Dead in Sin – Alive in Christ
(Amazing Grace)
 

Ephesians 2:1-10

2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 
2 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, 
3 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.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The heart of the Gospel is grace, known by the acronym “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”.

John 3:16 God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in shall have everlasting life.

In this fabulous passage of scripture, we see God’s mercy at work, bringing about eternal life to undeserving sinners. Trespassers, that could not save themselves. Sinners, separated from God by their sin, under the power of Satan, the god of this world and deserving of the wrath of God and an eternity in hell.
 

V1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 

First and foremost we see here who is the author of salvation. “He” God.
Made us alive who were dead.
Not just sick. Not sin sick sinners but dead in sin.
The scripture tells us that death came into the world through sin. The sin of Adam.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
 

Every man and woman is in the grip of Satan.

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Jesus said that we belong to Satan, our father the devil. We are in his grip and we do his desires.

John 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

This was our state, following after the things of this world, children of disobedience, at enmity with God.
 

2 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, 
3 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.

This is the state of one who is dead in sin and no one is excused.
We were alive in the flesh but dead spiritually. Totally unable to do anything good towards God, Unable to save ourselves, unable to approach God or call of God. We were as it were, the living dead.
Spiritually we were blind, we were deaf, we were dumb. We had no appreciation of anything Godly.
 

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

It was whilst we were in this state that God moved.
We have that wonderful phrase, “But God”.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 

Even though we hated Him and went our own way. God by His Holy Spirit moved on us and made us alive in Christ.
 

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

By His grace and through no merit of our own, God quickened us to life from our dead state, saved us and raised us up to a newness of life in Christ Jesus.

6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

Why, would God do this for undeserving sinners?
To show the riches of His mercy and the exceeding riches of His grace, to usward in Christ Jesus.
For the praise of His glory.

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

Verses 8-10 sums up the reconciliation of man to God.
This work of salvation is nothing of us but all of God.
For by the undeserved mercy of God, we have been saved from the wrath to come by the gift of faith. The faith to believe came from God, for it is not of ourselves. We could not earn it, we could not purchase it, no one else could give it to us, for if we could get it by any of these means, we would have an occasion to boast.
No it was none of these, for it came as a free gift of God.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

God is the author of our salvation.

Hebrews 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

We are His workmanship, created in love in Christ.
God foreordained our salvation before the foundation of the world, before we had done anything good enough to merit it.
He determined it in the council of His own will and in the fullness of time, He brought it about.

Spurgeon quote:
“Our new life is as truly created out of nothing as were the first heavens, and the first earth. This ought to be particularly noticed, for there are some who think that the grace of God improves the old nature into the new. It does nothing of the sort.”

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We were created for good works. Good works played no part in our salvation but the result of our salvation is good works.
Works cannot produce faith but faith produces works.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

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