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The Gift of Salvation
Ephesians 2:4-10
The Gift of Christmas
December 15, 2002
If I were held captive in a prison in some remote third-world country—cold, wet, hungry, lonely, cut off from human contact—I would want, more than anything else, my freedom. I would want, more than anything else, for someone to save me from my predicament. I would be helpless in my captivity; I would not be able to save myself.
I would mark on the cold brick wall small marks using a stone so that I could keep track of the months and days. And it would dawn on me that it’s December 15th, and that Christmas is just a 10 days away. What would I want for Christmas? My desire would not be for a new shirt, or an X-Box gaming system, or a new DVD player, or some new jewelry. All I would want is for somebody to take the tremendous risk of coming into this enemy territory in order to save me from this wretched life that will certainly end with my miserable death.
I am in deep trouble. All I want for Christmas is to be saved.
Certain phrases get cliché; they are used so much that they no longer mean what they originally meant, or they are scoffed at since they are now deemed silly. “Where’s the Beef?” “Just Do It.” “Life is like a box of chocolates.”
If you see a bumper sticker or if someone says “Jesus saves,” our tendency is to roll our eyes, and say “How cliché!”
In today’s vernacular, it is not really “in” to say that “Jesus saves.” The biblical concept of salvation is becoming increasingly lost. I’d like to re-establish it today. The Bible is clear: We are in dire straights, and we need saving out of our situation.
We all are like that prisoner: We are in need of being saved out of our predicament simply because we are unable to do anything about it ourselves. All I should want for Christmas is for somebody to take the tremendous risk of coming into this enemy territory in order to save me from this wretched life that will certainly end with my miserable death.
That is exactly what Ephesians, chapter 2 is all about. We are in need of being saved. We cannot do it ourselves.
A. Bad News (Ephesians 2:1-3)
We’ve been talking about this for the last few weeks. Before our conversion to Christ, we were in a different sphere of existence. In
Romans 5, we found that all of humanity is naturally under “Adam” in that we followed him in that we all sin, so we are all sentenced to the condemnation that we deserve. But the gift of Christmas is that God gives us what is called “Justification.”
“The gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification”
(Romans 5:16). When we place our faith in Christ, we are released from the condemnation for our wrong-doing and are declared righteous—that is “Justification.”
In Romans 6, we found that the rightful consequence of our sin is death. That is, when we choose to go our own selfish and prideful way, when we know what we ought to do and decide not to do it, or when we know what we should not do and do it anyway, we deserve the rightful payment for that sinfulness: spiritual death. But the gift of Christmas is that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay that penalty for us, and when we put our trust in that, we receive the gift of eternal life.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Here in Ephesians, we see the prison in which we were all in without Jesus Christ. These verses are still true for you if you have not yet trusted Jesus Christ with your life. This is a description of MY LIFE when I was living my life before my conversion. This is who I was before I gave my life over to Jesus Christ as my savior.
Verse 1: DEAD.
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…” I was a prisoner as good as dead. Even though I tried to live to the utmost, trying to go for all the excitement I could as I struggled to find meaning and joy in life, I was dead—I was unable to find spiritual reality, and thus true, abiding joy was fleeting in my life without Jesus Christ. I was dead in my transgressions and sins.
Verse 2:
PRISONOR. “…in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” I was held captive to Satan. And the real sad part was that I didn’t even know it! But the more I tried to follow the ways of this world, without even knowing it, I was actually following Satan—the “ruler of the kingdom of the air,” the one who is now in control of the “ways of the world.” The world says, “Get ahead, and don’t worry about who you hurt.” The world says, “Find happiness in yourself, not in serving others.” The world says, “You don’t need God, you’re smart enough, wise enough, and strong enough to get along on your own.” But this is how I used to live when I “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air.”
Verse 3: WRATH. “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” In the prison of my actions, I was rightfully condemned to hell. All I really cared about, when pushed came to shove, was my own cravings’ desires and thoughts. Like the rest, I was “by nature an object of wrath.”
As Scott Stapp of the rock group Creed writes in the song “My Own Prison,”
A court is in session, a verdict is in,
No appeal on the docket today, just my own sin
The walls are cold and pale, the cage made of steel;
Screams fill the room, alone I drop and kneel…
I cry out to God,
Seeking only his decision;
Gabriel stands and confirms,
I've created my own prison.
Dead in sin, captive to Satan, an object of wrath. Imagine yourself in that prison in that far-off foreign land: in need of a savior to free you from your captivity and your death sentence and the coming wrath.
Nobody in the world is going to tell you this. Only God and his messengers care enough about you to tell you to flee from the captivity you are in and to accept the freedom that is in Christ. Only God and his messengers have the guts to tell you the BAD NEWS so that you can embrace the GOOD NEWS.
I understand people’s knee-jerk reaction to when I tell them that they are captive to sin and to Satan and bound for Hell. They say, “What right do you have to tell me this? Keep that hellfire and brimstone stuff to yourself, thank you.” That’s understandable; nobody likes to hear bad news.
Please allow me an analogy: If I knew that there was a terrorist bomb in this place and told you to leave immediately, your reaction could be the same. “What right do you have to tell me this? Keep that doomsday stuff to yourself, thank you.”
Now, it would be understandable if you were suspicious of me if I made a claim like that. It seems far-fetched. It is outside of your normal experience. Terrorist bombs are not normal in Canton, Ohio.
But if you know me, and we have a relationship, and if I tell you that I feel certain of this fact, you’d be a fool to dismiss me outright. The least you would do is investigate if my claim was true. The wise thing would be to GET OUT (!) and then start asking the pertinent questions on
your way out! But to just simply sit there and stubbornly not believe me would be, well, foolish.
Please hear me: I am telling you with as much certainty that I have in my soul that we are all doomed to hell because we are all sinners, and that we all need to find salvation from our prison and our condemnation!
Please listen to what I am saying and investigate it. Is this not what the Bible is telling us today? This is not the ranting of some lunatic hellfire and brimstone preacher—it is the consistent message of the Bible!
Please, please don’t just sit there, stubbornly refusing to believe. Investigate to see if what I am saying is true, and while you’re at it, start moving out of prison!
The bad news is this: Death, Captivity, Wrath. If the Bad News was the entire Christian message, we Christians should rightfully be written off as a bunch of idiots and hate-mongers. “But…” That is the next word: “But…”
B. But there is GOOD NEWS! (Ephesians 2:4-7)
“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.”
(Ephesians 2:4-5)
Yes, that ugly part is true, but there is God. And you know in your heart that God is all about LOVE and MERCY and GRACE! THAT is the Christian message! God has a great love for YOU! God is not out to get you, he is out to show his mercy toward you. God has busted through the enemy lines and has offered us a new life even though we were dead! It is by grace that we are saved!
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-7)
We are spiritually enthroned with him in the heavenly realms. That is who we are if you are “in Christ”—spiritual residents of heaven. And this mystical union with Christ has a major impact on our practical living as we live here on earth! He has taken us from death to life—which means that we can live it to the full! We are more sensitive and aware to the reality of God in our everyday lives; we have a meaningful personal love relationship with God and with his people! Since death has no more authority over us, we can become bold risk-takers, living life in the vanguard (on the cutting edge) for him, experiencing his grace and mercy and intervention every step of the way.
Why? Because we have already been guaranteed a place in heaven! “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
Is this impossible for God to do? Is it impossible to take a man or a woman who is utterly disinterested in God and his ways and transform him or her into a new creation, and then to take a person who was under wrath and condemnation and place him or her on a throne in heaven because we are ‘in Christ’?
This is the Gift of Christmas! Look again at Luke 1:26 and following:
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
(Luke 1:26-37)
“How can I have a baby? I have no husband. I'm a virgin.” That's right Mary, you can't. But now learn the most important lesson in the universe: A virgin can't produce a baby, BUT GOD can!
“For nothing is impossible with God.”
Remember that when all seems hopeless for you in your circumstances. Remember that when you think yourself too far gone for God to do something with your sinfulness. Remember that when you feel that your loved-ones are not only far from God but are hostile toward God. Nothing is impossible with God. He has always taken the worst of sinners and made them into saints. That’s what he does!
He takes a heart that is so engrossed in itself and the things of this world and transforms that into a heart that is connected with God and his desires.
God takes our heart and puts it in heaven with Christ. We were talking in one of our membership meetings about what we could do to be a better church, and Andy jokingly said, “I like the PowerPoint presentations, but I don’t like all the pictures of mountains. Every time you show a mountain, I yearn to be there!” I understand, and so does my wife. We love the mountains; we would love to take a vacation every year to Colorado. We must admit: Colorado holds our affections more than Ohio does. But we live here—and we have important things to do while we are here.
For a Christian, heaven is what holds our affections. Even though we live here, we know that our home is THERE, and that makes all the difference. When the world says, “Do this, think this way, put your affections here,” we say, “Well, I probably would if I were still held captive to the world’s views, but I am free and my home is in heaven.”
The Good News is that we are freed from our prison (the Bad News) because of those descriptive words for God in these verses: God’s LOVE, God’s MERCY, God’s GRACE, and God’s KINDNESS. Who is God? He is love, mercy, grace and kindness. That’s Good News!
C. The Gift is FREE (Ephesians 2:8-10)
So this is the Gift of Christmas—it is the free gift of SALVATION. Jesus saves! Saved from what? The death, imprisonment, and wrath of verses 1-3!
It is a gift that we cannot earn; it is a FREE gift! This cannot be made any clearer than the words of verses 8 and 9.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Salvation is a free gift. It is not as if I can, through my own ingenuity, somehow escape from my prison, from the wrath that is due me because of my consistent life of sin, and of the death that looms on the horizon for me. Sure, I can try to dig a tunnel out of my predicament using my fingernails, but the prospect of succeeding is less than nil.
I need a hero to blast into my situation and bust me out. This hero is God, who does just that!
He does this because of “grace.” The word “grace” is a powerful word in the original Greek language. The leading Greek lexicon has this as a definition:
“that which one grants to another, the action of one who volunteers to do someth. (sic) to which he is not bound” (Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature). In other words, grace is an act performed for the benefit of the other not because the giver is bound to do so but simply because the giver wants to do so. It is an act done not because the person in need deserves it but because the person performing the deed simply wants to perform it.
What is grace? It is not grace for an employer to give Christmas bonuses to people based on their performance. That is an EARNED bonus. It is grace when a person gives somebody cash simply because they see a need and they want to help—with no strings attached and no need to pay it back.
So it is with salvation. Not one of us can earn salvation. Last week we learned what we actually earn:
“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). But God, who is rich in mercy, gives us the free gift of salvation!
“For it is by grace you have been saved.”
But when the gift is given, it must be received. When the hero who will bust me out of my prison arrives, I must trust him with my life as I follow him out of the prison and across the mine fields.
I must place my life in his hands. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith.” I must have faith that this hero can save me personally.
The gift is free, and we can do nothing to get it. “…and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
I have asked people the same question uncountable times. It’s a great question to help people understand this incredible passage. I ask, “If you died and God were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’, what would you say?” Half the people I ask that to honestly answer, “I don’t know.” The majority of the other half answer, “Well, I hope my good has outweighed my bad.”
This is when I introduce them to this Bible verse. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” And I ask them, “What does that mean to you? Can you work your way into heaven?” It is so exciting to see people’s eyes light up as they realize that the burden has been lifted.
It is a free gift! It cannot be earned. Our works count for nothing—there will be nobody in heaven patting themselves on the back and saying, “Hey, I was smart enough to do the right things to get in!” Everybody will be praising God and God alone for his grace and mercy and love and kindness.
And all we need to do to receive the gift is to have faith.
Now that, I admit, is easier said than done. Faith is not all that easy to have. Trust is not so easily given.
Faith is very difficult to have in a being that you have never seen or heard or touched. Faith is very difficult when all you have known is the prison—and everybody around you have convinced themselves that the prison is all there is to existence. Faith is very difficult when you are asked to abandon all that you have held dear and to go in a totally new direction.
For we all know that faith is not just easy believism; faith is a whole-hearted trusting that would change my entire direction in life. Jesus is not looking for people who will merely agree with him, Jesus is looking for people who will become his disciples.
He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
The hero has opened the prison door and asks me to follow him out of this damp, dark, existence. If I say, “Okay, I believe that you are here to save me,” but then remain in my prison cell, do I really believe? Do I really have faith in him?
Faith steps out and follows. Faith says, “I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord—he saves me from my prison and I will follow his leadership. What he says, I will do. I will leave this life of sin (I will deny myself), and I will live life selflessly (I will take up my cross daily), and I will follow Jesus.
This is faith. And it is a gift from God.
If you are struggling with this, I encourage you to pray for faith, for even your faith is a gift from God—he can give you the faith that you are struggling to find.
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