In our passage for today, we find Paul emphasizing God’s GRACE. He mentions God’s GRACE in verse 5, verse 7, and verse 8. My favorite definition of GRACE is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense - all that God can now provide for us because of the payment Christ made for us.
Part of the significance of our Lord’s resurrection is that every believer is identified with the victory our He won through His crucifixion and resurrection. As we said last time, because of our Lord’s resurrection, I can live as a new person. Now today, I want us to see how the key to living as a new person is seeing ourselves in light of the GRACE of God. Notice what Paul says about how we need to see ourselves.
1. Where I was before Christ – vs. 1-3
A. I was spiritually dead - v. 1
Paul describes the depth of death we were in without Christ with two words - “transgressions” and “sin.” To transgress means to violate the rules, to break the law. Apart from Christ, we did everything wrong. “Sin” literally refers to an archer who doesn’t have enough strength to have his arrow reach the target. His aim may be correct, but he never hits the target. Apart from Christ, we couldn’t get anything right.
B. I was satanically led - vs. 2-3
1) Through the influence of culture - v. 2
Through the influence of this world, Satan orchestrates opportunities for human beings to continue down the path of transgression and sin.
2) To inevitable condemnation - v. 3
The inevitable result of living under Satan’s influence is not only a captivity to transgression and sin but spending eternity with him paying the penalty for rebellion against God. Matthew 25:41 says that eternal fire was “prepared for the devil and his angels,” not human beings.
Christ came to deliver us from having to pay the penalty for our own sin by paying it for the entire human race. As we mentioned last time, as a man, Jesus did what perfect man alone had to do - pay sin’s penalty representively. For it was humanity that stood condemned. As God, He did what God alone could do - pay sin’s penalty completely. These two things are what make the provision of the cross Good News!
Unfortunately, though provision has been made for people to escape the inevitability of having the pay the penalty for their own sins, if they persist in not appropriating the payment of Christ at Calvary, they sentence themselves to eternal condemnation. So the old saying is true, “God doesn’t send anyone to hell, they send themselves.”
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” - John 3:18 (NIV)
“I encountered a truck this week which had some good theology written on its tailgate. It was a dump truck, belonging to a demolition company. The first sign was written in large letters, and it read: ‘We Could Wreck The World.’ The second sign was on the bottom of the tailgate, written in smaller letters. It read: ‘Jesus Saves.’
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Did the owner of the truck intend for these two signs to be read and understood separately, or were they meant to be understood together? The lettering on that truck expressed some mighty good theology. I don’t know how one could some up the
contrast between men and God more concisely. Men could wreck the world, and only Jesus can save it.” - Bob Deffinbaugh
Led by Satan, humanity has made a wreak of this world, and is heading toward eternal condemnation. One day, Jesus will come to make all things new, removing from this world, sin, Satan, and Satan’s people.
But if we have turned to and trusted in Him as our Savior, when He returns, we will share in His work of restoring this world to its former glory. But not only will be participate with Him in restoring His glory to all of creation one day, but we can participate with Him in living lives that bring Him glory today. And the key to doing that is seeing:
2. Where I am in Christ – vs. 4-6
A. I am spiritually alive in Christ - vs. 4-5
This reminds us of what Paul tells us in Romans 5:8:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8 (NIV)
B. I am supremely victorious in Christ - v. 6
Jesus not only provided victory over sin’s penalty, but sin’s power. I can resist temptation, I can overcome sin’s hold in my life, by virtue of my identification with Christ in His death and resurrection.
This is the key to my victory over the power of sin and Satan. My old life of being controlled by sin and Satan is dead and I have a new life of victory over sin and Satan to now live.
We give in to sin and Satan whenever we forget who we are in Christ. We must then remind ourselves of the forgiveness provided by the cross. That’s what confession of sin is all about (1 John 1:9). But if we can maintain our perspective on our being made alive, being raised, and being seated with Christ in the position of supreme victory, we will live a victorious life over Satan and sin.
“Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well. We conclude that to gain victory over sin we must have more power. ‘If only I were stronger,’ we say. ‘I could overcome my violent outbursts of temper,’ and so we plead with the Lord to strengthen us that we may exercise more self-control. But God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything but by removing him from the scene of action.” - Watchman Nee
The believer does not have to beg for help. He does have to thankfully appropriate that which is already his in Christ. “When you are in the thick of the fight, when you are the object of attack, plead less and claim more, of the ground of the blood of the Lord Jesus. I do not mean, ask God to give you Victory, but claim His victory, to overshadow you.” - S. D. Gordon
“When a Christian’s prayer life springs from a right position (a thorough adjustment to Christ in His death and resurrection), a vast change in procedure follows. Much of the mere begging type (of prayer) gives way to a positive and unspeakably joyous appropriation. ‘All things,’ says the Apostle Paul, ‘are yours . . . and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s’ (1 Cor. 3:21, 23).” - F. J. Huegel
3. Where I am headed through Christ - vs. 7-10
A. My life is a centerpiece of God’s grace - v. 7
God’s intention is to put us on display to a world bound by sin, to draw them to faith in Christ.
The degree to which I see myself from God’s perspective will determine the degree to which God can use me to draw others to Christ.
“The Lord does not set us here first of all to preach, or to do any work for Him. The first thing for which He sets us here is to create hunger in others. No true work will ever begin without a sense or need being created. We cannot inject that into others: we cannot drive people to be hungry. That hunger is to be created, and that hunger can be created only through those who carry the impressions of God.”- Watchman Nee
B. My life is a masterpiece of God’s grace - vs. 8-10
The word, “workmanship” refers to an artist’s masterpiece. The degree to which I see myself from God’s perspective will determine the degree to which God can make a masterpiece of my life.
Paul speaks of God’s grace in verse 5, emphasizing the victory we have over transgressions - our tendency to do what is wrong. In verse 8, he does so, emphasizing the victory we have over our sin - our inability to do what is right. It is by God’s GRACE - God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense - that we can not only avoid doing what is wrong, but can be empowered to do what is right!
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” - Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Often we think of God’s will for us as something we do. The challenge of Scripture is to think of God’s will as something done for us.
If I am the beneficiary of someone’s last will and testament, then, upon their death, I learn of resources they have provided to me. We need to think of God’s will more like that. The death of Christ put into effect His will and testament. His will refers to all He has provided to us and His (New) Testament tells us all that He has provided to us. We do good works not to achieve a life worth living, but we do good works because we have received a life worth living.
Conclusion: How do you see yourself as a believer? Victor or victim? Conqueror or conquered? Delivered or defeated? Trying or trusting? Achieving or receiving? Our perspective makes all the difference our approach to the Christian life and all the difference in the world!
