Preached Resurrection Sunday, April 20, 2014 from Ephesians 2:1-10
Theme: Jesus’ resurrection from the dead means our resurrection unto newness of life.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Today is the day that we celebrate the physical, literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. His tomb is empty, and He is alive! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
And you may think that that’s going to be the topic of the message I have felt led to share with you today. And Jesus’ resurrection from the grave is certainly the basis of it. But today, I’m planning to share with you from the Bible about someone else’s resurrection. I am going to share what the Bible says about all those who have placed their faith in Jesus, and who are raised together with Him to newness of life.
If you have been united to Jesus Christ by faith, the resurrection I am going to speak of this morning is yours.
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Now I need to make clear, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I don’t mean that I am going to speak of our resurrection sometime in the future. The Bible clearly teaches about the future resurrection of our bodies at the return of the Lord. Just as Jesus’ body was raised from out of the tomb, the Bible promises that He will also raise those who trust Him from out of their graves to live forever with Him. I love to think of that glorious day! It’s a day that is assured to us because Jesus Himself was literally raised from the dead.
But what I feel led to speak about this morning is a resurrection that comes before the day of the Lord’s return. It’s a resurrection that—for all who trust in Jesus—is a present, experiential realty. It’s the fact that—as far as God is concerned—those who have placed their faith in what Jesus has done for us have already been raised from spiritual death, and now stand before Him with Christ in complete newness of life; awaiting the time, one day, when their bodies will be raised and brought into glorious conformity with the present condition of their spirits.
Jesus Himself spoke of this very present, spiritual resurrection. In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus made an amazing promise. He said,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
The one who sent Him to this earth was the Heavenly Father. And if we believe on the Father who sent His Son in love to pay the price for our sins on the cross, and heed the words that the Son has taught us as our Lord and Master, we will have everlasting life. That was His promise. And to explain that promise further, He went on to say;
“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (vv. 25-27).
Sounds like our a resurrection story, doesn’t it? The “dead” will hear the voice of Jesus and will “live”. But you need to know that the dead that He’s talking about are not the dead in their graves, but rather the “dead” in spirit—those who have no relationship with God and who have no eternal life. They walk around as if they were alive; but they have no saving relationship with God. They are “dead” to Him. And it is they who will hear the voice of the Son of God and will live. The reason we can know that this is what He is talking about is because the Lord Jesus then goes on to speak of the “dead” who literally lay in their graves. He said;
“Do not marvel at this [that is, that the spiritual dead will hear His voice and be given eternal life]; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (vv. 28-29).
The proof that Jesus is able to give eternal life to those who are spiritually dead is that He is also able to raise the physically dead from their graves. He proved that He is able to do this when He raised the twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus from her deathbed, and His friend Lazarus from the grave. He gave us the greatest of all demonstrations of the reliability of His promise when He Himself was raised from the dead. It’s the ‘resurrection’ promise that He truly raises those who are spiritually dead, and gives them eternal life through a relationship with Him by faith.
The one passage of Scripture that tells us about this the most clearly—in my opinion, one of the most marvelous passages in the New Testament—is Ephesians 2:1-10. I love that passage, because it is my resurrection story. I love to put my own name at the very beginning of it.
In it, the apostle Paul wrote;
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), 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. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:1-10).
You see; the reason why this is such an important day to celebrate is because Jesus’ resurrection from the dead means our resurrection from the dead too—not only in the future at the day of His return, but right now in our daily life before God. And it’s my genuine hope and prayer that everyone here today will be gripped by the things this passage tells us, will believe on the Lord Jesus, will receive His promise, and will walk from this day forward as truly ‘resurrected’ people in the sight of God.
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Now; the first thing this passage tells us—something that might be hard for some people to hear, but that truly is the place we must start—is . . .
1. WHAT SOMEONE’S CONDITION IS APART FROM JESUS (vv. 1-3).
The apostle Paul, who wrote these words, said, “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” (Ephesians 2:1-3).
That’s not exactly a complement, is it? Note first that we’re told that—apart from being united to Jesus Christ by faith—we are “dead in trespasses and sins”. “Trespasses” refers to the ways we have broken God’s rules, and stepped into His moral “no trespassing” zones. We have done the things He said not to do, said the things He said not to say, and have gone into the places He said not to go. And you may be surprised to know this, but the word that is translated “sin” was originally an archery term. It was a word that meant “to miss the mark”. It’s as if God has established His holy standards for living—set up His “bullseye” for us—and we have fallen short of the target. We have missed the mark. And that places us in a position of spiritual death before God. As the Bible tells us elsewhere, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It warns us that “the wages of sin is death . . .” (Romans 6:23).
And not only are we spiritually dead before God because of our sins, but we are what I call “the walking dead”. That conjures up a pretty horrible image, doesn’t it? We might think, “But I’m not dead! I walk around and go about life every day!” But from God’s point of view—the only point of view that really matters, by the way—we are “the walking dead”. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, as the apostle Paul went on to say, “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.” We show that we were dead to a life to God by the fact that we took all our cues and instructions in life from the values and priorities of a world system that is hostile to Him and His ways. And what’s more, we also walked according to “the prince of the power of the air” who rules over this world system; and who deceives people with respect to the ways of God. We were the dead who were walking according to the drumbeat of the devil!
And it gets worse still. Because we were “the walking dead”—who walked in accordance with the course of this world and under the sway of the devil—our manner of walking was in complete disobedience to God. We walked in accordance with 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 . . .” We walked with those who trod the paths of disobedience. The commandments of God were not our guide in life. We didn’t heed God’s commandments. Instead, the guiding principle of our lives was the lusts of our own sinful passions. We did what our disobedient inclinations told us to do. We believed whatever our sinful passions demanded us to believe. And it didn’t matter what God said in His holy Scriptures, or what He told us in His commandments. We convinced ourselves that if it was what we wanted to do, then it must be right. How dead we were to God! How self-deceived we were in our deadness!
And I wish I could stop there. But it gets even worse. The most desperate aspect of our whole situation is that we were destined for the wrath of God. We were heading toward the eternal judgment that our sinful actions demanded. We were, as the apostle Paul wrote, “by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” We were, you might say, little children who were bound to grow up to a destiny; and that destiny was the wrath of God.
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You know; I keep saying that that’s what we “were”. But perhaps as I explain these things, you’re thinking to yourself, “It’s not just ‘were’ for me! That describes what I am right now!” And if that’s you, I want you to know that it was once also me. No one had to convince me that I was dead to any kind of life before God. I knew it! I had no hope! I knew I was destined for judgment; and I could do no more to save myself from that judgment than a dead body could make itself alive!
But that’s why I love the first two words of verse four. I suppose that if someone were to ask me what I think the greatest two words put together in the whole Bible are, I would say it is the two words at the beginning of verse four, “But God . . .”; because together, they mean that God has looked at our desperate situation and has done something to rescue us from our condition spiritual death before Him.
Listen, then, to . . .
2. WHAT GOD DID FOR US IN JESUS (vv. 4-7).
The apostle Paul goes on to say; “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” (Ephesians 2:4-7).
Notice, first, that “even when we were dead in trespasses”, God “made us alive together with Christ”. No dead body can ever make itself alive. If you would like to join me after church, we could go out together to the cemetery next to the church building, and give all the people buried there a pep-talk. We could tell them, “Come on, folks! Rise up! Take some initiative! Just believe in yourselves! Think positive! Enough of your negative thinking! Show some enthusiasm! Exercise! Get a life! You can do it!” And of course, nothing would happen; because the dead can’t make themselves alive. And the same is true for you and me. If we are spiritually dead before God, we can’t make ourselves alive. We can’t raise ourselves out of spiritual death and present ourselves to God. Only God Himself can bring the dead to life. And that’s what He has done for us in Christ.
It says in this passage that we are made alive “together with Christ”. And that’s the key to it all. God, by His grace, places us in Christ. And because Jesus is alive, we are made alive too. The apostle Paul doesn’t simply use the word “made alive”; but in the original language, he uses an unusual word that means “made alive with”. And it’s together with Jesus Christ that we are made alive. That’s why we celebrate His resurrection today with such joy. Those of us who were dead in our trespasses and sins have been made alive with Him.
Not only that, but we’re told that God has also “raised us up together” with Christ. The reason that I love that so much is because it bears with it the promise of real life-transformation. I don’t have to stay stuck in the old ways of living that characterized me when I was dead before God. God doesn’t, as it were, walk past our tombs and tell us, “Live!”—and then, leave us stuck in our tombs trying to figure a way to dig ourselves out. He raises us from the grave; so that we now stand before Him as brand new creatures. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” What good news! You and I are no longer stuck in the past. We can truly be transformed in every respect of life; and can walk around before God as people that He has raised from the dead!
And more than that; we have been made alive and raised from the dead to now sit in a position of great honor and glory. Paul wrote that God has now “made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . .” Apart from Christ, we were dead in sins in the sight of God. But now, in Christ, we have been resurrected in the sight of God. And now—because we are fully united to Christ—we sit, in God’s sight, where Christ Himself sits; at the Father’s right hand in heavenly glory. You may say to yourself, “But it sure doesn’t seem to me that I sit in heavenly glory.” But it’s not your or my viewpoint that counts. You and I do not yet see what God sees. The truest thing that can be said of us is what God Himself says about us; and He says that, in Christ, we now sit in heavenly places of glory with His Son in the highest place of honor.
I love what Paul then goes on to say about this; “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God wishes to hold us up on display—for all the angelic hosts to see throughout eternity—as a demonstration of how gracious He is! We are now—in His sight—eternal trophies of His grace; and the hosts of heaven will behold us and say, “What a glorious and gracious God we serve!—that He would give life to those who were formerly dead in trespasses and sins, and would exalt them to the highest place of honor and majesty with His Son!”
That’s what we ought to celebrate on this day!
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Now; I can’t stop talking about what God has done for us in uniting us to Jesus without going on to point out . . .
3. WHAT WE NOW ARE BECAUSE OF JESUS (v. 10).
You see; the spiritual resurrection that we have experienced in Jesus results in a practical impact in our daily life. And the apostle Paul tells us about that impact in verse ten; where he writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Note that—as resurrected people in Jesus—we have a new identity. We are “His workmanship”. We are not merely “repaired”. We are creatures made completely new—new creations in Christ that, when God looks upon us, moves Him to say, “I made that.” We also have a new origin; because we have been “created in Christ Jesus”. Our old origin is that we were products of our father Adam; and we sinned just like our father. But now, we have been made from different material. We have been created in Christ Jesus; and we show our new origin by the fact that we have life.
We also have been raised from the dead to a new purpose. We have been created in Christ Jesus “for good works.” It’s not that we have been saved by our good works. As those who were dead in trespasses and sins, there were no good works forthcoming from us that could possibly be sufficient to save us. In fact, our works—performed in a state of disobedience to God—made our guilt before God even worse! But now, we have become new creations in Christ—not by good works, but unto good works. We also have a new provision; because the good works we are created unto are those “which God prepared beforehand”. Isn’t that marvelous? You and I—as new creations in Christ—don’t have to go around creating good works for ourselves to do in order to please God. He prepares them for us long before we get there! And finally, we have a new duty—and that is to “walk in” those good works which He has prepared in advance for us!
Oh, dear folks! There’s nothing like living the resurrected life in Jesus Christ! What a thing to celebrate! What a day this is to celebrate it!
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Now; before we come to a close, I want to share one more, very important thing that we find in this morning’s passage.
The whole key to the resurrected life is that—from beginning to end—it is a life “with Christ”. We are completely united by God to Him—given life with Him, raised with Him, seated in positions of heavenly honor with Him, and now live our day-to-day lives as new creatures with the resurrected Lord Jesus. So note what the apostle Paul tells us about . . .
4. HOW WE BECOME UNITED TO JESUS (vv. 8-9).
The apostle Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (vv. 8-9). And let’s make very sure we understand how it does not come about that we are united to Jesus Christ. I’ve already pointed this out; but let me stress it again. It does not—and cannot—happen through our works. You and I can never work hard, turn over a new leaf, reform our ways, and earn enough heavenly ‘gold stars’ to make ourselves worthy of life from the dead. A dead body cannot work its way to life. A dead body can’t do anything at all. It can’t earn a single ‘gold star’! As we have already seen, good works are in the picture. But we are saved unto good works—never by them.
I say that because, if you are seeking to earn God’s favor by living a good life, you’re still living like someone who is dead to eternal life. The apostle Paul tells us the only way that we can receive eternal life; and that is by grace. Do you know what “grace” means? It means “an undeserved gift”. I used to call it “a free gift”; but I realized that that’s an unnecessary way to put it. After all, what other kind of “gift” is there but a “free” one? If it’s not “free”, it’s not a gift. And God gives salvation as a gift to whoever will accept it—completely free for the taking.
And how do we take hold of this gift—eternal life through Christ? We take hold of it by faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith . . .” As the Bible tells us in Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved . . .” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
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I hope you can appreciate why this is such a great day to celebrate. Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. And for those of us who have been united to Jesus by faith, His resurrection is our resurrection—not only physically at the day of His return, but right now in everyday life.
And most of all, I hope you have accepted God’s gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. There’s no greater thing to do on Resurrection Sunday than to make sure you are truly raised to life with Him!