The Quick and the Dead – Part 2

Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

Michael continues that before we were “born again” of God's spiritual nature, we walked according to the course of this world, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.  We are no longer children of wrath. Through the price Jesus paid on our behalf on the Cross, we have been made the righteousness of God in him.  Even though we slip and fall out of fellowship with our Lord, 1 John 1:9 says, "if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

A hard taskmaster is a slave driver who has no mercy and no grace. The wages of sin is death. Sin deserves a righteous judgment of death.  However, God is rich in mercy and great in love. He has made us alive according to His grace.  We're righteous not because of our own sin nature of the flesh but because Jesus Christ who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 6:14-16 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

The Jews thought that they were righteous in their own works. Do we too? They believed that they were righteous because they kept the Old Testament law. Do we because we do “good” things? They knew that unto them were given the oracles (revelations and prophesies) of God. They knew that they were God's chosen people and that their lineage had been blessed through God's promise to Abraham. They thought that they were destined for eternal life as God’s chosen people but everyone else was condemned to death.  However Jesus came to set the captives of sin free.  According to Galatians 8:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

According to Romans 5:8, “in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.” God has made all Believers alive according to His grace that flows from His mercy and has seated us in heavenly places in Christ; Children of God and citizen of Heaven. Our redemption and salvation is for God's own glory: That he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

The conclusion is in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, (His great work, His magnum opus, His Masterpiece) created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he has foreordained that we should walk in it. Believers who have been born again” by the Holy Spirit have been made a new creation in Christ. And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

He has quickened us together in Christ so that we would be to the praise of the glory of His grace! Know it, understand it and live it out daily in gratitude and love.

Your brother in Christ, Michael