June 4, 2006 · Ephesians 2:4–5

Ephesians 2-1-10

“Thank God that's not the final story. But because of His great love for us, God, who was rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. You see, if there's actually just one major plot in this novel that we're living through, I would say it's this, the love of God, the mercy of God, the great love for us that God has shown in Christ. Sure we were dead in our transgressions, sure we were part of the disobedient and rebellious, sure we were dwelling in a spirit of the ruler of the air, but thank God for Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We were dead in sin, now we are alive in Christ. The juxtaposition can't be more striking, It is a difference between life and death. Just as one quickly sees a difference between a loved one who's breathing their last breath and the corpse in the hospital bed that is there two seconds later, that's the difference. There is a difference between the corpse that we used to be and our life in Corpus Christi, which is the body of Christ. When we enter the life of Christ, when we are in Christ, when we are with Christ, there can't be no greater difference in the world. That is the two categories laid out in scriptures. I would say that for many Christians, the hardest part is actually forgetting our sin long enough to also grasp this concept of our new life in Christ. We forget, we can't accept it. See we wallow so often in our sin and in our disobedience, we forget that there has been an objective switch in our situation.”