BACKGROUND:Sin reveals spiritual death but is acted out by people who are physically alive. Before the believers came to Christ, they used to live in their sins. They could not and did not follow God. Paul described three marks of unbelievers:
They lived like the rest of the world, referring to the world’s accepted, but immoral, lifestyles and godless motives. People who live like the world that is full of sin cannot also follow Jesus.
They obeyed Satan. The passage focuses on Satan’s reality as an evil power with a certain amount of control in the world. The Bible pictures Satan as ruling an evil spiritual kingdom—the demons and those who are against Christ. He is the mighty prince of the power of the air referring to the space around the earth, and thus, this is Satan’s sphere of influence. Though Satan’s influence is great among unbelievers, his power is limited because he is a defeated enemy. He cannot separate believers from the love of God. Satan is also called the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. People who have not surrendered to God or decided to obey are energized by the power of evil. The force of the evil spirit is seen in those who actively disobey God both in faith and action. These people live in constant rebellion and opposition to God.
They followed the passions and desires of their evil nature. All of us were at one time separated from God because of disobedience, born with an evil nature. That nature puts us under God’s anger. When we become believers, our sinful nature still exists. But when we submit our lives to the Holy Spirit, he transforms us and our sinful natures. This is a supernatural process. We must never underestimate the power of our sinful nature, and we must never attempt to subdue it in our own strength. God provides for victory over sin—he sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and give us power.
Instead of leaving sinful humanity to live worthless and hopeless lives ending only in death, God acted on behalf of humanity because he is so rich in mercy. As God is rich in kindness, so He is rich in mercy.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
God decided to do something different in our lives that changed our lives for all eternity. It’s incredible what He decided to do. He decided to change our eternity. Ephesians 2:4 says, “But because of His great love for us God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
What a makeover! What a difference God works in our lives. Those two words “But God.” Look at what motivated God. The motivation in the heart of God was God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s grace. Love is the willingness to sacrificially give. And God has that willingness towards you and I. Love doesn’t mean just a goose bump kind of feeling. Love means “I'm willing to sacrifice for you.” And God is.
Mercy means the withholding of deserved punishment. There’s a difference between mercy and grace. Mercy means the withholding of deserved punishment and grace means the giving of undeserved blessings. God does both for us. There’s a punishment we deserve because of our sins. The Bible says in Romans “The wages of sin is death.” And God says I'm going to withhold that because of my mercy. And God also said, “I'm going to give you some undeserved blessings.” That’s grace.
What a makeover! What a difference God works in our lives. Those two words “But God.” Look at what motivated God. The motivation in the heart of God was God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s grace. Love is the willingness to sacrificially give. And God has that willingness towards you and I. Love doesn’t mean just a goose bump kind of feeling. Love means “I'm willing to sacrifice for you.” And God is.
Mercy means the withholding of deserved punishment. There’s a difference between mercy and grace. Mercy means the withholding of deserved punishment and grace means the giving of undeserved blessings. God does both for us. There’s a punishment we deserve because of our sins. The Bible says in Romans “The wages of sin is death.” And God says I'm going to withhold that because of my mercy. And God also said, “I'm going to give you some undeserved blessings.” That’s grace.
He does both for us. It’s because He loves us and because He’s filled with mercy ad because He’s a God of grace He decided to change our eternity. That’s why we worship. That’s why we sing. That’s what it means to be a believer. God decided to change my eternity because of His love and because of His mercy and because of His incredible awesome grace.
As you begin to read this and see what it means you start to get to know the real you. Not the you that you think you have to live with everyday other people at the office think they see but the real you as God sees you. We talked earlier about a practical tool to help you see yourself as God sees you. That tool is the life of Jesus Christ. You look at what happened the last few days of His life and He gives us the picture of who we are in Jesus Christ. “Because of His great mercy God who is rich in mercy He made us alive in Christ.” That happened to Jesus. After He died He was resurrected. “…even when we were dead in our transgressions it’s by grace…” and then he raised us up with Christ. Even as Jesus was raised up to new resurrection and new life. He seated us with Him in the heavenly realm.
Let me help you picture yourself the way God pictures you in everyday life. The real you:
Recognize you’re alive. That means you’re a new person. This word “he made us alive” is one word in the Greek language. He enlivened us. You’re a new person because of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 “If anyone’s in Christ they’re not the same any more. They’re a new person. Old things have passed away and new things have come.” That’s who you are. You may not feel new. You may not sense you’re a new model. But you are. That’s what it means to be born again. You are a new person because of Jesus Christ. That’s why people like Saul got a new name even. He became Paul when he became a believer. It’s an expression of the fact that they are a new person in Jesus Christ.
The Bible says like Jesus was raised up in power we’re raised up. That means we’re not only a new person but we have a new power. We talked last week, Easter Sunday, about the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and that it’s a part of your life and my life in our everyday lives.
Finally the Bible says we are seated with Him. What I want you to focus on today is a new perspective. We’re seated with Him. The throne of God is the seat of power it’s the place where everything in the universe centers. The Bible says not only do we look at Jesus as our Lord and recognize that He’s on the throne, but we’re on the throne with Him. It’s yours too. Jesus Christ has included us in His kingdom. You and I need to recognize what the world says about believers and sometimes what you feel about yourself as a believer has nothing to do with the real truth about you. You’re seated with Him in heaven.
We’ve gone from death to life to ascension to seated with Him in heaven. This new perspective should help us see things in a new way. We’ve gone straight from the graveyard to the throne room. We’ve gone straight from the grave clothes to royal robes. And because of that we should have a perspective on life that’s different from anybody else. Paul did. For some reason God allowed him to have a glimpse of that throne room once and it changed his life. He never lived the same again. He had a new perspective on life. He realized that this life wasn’t nearly as important as it seemed and that next life – life with the Lord for eternity – is incredibly more important than it seems in this world. That perspective changed the way he looked at everything he did in his life.
Finally the Bible says we are seated with Him. What I want you to focus on today is a new perspective. We’re seated with Him. The throne of God is the seat of power it’s the place where everything in the universe centers. The Bible says not only do we look at Jesus as our Lord and recognize that He’s on the throne, but we’re on the throne with Him. It’s yours too. Jesus Christ has included us in His kingdom. You and I need to recognize what the world says about believers and sometimes what you feel about yourself as a believer has nothing to do with the real truth about you. You’re seated with Him in heaven.
We’ve gone from death to life to ascension to seated with Him in heaven. This new perspective should help us see things in a new way. We’ve gone straight from the graveyard to the throne room. We’ve gone straight from the grave clothes to royal robes. And because of that we should have a perspective on life that’s different from anybody else. Paul did. For some reason God allowed him to have a glimpse of that throne room once and it changed his life. He never lived the same again. He had a new perspective on life. He realized that this life wasn’t nearly as important as it seemed and that next life – life with the Lord for eternity – is incredibly more important than it seems in this world. That perspective changed the way he looked at everything he did in his life.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV) says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
Lord, draw folks to COV this morning. Win the battle in their hearts and in their wills.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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