July 12, 2015
Scripture:
Let’s turn to a verse in Joshua 2. Here we have the well-known story of Rahab, when the spies visit her. Read vv. 18 & 19. Think about that scarlet thread. We have just sung about the scarlet stream that came from Calvary. That scarlet “thread” is mentioned throughout the entire Bible. Is is the over-arching story.
Hymn 40 - The gospel of Thy grace
Prayer
Today we will look at the 8th Christian Blessing: We are quickened.
Quickened can mean to go faster; for example, to quicken your steps. But in the Greek, it means to “give life.” It has happened to everyone who is saved.
Ephesians 2: 4-9
This is one of the richest blessings. From this passage we can make an equation. One of the factors in this equation is faith. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.”
Faith means to believe. Believe in what? We must believe in Jesus and what He did for us. So the next factor of our equation is Christ’s work. And this equals salvation.
Faith + Christ’s Work = Salvation
This equation is all under God’s wonderful grace. Grace is unmerited favour.
We might see this as the whole equation, but we need to look back at v. 1. We read here that this equation is for dead people. But then we read on and it says that they were walking in the world. They don’t sound dead, but they are dead in their sins.
When we are born, we are born into the world. Just like Nicodemus needed new birth, we need it as well. New birth is for people dead in their sin. The Ephesians were physically alive, but spiritually dead.
How do you teach a dead person about Christ? You can’t. They are dead to God, spiritually dead. But God quickens them so they can see their need for salvation (v.5).
So our equation would now be…
Quickened + Faith + Christ’s Work = Salvation
It must be the work of the Spirit of God in the person. You might not notice it, but it happens. The quickening stirs up their spirit. Then God gives them faith for salvation.
We begin as dead people that needed new life. That new life begins through the quickening of God’s Spirit.
Ephesians 2:4-13
It’s marvelous how God met these idolators—some of them possibly in the riot for the goddess Dianna—and brought them into His family by His mercy and for His great love. He also brought the Jews and us Gentiles together with Christ. We have been raised by the same mighty power that God used when He raised Christ from the dead.
The Spirit of God has done much for us; here we find that we are quickened by Him. He has stirred us and given us life so that we can respond to the gospel.
God sees us—presently—in Christ. As our Father He sees our weakness, failure, and need; but as our God in might and power He sees us in the perfection of Christ. We are seated in the heavenlies in Christ; that doesn’t take effort on our part. God did the work: Jesus came in humility, died, and rose again. God now sees us positionally in that work.
Why did He do it? Verse 7 explains: “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Isn’t that already on display, though? Yes, but there is so much more to come!
We are like Mephibosheth: David showed him great kindness simply because he was Jonathan’s son. God has seen what Christ did, and He loves us for Jesus’ sake. It’s amazing what’s in store for us.
Some people resist the idea of faith. They think that it’s foolish, and blind; they want what they can perceive with their senses. God gives us faith, though, and we can verify what He tells us.
God is a giver. Salvation is His gift to us, it’s not something that we have to earn. We can’t boast in receiving it. We can’t say, “Look at what I did to deserve heaven!”
We are what we are because of Jesus’ work. We are now His workmanship, created for good works, as verse 10 says. A woodworker once took our brother Mr. Hart into his shop and showed him a gnarly knot of wood. “What would you do with that?” he asked. “We have these things called box stoves up in Canada,” Mr. Hart replied, “We’d just chop that up, and burn it.” Several months later Mr.Hart visited the same woodworker again, and he showed Mr.Hart a beautifully ornate piece of work. “Do you recognize this?” he asked. It was the same old knot of wood! We, too, once looked awful, but under God’s workmanship He has made us into something wonderful. He has made us precious, and hopefully useful enough to do some good work, too. We should want to be used, and at God’s disposal.
Salvation has nothing to do with works until we are saved. Then we find that we have been saved in order to complete good works! We can bask in Christ and the work that He has done for us, but in our practical life we need to be useful.
Hymn 187 — Scarlet, scarlet, though your sins be scarlet
Prayer