Results of Union With Christ

Introduction: The Purpose of Ephesians 2 and the Method of Transformation

0:02 You turn again this morning, please, to the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 2. In this second chapter, the Apostle Paul is seeking to deepen the appreciation of the grace of God resident in the hearts and minds of the Ephesians. And he does this by means of the two great contrasts which form the heart of this chapter. Verses 1 to 10, the contrast of what they were before the grace of God came to them as individuals and what they now are since the grace of God has come. And the second great contrast, that concerning their position with reference to the visible people of God before and after, the work of God's grace. We have been carefully examining the Apostle's teaching in that first series of set of contrasts. Verses 1 to 3, describing to us what they were by nature.

1:13 Verses 4 to 10, what they are now by grace. We have seen that the author of this great transformation is God himself and God alone. The motive which moved him to effect this transformation. His great love and his rich mercy.

1:31 And we have concluded our studies on the method he employed in this transformation, namely union with Christ. The method employed was that of quickening them together with Christ. Raising them together and seating them together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Then the next broad area of thought that the Apostle introduced.

1:58 To us is found in verse 7. And it is what we might call the purpose for which God has wrought this transformation. God is the author. Love and mercy the motive.

2:11 The method is union with his son. Well what is God's ultimate intention in all of this? Well verse 7 answers that question. That, in order that, to the end that in the ages to come.

2:25 He might show the exceeding riches. Of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. In other words, God chose the method by which he has wrought this change. Because it was calculated to be a manifestation of the exceeding riches of his grace.

2:50 And he is determined that in the unfolding of the ages through time and into eternity. God will have this amazing display of his super abounding grace. And God willing in our next exposition. We will attempt to open up that seventh verse.

The Practical Results of Union with Christ: Neutralization and Conferral

3:10 Which gives us the purpose for which God has wrought the great transformation. But having opened up the meaning of the words quickened, raised and seated with Christ. I thought it would be in our interest this morning. To consider this line of thought.

3:27 Before we proceed to the exposition of verse 7. Namely, what are the practical results of this great transformation? When sinners are quickened together, raised together and seated together in the heavenlies with Christ. What is the precise condition in which they find themselves.

3:51 When they have thus been quickened, raised and seated with him. And the answer of this passage is basically twofold. When God quickens, raises and seats sinners with his son in the heavenlies. He first of all neutralizes or cancels the ugly realities of verses 1 to 3.

4:17 And secondly, he confers the exact opposite of those realities. So if you ask the question. All right. When sinners have been quickened, raised and seated with Christ.

4:29 What does that mean in terms of the thought patterns of verses 1 to 3. Or in terms of the thought patterns of this whole passage. And the answer is this. By quickening us with Christ.

4:42 By raising us with Christ. By seating us in the heavenlies with Christ. God neutralizes or cancels all the ugly realities of verses 1 to 3. God confers upon us the exact opposite of those realities.

Illustration: The Benevolent Man and the Pauper

5:02 Let me illustrate it this way. Imagine in your mind's eye a wealthy man. A kind man. A benevolent man.

5:11 Who's making a tour through certain nations of the world. And he comes upon a community that is marked by its squalor. It's filth. It's ignorance.

5:21 It's disease. And it's poverty. And he sets his eyes upon a man. Who is the very epitome of all the squalor and disease and ignorance and filth.

5:32 Of that particular segment of society. The man is a pauper. He sits by a wayside begging. Holding up his little cup.

5:41 For anyone to drop in a pittance. That might help him in meeting some of the barest necessities of his miserable existence. His body is full of disease. He is filthy.

5:55 Furthermore upon inquiry we find out that the man is in terrible debt. Furthermore we find that he's a law breaker. And a fugitive from the law of that land. Liable to the laws which would inflict upon him just punishment.

6:11 Upon further examination we find that the man has chains about his hands and about his feet. Now do you get the picture? The perfect picture. The epitome.

6:23 The apex. Everything that is undesirable in human existence. Now suppose this wealthy benevolent kind man. Should for no reason in that miserable creature.

6:38 But solely out of the goodness of his own heart. Take that pauper. That man lying in his chains. His filth.

6:48 His squalor. His indebtedness and his guilt. And cleanse him from all of his wounds. Furthermore he endows him with a suit of clothing.

7:01 Furthermore he cuts his chains. In addition to this he cancels the man's debts. And he goes to the authorities and secures some kind of acquittal from the law. Now when this man in that condition has had all of the positive indications of his terrible state.

7:28 Cancelled or neutralized by the activity of this benevolent man. He is a man who is overwhelmed or ought to be with a sense of indebtedness to this kind man. Who took pity upon him and neutralized all of the ugly realities of his squalor and his miserableness.

7:54 But now suppose that same man. The same wealthy kind benevolent man. Took that same miserable creature. After he had cut his chains.

8:05 After he had secured acquittal. After he had washed him. Clothed him. And now legally credits him with ten thousand dollars.

8:17 And legally binds himself to provide for this man's every need for as long as he shall live. And then furthermore he provides him not with one suit of clothing. But with a wardrobe adequate for every single season and every single activity. From working in his garden to taking his wife out to a fancy eating place in the town.

8:41 He confers upon him all of this wardrobe. And then further by diet and by providing medical assistance. He secures for him not just the negation of his disease state. But abounding vigorous normal health.

8:59 And then furthermore he legally adopts him so that he becomes an heir of all that he possesses. Now do you see any difference between what he did in the first instance and the second? You see in the first instance he was doing an amazing thing. The beggar had no claim upon the wealthy benevolent kind man.

9:21 But in his own mercy and grace and kindness. He neutralized all of the obvious effects of the man. He neutralized the man's miserableness. But then he went far beyond that.

God's Work: Beyond Neutralization to Exceeding Riches of Grace

9:36 And he conferred upon him the exact opposite of all those ugly realities. Now in answer to the question. When God takes sinners described in verses 1 to 3 of Ephesians 2. And passing by them in pure sovereign mercy sets his love upon them.

9:59 And puts them in hand to save them. What does he do? Well blessed be God he neutralizes all of the ugly realities of verses 1 to 3. But that is not all that he does.

10:11 He goes far beyond that. Because his intention according to verse 7. Is to show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us. And therefore God would have this display of grace.

10:33 That is measured by omnipotence. And he goes beyond the mere negation or canceling or neutralizing. Of the miseries of verses 1 to 3. He confers upon us in free and sovereign mercy.

10:50 All of the exact opposites. And they become ours. Now then to appreciate what that means. All you need to do is take your clue from verses 1 to 3.

11:03 And say what were we when he set his love upon us. What were we when he took us in hand to save us. And then see how he has neutralized the condition. And conferred just the opposite.

11:16 And so in answer to the question. What are the practical results of being quickened together with Christ. Raised with Christ. Seated with Christ.

11:26 Or to phrase the question in a different way. What are the issues of our blessed union with Christ. The answer is the neutralizing of all the ugly realities of verses 1 to 3. And the conferral of just the opposite.

Result 1: From Spiritual Death to Eternal Life

11:43 And that's the message for this morning. Just an effort to open up what that means. First of all then what was our true condition. When he set his eyes upon us.

11:53 And set his heart upon us. Look at verse 1. You did he make alive when ye were dead. Back several years ago when we first began our expositions of Ephesians.

12:06 And some months ago when we began chapter 2. You were reminded that our true condition was one of spiritual death. And that the nature of spiritual death was basically existence. With no accurate knowledge of God.

12:23 No communion with God. No love for God. No submission to God. The state of spiritual death is existence apart from God.

12:36 That's why the apostle can say in verse 13 of this very chapter. You were without God in the world. In chapter 4 in verse 18 he can say alienated from the life of God. All that we have been quickened together with Christ.

12:54 Raised together with Christ. Seated together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What does that mean in practical everyday language? Well it means that God has not only negated this frightening condition.

13:10 This existence with no accurate knowledge of God. No communion with God. No fellowship with God. No love for God.

13:18 No submission to God. He has brought us into something that the scripture calls the possession of eternal life. That is life in the knowledge of God. John 17 3.

13:32 This is life eternal that they may know thee. The only true and living God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. He has brought us into life in which there is genuine love for God. There is loving obedience to God.

13:48 And there is blessed communion. Communion with God. And that is the practical result of being quickened together. Raised together.

13:59 Seated together with Christ. That awful awesome reality of spiritual death has been negated. And the negation has come in the very conferral of eternal life. Which is that quality of life in which the knowledge of God.

14:16 And love of God. And communion with God. Are the essential substructure. And which has as its duration.

14:27 The never ending reality of that life. For eternal life is not only a quality of life. It speaks of a duration of life. Our Lord used these simple terms.

14:40 I will come and receive you to myself at where I am. There ye may be also. And the apostle says and so shall we ever be. With the Lord.

14:53 And so child of God as you think of your union with Christ. You and I are to think consciously of what that has brought to us. It is no longer true that we fit the description of verse 1. Dead on account of trespasses and sins.

15:11 That state of death has been negated by the conferral of life. We are no longer in that pitiable condition. That spiritually has its parallel in that pitiable condition. That some know physically.

15:27 And if I speak to any who have relatives or loved ones in this condition. I do not speak coldly or heartlessly. You have heard of people who are mere vegetables. They are kept alive by machines in a hospital.

15:41 There is the vital sign of pulse or brain waves. But there is no communication with the world in which they are still quote living. Loved ones stand by their bedside. And there is no exchange of thought.

16:01 No exchange of affection. No exchange of mind. They are called vegetables. They merely exist with the barest elements of physical life.

16:14 And no one calls that true human life.

16:20 Now transfer that spiritually. That is the condition of all men by nature. Spiritually. We are in the truest sense but mere vegetables.

16:32 There is the evidence that we are not dogs and cats and animals. There is the presence of conscience. There is that innate and haunting knowledge that there is a God. Stamped upon our very spirits.

16:45 And it cannot be erased. And yet there is no vital communion with that God. There is no love for that God. There is no desire to obey him nor to seek him.

16:58 There is no living interaction between the creature and his God. But blessed be God if we have been united to the Lord Jesus. That is no longer true of us. Our true condition now is one of being spiritually alive.

Result 2: From Bondage to Liberty

17:17 And we owe it all to the grace of God. Now move on to verse 2. What was our past activity? Well it was that activity characterized by bondage.

17:33 Bondage to the world wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world. Bondage to the devil according to the prince of the powers of the air. Of the spirit that now worketh among the sons of disobedience. And then bondage to our own lust among whom we all once lived in the lust of our flesh.

17:53 Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. But now look at the contrast. The result of being united to Christ is this.

18:06 Our present activity is one in which that past activity has been neutralized. That past condition has been changed. And it reflects our having been liberated by the power of Christ. And brought into the liberty of the sons of God.

18:26 Let's just look now at some of the dimensions of that. First of all we are free from bondage to the world. Verse 2 says that when we were spiritually dead the manifestation of that spiritual deadness was our enslavement to this world system. Wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world.

18:53 That is we lived in a way that harmonized with the whole age in its present corrupt and debased order. When the Bible speaks of the world in this sense it's speaking of mankind and his whole lifestyle separated from God. The world with its standards, with its goals, with its ambitions. And the scripture says our very lives were simply an outworking of the dictates of the world.

19:24 We walked according to the course of this world. The whole structure of our lives was determined by this world system. But having been quickened, raised and seated with Christ. That has all been neutralized so that our Lord says of his own ye are not of the world.

19:46 Even as I am not of the world I have chosen you out of the world. And that has tremendous practical implications. I need not dance every time the world fiddles. I need not cringe every time the world frowns.

20:03 I need not bow in obedience when the world commands. I need not be seduced when the world casts the glances of its seductive eyes upon me. I have been crucified to the world and the world unto me. I have been joined to Jesus Christ and the virtue of that union is that this world system no longer holds me as its own.

20:30 For we read in Galatians 1.4 that Jesus Christ died that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God and our Father. And it's a wonderful thing to be liberated from the frowns of the world. It's a wonderful thing.

20:49 To have those terrible chains broken. Chains forged by the world that makes us a slave to its every whim. Makes us dance the proper step to its every little stroke upon its fiddle. To be liberated from the world.

21:08 You know what that means in practical experience? It means I'm not a slave to fashion. As a Christian I'm not indifferent to fashion. For God does not want his children to be notorious.

21:22 Either for their avant-garde, their front leading perspectives in fashion or living like they lived in the society fifty years ago. It's one thing to have a measure of Christian sensitivity to fashion for the glory of God. It's another thing to be a slave of fashion. And fashion is part of the world system that hopes it can find a little meaning in life.

21:53 By the constant rearrangement of the external garb. While continually and increasingly indifferent with the inner garb that is well pleasing unto God. You see, to be liberated from the world means that I'm no longer a slave to fashion. I'm no longer a slave to the world's opinion of what is important in life.

22:19 The world has its standard about what's important and that's what screams out at you. And the television ads and the ads in the newspaper. You see, they're trying to convince you this is important enough for you to spend your money for it. It's important enough for you to give the fruit of your work and labor to it.

22:40 Well, you see, the one who has been delivered by union with Christ, he is no longer enslaved to the world. Furthermore, we are free from bondage to the devil. Look at the text, verse 2. We were in this previous state not only walking according to the course of the world, but also according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit who now actively works in the sons of disobedience.

23:12 And I just remind you of the truths we asserted when we opened that passage up in detail some months ago. It clearly teaches that when we were dead in our sins, we were the dukes, the slaves, the serfs, the lackeys of the devil. Paul uses graphic language in 2 Timothy 2 when he says, taken captive by him unto his will. When that same apostle was commissioned in Acts 26.18, the record of that commission, God said he was to open the eyes of the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. And in describing the conversion of the Colossians, he says, who have delivered us out of the power of darkness and into the kingdom, of his dear Son. That's a terrible situation, to be the slave of the devil. As long as we bore his image and did his business, we were his slaves.

24:11 And he our master. That's why John can say, the whole world lieth in the wicked one. The whole world lieth in the wicked one. But having been quickened with Christ, raised with Christ, seated in the heavenlies with Christ, the scripture tells us we're free from bondage to the devil.

24:30 And though he is our adversary, who is a roaring lion, goes about seeking to devour those whom he can, as one has said, God pulled his teeth at Calvary. And with reference to the people of God, though he be a roaring lion, the scripture tells us in Hebrews chapter 2 that Jesus Christ, identifying himself with his people, has come forth to destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

25:05 In the imagery of our Lord's own language, he has bound the strong man and spoiled his goods. And that's why you're a Christian this morning, if you're a Christian. If he had not bound the strong man and spoiled his goods, you would not be here, rejoicing in the fact that you have been quickened, raised and seated with Jesus Christ. Oh dear child of God, again, it's upon the remembrance of what we were when he passed by us and those chains were forged that bound us not only to the world, but to the devil.

25:47 And we were in that sense slaves. We had given ourselves to him by the voluntary consent of our own servitude to sin. For Paul says, his servants you are. Whom?

26:00 You obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. And the Lord Jesus has come and broken our chains. And by virtue of union with the Son of God, our true walk is that of the free men, the free women of God. So there is then that neutralizing of the state of bondage to the world, bondage to the devil, and blessed be God, we're free from bondage to the lust of our flesh and of our mind.

The Nature of Christian Liberty and the Conflict with Sin

26:32 What a frightening picture in verse 3. Living in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires, literally translated, doing the things willed of the flesh and of the mind. And although conscience at times would whimper, whine, or even scream, our basic allegiance was to the dictates of our lust. Having been crucified, quickened, raised, seated with Jesus Christ, we are God's free men and God's free women.

27:07 Listen to the words of the Apostle in Galatians 5.25. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts thereof. Romans 6.14.

27:19 Sin shall not have dominion over you. Ye are not under law, but under grace. In other words, by virtue of union with Christ, I am no longer standing in that relationship to God's law in which it demands of me but gives me no power to perform, in which it threatens me and gives me no escape from that threatening. No, by union with Jesus Christ, I have died to the demands of the law in its justice.

27:49 By union with Christ, alive with Him, there is now the power of the new life in Christ to delight in the law of God with the inward man, and to pursue obedience to that law out of love to the Son of God. In my past state, when the lust of the flesh and the mind dictated, I rendered obedience. But now, because I've been united to Christ, even though there is the ugly, heartbreaking reality of the remains of sin, listen, dear Christian, the fact that Galatians 5.17 and Romans 7 are real to you, rather than being a proof that you're not a Christian, they are the evidences that you are. Galatians 5.17 says, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these two are contrary the one to the other.

28:44 And the apostle says, I find a law within my members. When I would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But there is this other law.

28:55 You see, it's only the person who's been quickened and raised in seed. It is with Christ who knows that conflict. The man who is walking according to the course of this world, still a slave of the devil and of his lust, all he knows is the occasional whimpering and whining and complaint of his conscience. And that's worlds apart from the grief in the heart of a Christian who says, The spirit who has revealed Christ has given me a longing to please the Savior.

29:28 That's how the spirit lusts against the flesh. He doesn't do it in some magical way. He does it by setting before us as valid motives the desire to please the Lord Jesus. That's why Paul can say, Because of the work of the spirit, I delight in the law of God after the inward parts.

29:49 You see, this is not the mere nagging of conscience that the man who is still the slave of his lust will have until God either gives him up or allows him to sear his conscience. This is something entirely different. The flesh lusting against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, that's the awareness that I've been called unto holiness. My most delightful moments are when I'm walking in holiness and in obedience and in communion with my God.

30:18 That's not true of the unsaved man. As long as his conscience will shut its mouth, he's happy. No matter what he does, no matter what his motives are, no matter what his ends are. That's not true of you if you're a Christian, is it?

30:33 Your happiest moments are when there is the consciousness that whether eating or drinking or whatever you're doing, you're doing all to the glory of God. When you are living unto Him who loved you and gave Himself for you, when He has set some duty before you, and though there's been the contrary pull of the flesh or the seductive glances of the world or the roarings of the devil, when you have, by the grace of God working in you to will and to do, chosen the right path, what is your delight? Not that you turn around and pat yourself on the back and say, I've been a good boy and got a few more dollars in the bank of merit. No, no, you say, thank you, Lord, for giving me grace to please you.

31:18 Isn't that your experience? Well, you see, that's the practical fruit of having been quickened with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with Christ. You're out of that realm of bondage to the lust of the flesh and of the mind. And how essential it is for a Christian to know that he's Christ's free man, that he might act as Christ's free man.

31:42 You see, that's the genius of the biblical thrust in the whole area of conduct. It does not say, do that you may become. It says, you have become, therefore do. That's not just playing with words.

31:58 Paul says, for freedom. See, Christ has set you free. Be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage. He didn't say, get yourself disentangled so you may become free.

32:11 He says, you are free. Live like a free man. That's the emphasis of Scripture. The Bible doesn't say, do this, do this, do this, so you may become dead.

32:22 He says, you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Seek the things that are above. Put to death your members that are upon the earth. The exhortation to mortify follows the assertion that we are raised with Christ.

32:37 You have been crucified with Christ. Live as a crucified man. You've been raised with Christ. Live as a resurrected man.

32:49 And it's tragic when in the name of enforcing Christian ethics and conduct, that reversal comes. Child of God, the Lord has passed by and seen you in your chains and in your squalor and in your filth. And if you've embraced the Son of God, and you do yet embrace Him this day as your only hope of mercy, you have given yourself to be His. You are His free man, His free woman.

33:16 And when the lust of your flesh and of your mind, speaking through remaining corruption, awaited into conscious activity by the foulness within or the temptations without, when they call for your allegiance, it is then that you need to assert what you are. For you see, our lusts, like the devil in the world, are usurpers who seek to take back that whose Christ has stripped them of. That's the emphasis of Romans 6. Likewise, reckon yourselves to have died indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Christ Jesus the Lord.

Result 3: From Children of Wrath to Divine Favor and Acceptance

34:00 And so our true condition is no longer that of death, our activity no longer bespeaks our bondage but our liberty. And then the third line of thought you'll remember in those first few verses was our true position. What was it? By nature children of wrath.

34:20 What is our true position now by virtue of union with Christ? Not only has He neutralized the wrath, but He's brought us into the place of acceptance and favor. Children of wrath means those that are liable, to the wrath and anger of God, the just desert of our sin. Our present position is that of seated with Christ.

34:48 What did that seating mean for Christ? If we can answer that question, then we can answer the next question. What does it mean for us? Well, for our Lord, being seated at the right hand of the Father was the place of favor, the place of reward, the place of final acceptance, for the work that He accomplished as a mediator.

35:11 That's the teaching of Philippians chapter 2, Acts chapter 2. God is highly exalted, giving Him a place and a name above every name. Ephesians chapter 1, He has exalted Him and put all things under His feet, principalities, powers, might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but in the world to come. Well listen Christian, the text says, we have been raised and seated together with Christ in the heavenlies.

35:43 What does that mean? It means that my present position is not merely, and that's a blessed merely, it is not merely one in which all of my liability to wrath has been cancelled, and I'm put on neutral ground. No, I have been brought to the place of divine favor and acceptance that is as secure and as unreserved as the place of acceptance given to the Lord Jesus. You say, that's strong language, Pastor.

36:17 Yes it is, but it's biblical language. Listen, and if heirs, and if sons, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Jesus said to him that overcometh, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne. As I have overcome and sat down on my Father's throne.

36:44 And this is the amazing fruition of being united to Jesus Christ, is that he has taken us to be with him spiritually now and ultimately in the entirety of our redeemed humanity. For the scripture says we shall sit with him in the judgment of angels. We're in the place of favor, the place of acceptance. There is no wrath, no judgment, no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

37:17 Child of God, you need to understand that the Father in grace has conferred such a position upon you. When he says by grace you have been saved and the divine method was quickening, raising and seeding us together with Christ. He uses that language among other reasons, to convey to us something far more than the mere negation of our wrath. It is in the words of this same apostle, nothing less than that which is described in chapter 1 in verse 6 as being accepted in the beloved.

Living in the Consciousness of Our New Identity

37:59 Do you find that your faith just can't grasp such things? Joint heirs with Christ. Now it registers here, but how in the world could God ever make me a co-heir with his son? Well my friend, you're not to spend your time asking that question.

38:15 You're to spend your time praying for faith that's strong enough to grasp it. Because that's true. Now you see that poor beggar who's had $10,000 credited to his account may have such a beggar's mentality that he still goes around holding up his little cup for shekels. While all the while there's credited in the local bank $10,000 in his name.

38:41 The fact that he does not live in the consciousness of it and in the enjoyment of it doesn't change the reality of it if that is his legal status. It's a tragic thing to see a child of God, one who in faith is united to the Lord Jesus, still hoping that God will give him a little cup, give him a little penny, a little pittance of this bit of favor and that bit of favor when all the while God says, I've raised you to the place of being a joint heir with my beloved son. Christian, we need to pray that God will make us strong in faith to lay hold of and to grasp the magnitude of that which he has made us in union with Jesus Christ. And just as God is dishonored when people try to snatch as it were at the promises of God who don't have the root of the matter in them. They have never been broken for their sins. They've never repented.

39:42 They've never fled to Christ. And they try to somehow convince themselves all is well because the Bible has a lot of promises and that kind of presumption and deception is abominable. But oh, my dear friends, God is not honored when in those whose hearts the work of the Spirit has begun and they have despaired of salvation in themselves and the last thing in the world they'd ever think of doing would be to look to themselves or to the church or to the ordinances for salvation. They look to Christ alone.

Call to Non-Christians: Flee to Christ

40:18 But in that looking they will not rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory that all who thus look to Christ and Christ alone and cast themselves upon him by virtue of being united to Christ are brought to a position that is no longer one of wrath but is more than the mere negation. It is the exact opposite, the place of favor, the place of acceptance. And so I call upon you, child of God, to plead that if I'm describing you, the Lord would strengthen your faith that you might be enabled to lay hold of what you are in him. And I say to you who are non-Christians this morning, fellows, girls, men or women, if you have not been quickened with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with Christ, verses one to three in all of their ugly reality are as true of you now as they were true of those Ephesians when Paul wrote to them. You're here this morning in a mere existence. You don't live if you're not united to Christ. For if you're not joined to Christ, there is no communion with God.

41:37 There is no delight in God. There is no fellowship with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is no loving submission to God. And my friend, that's what life is.

41:49 And stripped of that, it's but a living death. That's why the Scripture speaks of some who are dead while they live. They're dead while they exist. They have all the vital signs of physical and psychological and emotional life.

42:09 But they are spiritually dead. Oh, my friend, listen. The Son of God has not exhausted His ability to come to such and to take pity upon them in their death, to take pity upon them in their chains, to take pity upon them in their squalor, in their filth, in their guilt. And I call upon you this morning to realize that we proclaim these things not from the posture of some who, when the Savior passed by, had a claim upon Him.

42:40 Who could say, Son of David, look upon us because there is something special in us. We stand and speak to you this morning as those who, at least in some little measure, are painfully aware that we were there in the mass of the beggars. We were there in the midst of the whole aggregate of those in squalor and filth and bondage and guilt. And the fact that our chains have been broken and our wounds have been cleansed and our poverty has been exchanged for His riches is all the free and sovereign mercy to the most ill-deserving of sinners. And you can't produce a verse in the Bible or deduce one's sound reason from the Scriptures why the Son of God would not show mercy to you. Someone says, ah, but I can't find a verse that says I'm elect. Neither can I.

43:42 But you can't find a verse that doesn't welcome you with your covenant. There is not one text of Scripture that bars the door to the neediest, to the vilest of sinners. And so I plead with you this morning, and I love the words of the old writers because they say something with freshness upon, I trust, our ears. Don't rest until you know you have an interest in Christ.

44:12 Not an interest in the sense of a passing desire to get acquainted with. An interest in the sense of Ephesians 2. You are joined to Him in a living faith. And you know what it is by His grace to be brought out of death into life, out of bondage into liberty, out of guilt into the place of pardon and acceptance, all by His sovereign mercy.

Conclusion: The Exceeding Riches of God's Grace

44:39 Christian, do you stagger at the sight of what you are in Christ? Well, meditate upon verse 7 this week. You see, if God made any lesser provision, He may have shown His grace, but it would not be the exceeding riches of His grace. And He is determined throughout the ages to come, as they unfold into eternity, that you and I will be monuments not of grace alone, not even of riches of grace, but exceeding riches of grace.

45:18 So God, if I may say it reverently, could do nothing less than confer such bounty upon us, because only in this way are we forced to acknowledge that grace is like unto its giver, immense, unspeakably glorious, unspeakably precious. Oh, may God grant that each one who hears the word this morning will be assured of an interest in that grace of His praise.