION from the dead

a.  We were dead in transgressions and sins

b.  God made us alive in Christ and raised us up with Him to sit with Him in the heavenly realms

5.  This is an act of SUPREME POWER on the part of God… something only our sovereign God could have done

6.  And we must realize this power is something God has ALREADY EXERTED in our souls… this is not something that is yet to happen… it has already occurred

7.  Note the verb tense

Ephesians 2:5 it is by grace you have been saved.

Paul is speaking about what has already happened to them spiritually… we need to know that, if we are Christians, we are already MIRACLES of God’s grace

Yes, there is still much to be done, much of our salvation journey yet to come, and we’ll talk more about in a moment

But Paul was praying for the Ephesians to have the eyes of their hearts enlightened to KNOW the astonishing power that God has already unleashed in our souls to raise us from the dead in Christ spiritually

So… the first attribute Paul mentions here in the long train of thought that connects Ephesians 1 and 2 is God’s POWER

But in these particular verses, Paul zeroes in on three others, very closely related: God’s mercy, love, and grace

C.  “Being Rich in Mercy”

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

1.  The mercy of God is that character trait by which he sees his children in MISERY and yearns to alleviate their sufferings

We see it regularly in Jesus’ amazing compassion for suffering sinners:

Matthew 9:27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”

Matthew 15:22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

2.  In another sense, it has to do with his refusing to mete out the just punishment that a sinner deserves… but granting them mercy and forgiveness

Daniel 9:9-10 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws

In Jesus’ parable of forgiveness (the Ten Thousand talents), the master speaks of the forgiveness of the debt as an act of mercy:

Matthew 18:33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

Picture some guilty murderer who in an act of passion killed a man he was arguing with; but he is instantly sorry for what he’s done. He is immediately arrested and brought before the king for judgment… he has a wife and two small children; he falls on his knees before the king and pleads for MERCY… that he would NOT receive the punishment he knows he deserves.

3.  The scripture teaches us that God is under NO OBLIGATION to give it:

Romans 9:15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

Romans 9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

4.  And yet, this text tells us that God is RICH IN MERCY… lavishly forgiving all who call on the name of Jesus!! Lavishly freeing them from the agony of eternal torment in hell!!

D.  “Because of the Great Love With Which He Loved Us”

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

1.  Here the text also links God’s actions in raising us from the dead with his GREAT LOVE

2.  This love is a stunning marvel in all the universe! It is the love of a holy God for snarling, rebellious, murderous, God-hating, insolent sinners… it is an electing love, set on us before the foundation of the world

3.  It is a love that comes from God’s sovereign heart, not drawn from him by anything we are or have done…

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you

In other words, “I loved you because I loved you…”

4.  Love is somewhat the way we understand love in this world… but infinitely more

a.  A husband loves his wife

b.  A mother loves her children

c.  A child loves ice cream

d.  A photographer loves a great action shot

e.  A sightseer loves a spectacular sunset

f.  A fan loves it when his team wins the championship

g.  All of us love to be praised and encouraged

5.  The word “love” has to do with an inclination of the heart toward something… an attraction, like a powerful magnet to a large piece of iron… like the gravitational pull of the earth on everything on its surface

6.  Love is a dear affection in which the heart of one is bound up in the object of his affection

7.  God has sovereignly set his love upon us before the foundation of the world, and elected, and predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters

8.  Love plays itself out in some clear patterns in human relationships

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

These are the human characteristics of love person to person

God is like that with us, his adopted children… he set his infinite affection on us and will never let us go! He is passionately attracted to us as a husband is to his wife; he is affectionately doting over us as a father is his beloved daughter; he is protectively nurturing over us like a mother with her nursing infant

Notice that the text speaks of the GREAT LOVE with which God loved us Love is measured by its level of cheerful generosity… God has been infinitely generous with us, giving us his only begotten Son to die in our place rather than lose us to hell; God will be infinitely generous with us in the future, giving us a Kingdom in heaven which he is DELIGHTED to give us

Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

E.  “It Is By Grace You Have Been Saved”

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved

1.  We will talk much more about grace in the sermon on Ephesians 2:8-9

2.  It means here that God saved us from what we truly deserved, an eternity in hell, and gave us what we truly did not deserve… eternity in heaven

3.  It means God’s lavish generosity CONTRARY to what we deserve

4.  We try to EARN things… heaven is something we cannot earn

5.  More when we consider these words:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

V.   Seated With Christ in the Heavenly Realms

Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

A.  This is the final step for us today… a staggering journey for sinners like us

B.  Christ has already made this infinite journey, and it was described in chapter 1:

Ephesians 1:19-23 That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way

C.  Each Individual Christian is UNITED with Christ… that means we are in some mysterious way seated with Christ in the heavenly places

D.  What Does this Mean?

1.  Total security!! Satan cannot reach so high as to seize us from the throne of Almighty God! Infinite power surrounds each Christian, keeping us far beyond Satan’s reach

John 10:28-30 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.

2.  Influence: Christ is at the right hand of God and is constantly interceding for us… we also have total access to the throne and can plead with God to accomplish his eternal plan… and God will listen to us through Christ

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith

John 14:14  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

3.  Honor

Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

4.  Wisdom

Queen of Sheba, overwhelmed at Solomon:

2 Chronicles 9:7 How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

Matthew 12:42 she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, so we are privy to his wisdom through the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 1:9-10 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment– to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

5.  Joy

Psalm 16:11 you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

6.  Fellowship

John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Seated with Christ in the heavenly realms means all these things… but it doesn’t mean we have become gods and goddesses ourselves! Everything we have comes through our union with Christ!

VI.   Applications

A.  Marvel at the Astonishing Blessing of God’s Intervention for Us… BUT GOD!!

1.  Meditate deeply on our lostness… our spiritual deadness… how enslaved we were

2.  Understand how only the intervention of Almighty God could have saved you

B.  Understand that Every Christian is a Miracle of God’s Sovereign Grace!! A Spiritual Resurrection

1.  What that means is that we should be in awe at what God has already done in us

2.  We should also be humble in reference to evangelism and missions

a.  There are no DIFFICULT RESURRECTIONS for God!

b.  Lazarus was no more difficult to raise from the dead after four days in the tomb than Jairus’s daughter was after just a few hours…

c.  On the other hand, there are no EASY RESURRECTION for man to accomplish

d.  Resurrection is IMPOSSIBLE for man, but nothing is difficult for God

Luke 1:37 For nothing is impossible with God.

Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

3.  So that means that we should approach all evangelism and missions with an absolute trust in the sovereign power of God… our task is simple: proclaim the gospel which is the POWER OF GOD FOR THE SALVATION OF EVERYONE who believes… the rest, the real working is up to God

Illus. Like Elijah on Mt. Carmel… he built the altar, arranged the firewood, placed the bull on the altar, dug a trench around it, poured water on it… then he prayed and waited for FIRE TO FALL FROM THE SKY!!

Conversion is like that… a sovereign action from God

4.  So, Parents who yearn to see their kids come to Christ, do your task—share the gospel daily with them, live out the gospel before them… and pray for God to work in their hearts… the REST IS UP TO GOD

John 1:12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

C.  Marvel at the Attributes of God Listed Here

1.  God’s power

2.  God’s mercy

3.  God’s love

4.  God’s grace

5.  Cherish each one as it relates to your salvation

D.  Understand Your Union with Christ… and Its Ethical Implications

Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:8-11 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

E.  Rejoice in Being Seated with Christ in the Heavenly Realms

1.  Rejoice in the access to the throne of grace that means

2.  Rejoice in the security that gives you, that Satan cannot pluck you from heaven

3.  Rejoice in the fellowship and joy that gives you…

4.  Set your minds much more on those heavenly places

Colossians 3:1-4 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

F.  Unbelievers: Come to Christ!!