Great Stuff
Ephesians 2:6-10

Believe it or not, there are people who don’t know why they should get saved. If you talk to them, they will say, “Well, I’m a good person!” My family is a Christian family, so I’m a Christian. They will tell you that they are even going to start coming to church as soon as they get their life together.

If you’ve talked to enough people, you’ve probably heard it all! However, the truth of the matter is this, the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The problem with this lies in another Scripture, Romans 6:23, which concludes: “The wages of sin is death!” These Scriptures provide both the indictment and the sentence. If you do not receive Christ before you die, you will spend eternity in Hell, where you will burn forever. I know that it’s not a pretty picture, but it’s reality! When we receive Christ by putting our trust in Him, we become recipients of eternal life. The second part of Romans 6:23 provides hope for the Believer. It says, “The gift of God is eternal life!” When our trust is placed in Christ, God spiritually adopts us. Scripture tells us in Romans 8:17 that we are, in fact, joint-heirs with Christ. That’s Great Stuff! Jesus becomes our Elder Brother! Now, our proof is not the cross. It is not Calvary. Our proof is the resurrection. Christ’s resurrection does several things:

It confirms that the price of our sins yesterday, today, and tomorrow has already been paid in full. Romans 8:1 bears witness to this truth by telling us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” We were justified or made righteous by the blood of Christ. It doesn’t mean that we were not guilty. It’s like the expression, “We were guilty as sin!” But here’s what happened – when Christ justified us, we were no longer charged with the offense; our record was made clean. We were therefore raised from the spiritual death caused by sin to a life of righteousness, and now our position spiritually is a seat right next to Christ in heavenly places.

John Newton said it this way, “Jesus Christ does it quite easily. I just need to remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.” I like what Adam Clarke said: “We have a right to the kingdom of God; anticipate this glory and be indescribably happy in the possession of this salvation!” That’s Great Stuff!

Remember, Ephesians 2:5 has explained that God made us alive together with Christ! Maybe you were dead in depression. Maybe you were dead in loneliness! Maybe you were just spiritually dead! But the same Jesus Who made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and even the dead to live again can also make you alive again. And that’s not all; Verse 6 says that God raised us up with Christ. This means that we are on a new level. Don’t let your surroundings pull you down. Don’t let your friends or even your family pull you down. Remember, you are on a new level with Christ. Stop running with the turkeys in life when you have been given the power to soar with the eagles! Don’t entertain those spirits of doubt that say, “I can’t make it! I can’t handle it! I can’t, I can’t…” Realize that you’re raised with Christ. And since you are raised with Christ, you can now say, “I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength!”

Then remember where you are sitting. God has seated us with Christ. The fact that Christ now sits down means that the work of our salvation has been completed.

The writer of Hebrews says:

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when the Priest, Jesus Christ, had offered a one-time sacrifice for all time, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, the Lord has waited for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (NIV)

This means that even in the ages to come, we can stand firm in the fact that we are saved. It doesn’t matter how bad we were, or how spiritually dead our souls were, we were quickened, or made alive, by the blood. That’s why the Bible reminds us that there is life in the blood. It was the shed blood of Christ that purchased our salvation. This is why verse 8 is very adamant about the transaction. It is clear that this was not done on our own. Michael Jordan could look to his natural basketball skills to win for the Chicago Bulls; Bobby Hall was a great hockey player who won for the Chicago Blackhawks; Walter Payton was a great running back who assisted the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl victory. But before God, they all stand on the same plateau as you and me – their athletic skills would be remiss when it comes to securing their salvation. They all must stand before a just God just like you and me, realizing that it is not of works, lest any man should boast. There is no room for any man’s boasting in his own abilities and power.

There is nothing that we can do to merit God’s favor. But the good news is the fact that there is more to this verse, “But God, who is rich in mercy, loved us so much that He extended His grace.” And so, by grace we are saved, and it happened when we put our trust in God. Then a marvelous transformation took place. We became a new creation in Christ. As we grow in Him, old things—those bad habits we had, those evil ways, and that old way of thinking—get transformed, because we are new creations. When Christ comes into our lives, there is a desire to serve Him. Living a life that honors Him, which was virtually impossible in the past, now becomes possible with Christ in our lives. He has saved us so that we may show forth the character of Him Who has called us from a life of sin to a marvelous life that honors Him.

Good works did not save us; but the Great Stuff of His salvation is that now we have the desire to do good works out of the love relationship that we have in Him. Once salvation is received; the Holy Spirit works in the life of every Believer and is manifested through the Fruit of the Spirit! When we get saved, we become partakers with the Holy Spirit, Who makes us partakers of His holiness. And even in our human weakness, He gives us the strength and the power to live out the Christian life.

Let me illustrate. I have a glove here in my hand. The glove cannot do anything by itself, but when my hand is in it, the glove can do many things. True, it is not the glove, but my hand in the glove that acts. The Christian is like the glove. WE CAN'T DO IT ON OUR OWN! It is the Holy Spirit in us, the hand, Who does the work. When we receive God’s precious gift of salvation, though we’re just like the glove, if we allow Him to, He fills every finger in the glove with the power from His fingers so that we, THE GLOVE, now have the power to do the things for Christ that we could not do before!

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