Today is a day to celebrate the grace of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Let those words sink in deep. Grace saves. We can take no credit for all we have and all we are […]
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 which you once walked according to the [a]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
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1 NKJV) You were dead. The Greek word dead (nekrous) literally means ‘corpse’ or ‘dead body’. Paul is reminding the church of Ephesus they were powerless, trapped in their trespasses and sins. When I preach this particular passage of Scripture, I use the illustration of
There is this strange dissonance, a tension in the Christian life that exists when we talk about ourselves, especially in Reformed circles. On the one hand, we want to acknowledge the dignity of mankind, made in the image of God to reflect His glory, but on the other hand, we don’t want to do this
Ephesians 1:15-16, “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” What does it mean to you when a fellow brother or sister in Christ tells you he or
I remember when I was 8 years old. It was Christmas morning and while running to the living room I saw “it!” The very thing I asked for that year. It was a Hot Wheels Daytona 500 racetrack; you know the one with battery-powered cars! I played with that gift for hours that morning with
The Sealing Work of the Spirit: The Validation of God’s Work in Salvation Read More »
Ephesians 1:11-12 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,2 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” Do we really understand the riches that have been given to us in
Inheritance and Glory: How We Are Christ’s and Christ Is Ours Read More »
