In Ephesians 2:4-7, Paul explains how we are made ALIVE, how we will ASCEND to heaven and how we will ACQUIRE the eternal riches of God’s grace – all because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. God in His sacrificial and sovereign grace reached down into our utter helplessness to help us when we were completely without hope.
Let’s read the next section, starting at verse 4,
“4 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, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
The journey from our spiritual death to new life in Christ is only accomplished by resurrection. Our spiritual condition before Jesus was one of spiritual death. We needed God, in His kindness, to raise us up from the grave spiritually, just like he raised Jesus up from the grave physically.
Romans 8:11 says, “11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
If you are a Christian, you have experienced resurrection power “through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Humanity is divided into 2 camps: those who are resurrected and those who are not.
Those who are not resurrected won’t be helped by trying to be better. Self-help will be no-help at all. No one can crawl out of their own grave. A person must be made “alive together with Christ.” When we were dead in our sins, we were depraved in every way, but once we have been made “alive together with Christ,” we are completely covered by Christ’s righteousness and fundamentally changed as a result.
The good news of the gospel is that:
#1 We are made ALIVE together with Christ – Ephesians 2:5
On Wednesday, some of our Senior saints were talking about the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” with Charles Fuller that used to play on the radio on Sundays. On the night of his conversion, the soon-to-be evangelist, Charles Fuller, wrote a letter to his wife and made the following statement:
“There has been a complete change in my life. Sunday I went up to Los Angeles and heard Paul Rader preach. I never heard such a sermon in all my life… Now my whole life and aims and ambition are changed. I feel now that I want to serve God if He can use me instead of making the goal of my life the making of money.”
Charles Fuller experienced a spiritual resurrection on that July evening in 1916. The change was so radical that it completely altered the course of his life.
Secondly, the good news of the gospel is that:
#2 We will ASCEND to the heights of heaven – Ephesians 2:6, Romans 8:16-17
Look again at verse 6. It is saying that God, in His grace, “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We are promised to be co-heirs with Christ and to be seated alongside other believers with Jesus on His heavenly throne.
Romans 8:16-17 says, “16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
It is a wonderful and glorious truth that, as a believer, I am a joint heir with Christ! In one respect, eternal life with Christ begins at the very moment of salvation. Paul says that right now the believer is raised up with Jesus and is seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. (Eph 2:6) Then it says we have been given this new position so that “in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:7)
Thirdly, the good news of the gospel is that:
#3 We will AQUIRE the riches of God’s grace – Ephesians 2:7, 2 Corinthians 5:17
The gift we receive for calling out to Jesus and even suffering for the gospel is a gift of immeasurable worth. Every day for one eternity after another, God promises that there will never be a single moment when His grace isn’t perfectly and thoroughly applied to our lives. God promises an endless future of unending blessing for those who are “in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
God willingly poured out His wrath on Jesus (instead of on us) on the cross so that all who call on Jesus as Lord and Savior might be forgiven from the penalty of their sins and freed up to enjoy God for all of eternity.
The story of the cross does not end when Jesus died. Christians often call Easter, “Resurrection Sunday,” because on Easter we celebrate not only our salvation, but Jesus’ resurrection.
Before He died, Jesus said in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” In other words, Jesus claimed that if they killed Him, He would come back to life three days later. On the 3rd day after his death, Jesus came back to life.
We don’t serve a God whose Son is dead in the grave, but a God whose Son is alive and ruling and reigning and proving that he holds the keys to eternal life.
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