BUT GOD

Death is unavoidable. The tragic spoils of its relentless appetite affect us all. No one is exempt. "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), is a loving reminder to the believer in Christ, but a true and tragic diagnosis of the lost. Though he may walk and talk and breathe, the unbeliever is literally a "dead man walking." As a child of wrath, physical death will unleash a torrent of God’s wrath culminating in "eternal destruction" where he will suffer forever..."away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power" (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

Ephesians 2:4-5 testifies to God’s great love revealed for the believer in Christ, "BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ." Great hope is bound up in those two little words BUT GOD. Dead bones can’t walk, BUT GOD made them walk. Lazarus’ lay rotting away in a tomb, BUT JESUS called him forth from the grave. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, children of wrath, BUT GOD made us alive together with Christ.

To be made alive together with Christ, what an amazing and undeserved blessing! God breathed life into Adam, and so by way of a spiritual rebirth, through Christ, God breathed life into our sin sick and dying souls. Believer in Christ...When Christ died, you died. When He was buried, you were buried with Him. As He has been raised, you too have been "raised to walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). Your old self was crucified with Him, and now He lives in you (Galatians 2:20). Death is an ever present reality, but His indwelling presence gives evidence of a new principle at work in you whereby His life is given to your mortal body (Romans 8:11).

Made alive together with Him! He has life in Himself (John 5:26). It was impossible for death to hold Him (Acts 2:24). He is the light of life, the bread of life, the water of life, the resurrection and the life--to have eternal life is to know Him (John 17:3), to know Him is to have abundant life (John 10:10) and to possess that which is "life indeed" (1 Timothy 6:19). In a dead and dying world we are indwelt by a risen and living Savior. His resurrection proves our forgiveness from sin, empowers our freedom from sin, and portends our future and full deliverance from sin. Wherever you see life, you see Christ. To the extend that His life giving presence is evident in us, the truth of His resurrection is put on display before others. Heavenly Father, thank you for making me alive together with Christ, help me to walk in newness of life to the praise of the glory of your grace. Amen.

Pastor Jerry