Ephesians 2:1-10
2:1
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We are alive in Christ! But we must never forget
that we once were dead in our trespasses
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Spiritually we were dead. There are different
types of life, there is plant life, animal life, physical life, spiritual life,
emotional life. We were dead spiritually, now we are alive spiritually. Someone
can still be alive physically but dead spiritually.
-
We must be born again and we must die to live.
We identify fully with Jesus Christ. We identify with His death, we identify
with His baptism, we identify with His resurrection, and we identify with His
power in the Holy Spirit and we identify with His future coming.
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When Christ died, He was raised to life.
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When we die, we are raised to life.
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When we lose it all, we find everything.
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When we give up everything, we obtain every
blessing.
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Trespasses speak of man as a rebel, sin speaks
of man as failure.
o
But because of Christ, we are now neither!
2:2, 3
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In one time we did live in sin. (describe that
sin is anything that doesn’t proceed from faith, not just smoking, drinking,
sex, etc.)
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Walking in the world, which is very much so
orchestrated by Satan
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“once walked” is the old man which is now
crucified with Jesus at the time of conversion.
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The sin nature inherited from Adam influences the old man,
but the world system and Satan do also.
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“Once walked means
it should be different for those what are made alive by Jesus Christ. A dead
man feels comfortable in his coffin; but if he were to be made alive again, he
would instantly feel suffocated and uncomfortable. There would be a strong urge
to escape the coffin and leave it behind. In the same way, when were
spiritually dead we felt comfortable in trespasses and sins; but having come to
new life we feel we must escape that coffin and leave it behind.
-
“The converts are to be reminded what they have been
delivered from, as well as what they have been lifted into. They must be led to
look down again into the pit, into the grave, from which grace called them out
and set them free." (Moule)
-
“by
nature children of wrath” we were born of Adam. Adam was told in the beginning
to multiply according to his kind. He was a fallen man, all he produced which
is me and you is fallen by nature.
-
1
Corinthians 15:45
2:4
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But God … because of His great
love: With but and because, Paul explains God's reason behind
reconciling man to Himself, and these reasons are found totally in God. The
reasons are His rich mercy and His great love, which He focuses on us.
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It is
God’s great love. Some people think God loves us because we are lovable. But
the truth is that His love extends to the unlovely and the unlovable, the
children of wrath that were described in the previous verse.
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Every reason for God's mercy and love is found in Him. We
give Him no reason to love us, yet in the greatness of His
love, He loves us with that great love anyway.
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Therefore, we must stop trying to make ourselves lovable to
God, and simply receive His great love while recognizing that we are unworthy
of it. This is the beauty and blessing of the Christian life.
2:5-7
-
God
loved you when you were dead in your trespasses. When you were at your worst
(Romans 5:5)
-
This is the requirement for being saved. You must first be
dead, dead to every attempt to justify yourself before God. He
who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me … has passed from death into
life (John
5:24).
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“Made
alive together with Christ”
o
This
is what God did to those dead! He shared in our death so we could share in His
resurrection.
o
The old man is crucified and we are new creations in Jesus
with the old things passing away and all things becoming new.
-
“It is by grace you have been saved.”
o
Paul stresses to us that it has nothing to do with us.
Nothing to do with man’s merit but completely to do with God’s love and grace.
o
Our salvation, our rescue from spiritual death is God’s
work for the undeserving.
o
This is why we worship Him! This is why we love Him! This
is why we obey Him and give it all for Him!
-
“Sit together in the Heavenly places”
o
This is the present position of the Christian
o
We have a new place of living, a new place of existence.
o
We are not those who dwell on earth but our citizenship is
in Heaven
§ Philippians
3:20
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We don't sit in the heavenly places with Christ
Jesus, or at least not yet. Instead, we sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Since our life and
identity is in Christ, as He sits in heavenly
places, so do we.
-
“In
the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace”
o
God will never stop dealing with us on the basis of grace,
and will forever continue to unfold its riches to us through eternity.
-
"When all the saints shall be gathered home they shall
still talk and speak of the wonders of Jehovah's love in Christ Jesus, and in
the golden streets they shall stand up and tell what the Lord has done for them
to listening crowds of angels, and principalities, and powers." (Spurgeon)
Riches
of His Grace
- One way to see the greatness of the grace of God is
to see how He begsman to receive it. When we offer
a gift to someone and they refuse it, we are likely to allow them to refuse and
leave them alone. God does not do this with us; even when we refuse His mercy
He reaches into His storehouse of grace and persists with us, begging us
to receive the free gift.
For we are His workmanship: God saves
us not merely to save us from the wrath we rightly deserve, but also to make
something beautiful of us. We are His
workmanship, which translates the ancient Greek word poiema.
The idea is that we are His beautiful poem. The Jerusalem Bible
translates workmanshipas "work of
art."
God's love is a transforming love. It meets us right where
we are at, but when we receive this love it always takes us where we should be
going. The love of God that saves my soul will also change my life.
“Good
works”
Matthew
5:16
Let
your good works shine brightly
All
for His glory
Because
of His grace
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