Ephesians 2:1-9 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.
In recent years the term government bail-out has been added to our vernacular. There were large corporations, financial institutions, and even states that were bailed-out by the government’s plan to save them from a certain death. These bail-outs have started many debates, and I’m sure they have caused ill feelings with many people throughout our country. The debate stems from questions like, “Why should we give them money they don’t deserve? Why should we help them? What about my bail-out plan?” No matter what your feelings are on this issue, it’s a done deal. The government stepped in and rescued these dying, bankrupt institutions so that they could be saved from their impending death.
So what about our bail-out? Do we need a bail-out package? The answer is a resounding yes. Man needs a bail-out plan because we are spiritually bankrupt. We need a plan to rescue us from our future death. We have no hope of making it through a recession of sin. We are dying, and without someone’s intervention we will all die spiritually. God’s plan is Jesus Christ.
God’s word tells us of our spiritually bankrupt recession that led to our demise.
Verse 1 says, “We were dead in trespasses and sin,”
All of us are guilty; there are no exceptions – White, Black, Yellow, Red, Brown, Jew, Greek and Gentile – slaves or free – circumcised or uncircumcised – WE ARE GUILTY and we are ALL DEAD. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. All of us have missed God’s mark, His standards. We have fallen short, and there is nothing we could ever do to restore ourselves. Romans 6:23 says, “for the wages of sin is death”. Death is what we deserve, nothing else. There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves from that death. We could never be good enough. We could never work enough. We could never do anything to save ourselves from the impending death. We deserve to die in our sins. We deserve to be eternally separated from God for all of eternity.
Why?
Verse 2 says, “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.
We have been walking according to this world, and have been clothed with its evilness and immorality, so that even our eyes have been blinded by the prince of the power of the air. We are the sons of disobedience. We are the children of darkness. We have been following Satan, once our father. We have lived according to the desires of the flesh. We have pleased ourselves with every imaginable and unimaginable thing. We have been futile in our hearts and minds. We have been practicing what is corruptible and evil according to the flesh.
Galatians 5:19–21 says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. “
Romans 1:28-32 says, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
We are guilty, and we have a death sentence. We deserve to get what is coming to us. We really don’t want to talk about this. We don’t want admit our wretchedness. Are we any better than Satan? Are we as bad as he is? Sin is sin and it’s all deserving of death. How hopeless can we be? What do we have to look forward to?
The real story is that we do have hope. We have a bail-out plan. Listen to this.
Verses 4-7 says, “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.”
God had mercy upon us while we were in our trespasses and sins because He loves us. God withheld our rightful punishment. We were to die spiritually, but God had mercy on us. We were saved by His grace. We were made alive together with Christ. Christ was our grace gift from God. Christ took our punishment. He paid our debt. Christ bailed us out of our bankrupt, sinful recession.
How are we to respond? We respond with faith. Faith is the hand that accepts God’s grace.
We are saved by grace and grace will lead us home.
It’s only when we understand our hopeless, bankrupt, sinful condition that we can truly repent and turn away from our sins. We must have a change of heart and a repentant spirit. God’s grace allows us to respond in faith. The question is this: Will we continue in our sins or will we be saved by grace? God wants to have a relationship with us.
Will you give your life to Jesus so that you may experience God’s saving grace?
CajunPreacher - Saved by Grace 