Raised - Ephesians 2:1-10

What a dark picture we have in Ephesians 2:1-3. Here we have a spiritual photograph of the unsaved man. Now, outwardly, this man may be moral, he may be clean, upright, but when God looks at the heart, this is what he sees. And you hath he quickened, hath he made alive, who were, before you were saved, dead. Dead in trespasses and sins. The unsaved man, as we have seen, is spiritually dead. He does not have any spiritual life. He may have emotional life, he may have physical life, he may be alive toward football and baseball and Thanksgiving dinners, but he's not alive toward God or the church or the Bible. He's spiritually dead.

Verse two tells us he is a slave, a slave of the world, whatever the world does, he does, and a slave of the devil, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Verse three tells us this unsaved man lives for the lusts, the desires of the flesh. Here you have the three enemies of your soul, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Now, if we stop at verse three, there would be no hope for anyone. Because verse three says that by nature we are the children of wrath. Now, the word wrath means judgment, condemnation. God is a just God. Yes, God is a God of love, and God is a God of goodness, and God is a God of mercy, but God is a holy and a just God. And his word says that he must judge sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. When we're born into this world, by nature, says Ephesians 2:3, by nature we are the children of wrath. We are born with a condemned nature. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and God condemns flesh.

We're told in verse two that we are not only children of wrath, but we are children of disobedience. When a child gets old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, we call this the age of accountability, he deliberately chooses to do the wrong. When I was attending college up in Chicago, one of the students in the class with me told me his wife was about to have a baby. I said, "That's wonderful." At that time we had one little son at home. He said, "You know, my son is never going to do anything wrong." I don't know how he knew he was going to have a son. Actually, he did. Perhaps he was just guessing. My son is never going to do anything wrong. We're going to raise him in such a way that he's always going to be obedient. Well, I had a little boy at home and I just smiled and said, "You'll find out." You see, a child lies even in the crib. A baby will scream and holler and you'll think he's dying, but all he wants is some attention. He's lying. We are born children of wrath by nature. A nature we inherited from Adam. When we get old enough to decide between right and wrong, we choose the wrong. You never have to teach a child how to steal or lie or be disobedient. He does it naturally. We become children of disobedience.

Now, if it stopped here at verse three, there'd be no hope. We'd all be under condemnation and judgment. But verse four starts out, but God. Doesn't say but the church or or but the prophet Isaiah, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, made us alive together with Christ, by grace ye are saved.

Now, verses four and five say that God makes the difference. If God had left us to our own ways, we would have died and gone to hell. You see, Almighty God is rich in mercy. And he's great in love, and he is full of grace. We have three wonderful characteristics or attributes of God here. God is rich in mercy, verse four. He's great in love, and he is full of grace, verse five. Grace, love, and mercy.

Now, what's the difference? Mercy and grace are combined through love. God is love, and because he loves us, he shows us grace and mercy. Now, God in his mercy does not give me what I do deserve. God in his grace gives me what I don't deserve. One is negative and one is positive.

God in his mercy does not give me what I do deserve. What do I deserve? He tells me in verse three, by nature, I deserve wrath. By nature, I deserve wrath. But God who is rich in mercy, that's wonderful. God has mercy. The mercy of God from everlasting to everlasting. He's rich in mercy. And God in his mercy does not give me what I do deserve.

And God is great in love. Now, how do we know God loves us? I've heard people snarl from their hospital bed and say, "If God is a God of love, what am I doing here?" Well, some of them are there because of their own sin. Some are there simply because uh human nature being what it is, it fails. Some are there because God has a plan for their lives and he's working out that plan. I have known what it is to be in a hospital bed and to know that God is working out his plan. God who is great in love. How do we know God loves us? Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth or God proved his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The proof of the love of God is Calvary.

Now, this world of ours is under the bondage of sin. In Romans 8, we are told that all of creation is groaning and travailing in pain because of sin. Adam sinned and plunged all of creation into the bondage of sin. And we have hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes and pestilences and and babies are born deformed and young people die and there are accidents and wars. And all of these things are the result of the bondage of sin. But in the midst of all of this is a cross. As someone has said, the great plus sign on the skyline. Where Almighty God sent Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ gave his life. Proof positive that God loves us.

You never have to ask whether or not God loves you. He loves you. You say, "Oh, but our family has had so much trouble." I know, but God loves you. I've had so much pain. I know, but God loves you. God who is rich in mercy, for his great love. Greater love hath no man than this, said Jesus, than a man lay down his life for his friend. And yet God has an even greater love than that. He laid down his life for his enemies. Jesus Christ, great in love. Even when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive together with Christ.

Then there's that little parenthesis in verse five, by grace ye are saved. You see, salvation is resurrection. The unsaved man is not a sick man who needs a remedy. He's a dead man who needs a resurrection. He's in the coffin of sin. He's in the grave of sin. He cannot raise himself. Religion cannot raise him. A dead man cannot perform good works. The only thing that will help a dead man is power. And that power is the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So God raised us from the dead spiritually with the Lord Jesus.

Notice verse five and verse six, together with Christ. He hath quickened us together with Christ. We are quickened together. Our spiritual life is Christ. He that hath the son hath life. Says 1 John 5. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord Jesus in John 11. If we trust Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit of God joins us to Jesus Christ. We become united with him, and he's no longer in the grave. He's been raised from the dead and we are raised from the dead with him. One of the great truths of the book of Ephesians is our union with Christ. We are in him. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We are together with Christ in resurrection power. And how is all of this accomplished? By grace ye are saved.

Now, grace means God does something for people who don't deserve it. You know, we most of us hate to have anyone do us a favor. Did you know that? You try it. You do somebody a favor someday. Do something wonderfully gracious that they don't expect. You do it for them, and you'll find out within a few hours or a few days they'll turn around and do something for you. None of us wants to be indebted to anyone.

We're used to working for things. We're used to earning things. Well, you can't work for salvation. You can't earn salvation. A dead man is not going to be able to earn salvation. He's dead. In a previous lesson, we mentioned the three people that Jesus raised from the dead on earth. The little girl was dead. The young man was dead. Lazarus was dead. They could not raise themselves.

You know what religion does to dead sinners? It dresses them up. It paints them up. It props them up, but it can't raise them up. My, oh my, you meet people who do the best they can religiously. They try the best they can religiously. They're nothing but painted, propped up dead people. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't paint us up. When you walk into a funeral home, you hear people say, "My, doesn't she look alive? My, she looks so natural." We know she's dead. A lot of sinners are this way. Oh, he looks so natural. Yes, he's dead. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't paint us up. He doesn't prop us up. He raises us up. And he does this by his grace.

He goes on to tell us in verse six, and hath raised us up together, together with Christ. We belong to him. And made us sit together. Now, this is interesting. We were raised together with Christ. Now we sit together with Christ in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Now, I've used this illustration before, but allow me to repeat it. The President of the United States sits at the desk in the White House. Regardless of where he may go on the face of this earth, he is the man who sits behind the President's desk in the White House. His authority comes from where he sits. The governor sits in the state building. The general sits in the general's place. The king sits on the throne. Now, the king doesn't have to stay on the throne to have authority. The king can descend from his throne, but wherever he goes, he's the man who sits on the throne.

Now, wherever we are as Christians, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This is our authority. At the end of chapter one, we were told that he was put down, verse 20. He has been seated at God's right hand in the heavenly places, far above all. All what? All everything. He's far above the devil. He's far above this world. He's far above everything, and we are seated there with him.

Now, you don't hear about the Queen of England walking around in the alleys of London picking up garbage. She sits on the throne. That's beneath her dignity. Do you know why many Christians go where they go and get into dark, shadowy things? It's because they forget that they're seated on the throne with Christ.

You see, God does not say to the saved person, "Now, you do the best you can and I'll raise you up." Oh, no. He says, "I have already raised you up. I have put you so high, you cannot get any higher. Now, live up to it. Live up to it." Our children, when they are young, don't appreciate their family heritage. We say to them, "Now, son, daughter, you shouldn't do that. We don't do that in our family." When they get older, they learn to appreciate the family name and the family heritage, the family position, and then they change their ways.

Now, Christians need to remember that we are raised together with Christ and seated together with Christ. And recall now, Paul was sitting in prison when he wrote this. I imagine that soldier to whom he was chained must have smiled when he saw the secretary write those words. Paul was dictating this letter, and Paul said, "We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies." And that Roman soldier laughed out loud and said, "Why that foolish Jew, he's chained in a prison." No, said Paul, "My body may be chained, but my spirit is in the heavenlies."

There's a beautiful illustration of this back in the Old Testament. There was a man named Caleb. Caleb was one of the spies, one of the 12 spies who was sent into the promised land when the Jews came to Kadesh Barnea, Numbers 12. Caleb came back with the other spies and said, "Let's go into the promised land. We can do it." And ten of the spies said, "We can't do it." The nation said, "We can't do it." And they disobeyed God. Well, because the Jews did not go into the promised land, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

You know what kept Caleb alive in the wilderness for those 40 years? All everybody else died out. The whole entire old generation died out except Caleb and Joshua, the two men who believed God. Do you know what kept Caleb from getting discouraged and despondent in the wilderness? His heart was in Canaan. He was thinking about the the streams of water, the honey, the land of milk and honey. Every day he'd wake up and say, "Well, one of these days I'm going to be in that promised land." You see, his body was in the wilderness, but his soul was in the promised land.

Now, Christians are this way. Paul says, "Our citizenship is in heaven." Colossians 3, "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Set your affection on things above." Some Christians who are listening to me right now, their minds are not on things above. Their minds are in the gutter. If you want to have a happy Christian life, just keep in mind, I'm seated with Christ in the heavenlies. I'm above everything. I'm not under the circumstances. I'm over the circumstances. I'm not under the heel of the devil. I've been raised. I'm seated on the throne. I'm in Christ.

Now, why did God do this? Verse seven, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Titus talks about the kindness of God. God is kind. People think God is mean. One man called God a dirty bully. What an awful thing to call God. God is not a dirty bully. God is kind. Oh, the kindness and the mercy and the grace and the love of God.

Now, do you know this God? You can know him through Christ our Savior. His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. How do you experience the mercy of God? The love of God, the grace of God, the kindness of God, through Jesus Christ. Not through the preacher, not through the Lord's Supper, not through the waters of baptism, not through church membership.

Ephesians 2:7 says that if I want to experience his kindness, it's through Christ. In verse six, if I want to be raised up from the grave, it's in Christ. In verse five, if I want to experience his love, his grace, his mercy, it's with Christ.

You can't avoid Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, says John 14:6. You say, "Well, I can worship God without Jesus Christ." No, you can't. I can be saved without Jesus Christ. No, you can't. Acts 4:12, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. No other name. The name of Moses won't save you. The name of Paul won't save you. The name of your church won't save you. It's through Jesus Christ. Then we have verses 8, 9 and 10, very familiar. For by grace are ye saved, and that means once and for all. We don't get saved over and over again. Once you've been born again, you can't be unborn.

I have four children in my family. They are my children, whether they like it or not. They often disobey me and have to be spanked, but even when they disobey me, they're still my children. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. By grace are ye saved once and for all through faith. Now, whenever you find grace, you find faith. Not works. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. This salvation is not something you do. You don't save yourself.

Back in the gospel of John, we are told, but as many as received him, to them gave him he the power, the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. How are you born again? By your own efforts? No. By the efforts of some preacher? No.

For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation is a gift. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. It's a gift. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. It's a gift. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Verses 1-3, what we were, spiritually dead, enslaved by the world, empowered by the devil, living for the flesh, children of wrath. What did God do? Verses 4-9. Well, God quickened us. He made us alive. He raised us together with Jesus Christ. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We are experiencing the riches of his wonderful grace.

Now, what are we now? Verse 10, for we are his workmanship. Not by works, but we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Quickly notice with me the word works. There is the work that God does for us, that's salvation, by grace you're saved. Then there's the work that God does in us, for we are his workmanship. That's sanctification. Then there's the works that God does through us. We are created in Christ unto good works.

Have you experienced this grace? Are you still lying in the grave of sin? Trust Christ, and he'll save you. Our Father, we rejoice at our heavenly position. May someone listening now receive Christ and be saved. We pray in his name. Amen.