Grace in Operation
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We know of no Scripture which more beautifully sets forth God's grace than Ephesians, chapter 2. The chapter begins with what we were in our sins. Six things are stated. The chapter follows with a threefold consideration of what grace does for us, when it quickens, raises, and causes us to sit with Christ in the Heavenly places. The third thing is the revealing of God's mercy, love and grace, as it becomes effective toward us in Christ Jesus. The final view of grace takes us into the eternal ages where God's "riches of grace" will be shown to us.
We will now discuss the low estate in which grace found us; or, the poor material upon which grace operated (Ephesians 2:1-3).
The picture of the sinner, in his sins, is divided into two parts; first, there is the Gentile sinner in his sins; secondly, there is the Jewish sinner in his sins,
1. The Divine portraiture of the evil heart of the Gentile sinner in his sins. This story is set forth under several statements. Here they are:
(1) "Dead in trespasses and sins." It seems that this should be presented last, not first. Death is the climax, as we think of it, not the cause; the end, not the beginning. However, when God found the Gentile sinner, he found him dead.
God's statement to Adam and Eve was, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This was verified when they ate; and God, having pronounced the curse, drove them out of the garden dead in trespasses and sins. No son of Adam has ever been spiritually alive from that day to this, in his natural estate. Here is the way God puts it, "So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." "The wages of sin is death"; therefore since all have sinned, all have died, and are dead.
(2) Walking according to the course of this world. The unsaved are "this worldly"; saints become "other worldly." Sinners walk according to the course, the swing, the current, the sway of this world. Their hopes, their aspirations, their treasures, are all of this world. They so walk because they are dead.
(3) Walking according to the prince of the power of this world. Satan is that prince. He the prince of whom Christ said, he "hath nothing in Me." Back of the world, therefore, is the power of this aerial prince. Accordingly the Spirit said, "The world lieth in the wicked one." Satan is Scripturally described as the one who "maketh the world to tremble."
The unsaved are dead to God, but alive to and under the sway and power of this "prince."
(4) The spirit that worketh in the sons of disobedience. Satan's power is an energizing power. The sons of disobedience are the ones who fall under his sway.
Think of the word: "Sons of disobedience." When Adam and Eve sinned they disobeyed the plain command of God. God said, "Thou shalt not eat," but they both ate. From that day to this, every son of Adam has shown himself to be a son of disobedience. "We have turned every one to his own way"; this is the story of the unregenerate.
2. The Divine portraiture of the evil heart of the Jews in sin. Paul did not place the Gentiles alone under sin. He said: "Among whom also we all," bringing himself, and his race under sin's condemnation. There are three things said of the Jew in his sin.
(1) His conversation is in the lusts of his flesh. It is out of the fullness of the heart that the mouth speaketh. The reason, therefore, that the Jew spoke evil, was because he was evil in his heart.
(2) His desires are of the flesh and the mind. He sought after the things of the flesh, not after the things of God. He walked in his mind, after the reasonings of his own heart, and not after the "mind of Christ."
(3) He is by nature the child of wrath, even as is the Gentile. It is by grace, and grace alone that either Gentile or Jew is the child of favor and of peace. To all, sin brings wrath. Men may ridicule the wrath of God, but yet that wrath is revealed against ungodliness of men. Thus, we have seen how the likes of Gentile and of Jew, in sin, are the products of these "dead in sin."
I. "BUT GOD" (Ephesians 2:4)
1. "But God" is thrown over against the sad picture of man's sinful self. "We were, but God." Here is where grace begins its matchless work. Back in the beginning God saw an earth "without form and void," and "darkness was upon the face of the deep." It was then "But God" stepped in, and God said, "Let there be light; and there was light."
Thus, did God also step in, when man was lost in sin. Man's life was wasted and his heart was void of God's love; darkness shrouded his soul: then "but God" became operative, and God, in matchless grace, said unto the believing sinner, "Let there be light: and there was light."
2. "But God" is the only hope of a sinner in his sins. Had God never stepped upon the scene, man had never known salvation from his sins. There is nothing in one's sinful self, that can by any means work out a righteous self.
Every human effort of a race to redeem itself has failed. A bitter fountain cannot bring forth sweet water; a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. The leopard cannot change his spots, nor the Ethiopian his skin; neither can he who is evil, learn to do good.
It is possible for men to patch up the old man. It is impossible for them to create a new man. It is possible for man to put robes of color over a polluted sore a heart, corrupted in sin. It is impossible for them to heal that sore and to change that heart. "But God," is the only hope of a sinner dead in his sin. God alone can raise the physically dead, and He alone can quicken the spiritually dead.
II. THE VISION OF THE GOD WHO SAVES (Ephesians 2:4-5)
We have spoken of the fact that God came onto the scene, as man lay lost in trespasses and in sins. We now seek to show the basis upon which God came to seek and to save that which was lost. It is stated in our text under three headings:
1. God rich in mercy. If God had not been a merciful God, He had not been the God who saves. Hidden away in the word "mercy" is the word "compassion." It was the compassion of God, which quickened His mercy and made it potent. Mercy means far more than forgiveness. Mercy suggests that God, in His omniscience and His omnipotence, sought out and found out a way whereby He could be just, and yet the justifier of him who believes.
When we think of the mercy of the court, we think of a judge passing over the guilt of the condemned. When we think of the mercy of God we think of Christ bearing the guilt, sustaining the law in all of its majesty, and yet, saving the guilty. God saves the guilty not because He is sorry, but because He has found a substitute, Christ; because, upon that Substitute is placed the punishment due the sinner, that in mercy He might redeem the sinner.
2. God, and His great love. It is written: "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He loved us and washed us from our sin; therefore, He loved us while we were yet sinners.
He did not love us because we were sinful, but in spite of our sins. He loved us because we were His creation a creation fallen, blighted, and broken; and yet, a creation capable of a recreation, capable of becoming beautified and glorified through Christ Jesus.
3. God, and His grace. Over against the picture of a man's sin, we have found God rich in mercy; we have found God great in love; now, we find God and His grace. Grace is unmerited favor; grace is the kindness of God toward the guilty.
"Grace 'tis a charming sound,
Melodious to the ear;
Heaven with the echos shall resound,
And all the world shall hear."
III. GRACE AND THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS (Ephesians 2:5)
Over against the picture of death, God throws a picture of life. "We were dead," "but God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, * * hath quickened us together with Christ."
From our window in the hotel in Calgary, Alberta, we saw a beautiful rainbow skirting the clouds. From out the window there was radiant sunshine, back across the horizon, however, there was a tremendous array of blackness and of night, made by one of the darkest clouds we ever saw. The sun shining through the mists that lay somewhere between our sunshine, and those darkening clouds, placed before us in full review the seven roseate hues of that wonderful and gorgeous rainbow. Above the rainbow which circled the lower horizon, was a reflected second rainbow plainly visible. Both rainbows stretched from earth to earth athwart the vaulted sky.
As we think of it now, that rainbow pictures to us the sevenfold glories of the grace of God, which God so perfectly wrought in Christ, when He said unto us: "Live, live." On earth the rainbow of His grace still shines in resplendent glory. Higher up, in Heaven itself, the glories of that grace are reflected. As we think of that rainbow, God seems to say: Over against the dark background of a world in sin, I have placed the promise of the cessation of wrath, and of judgment: out of death, shall come life.
Did Jesus Christ not say: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life"?
Jesus Christ is the Life. Therefore, He is the begetter of life. He can say unto the dead: "Come forth." He can break the bands of death spiritual, and of death physical, and the dead can come forth quickened, shouting praises unto the Giver of life and of light.
IV. GRACE AND THE NEW LOOSING IN CHRIST JESUS (Ephesians 2:6 f.c)
God, who is rich in mercy and in love, did not only quicken us, but He raised us up.
How do we know that Christ, Himself, rose from the dead? He, doubtless, could have come from the tomb without rolling the stone away. That stone was not gone, however, in order to let Him out; but in order to let us in. He was not there. The graveclothes were there, intact, even as He left them when He slipped out from their wrappings. The napkin was there. He Himself had taken it from His brow, and had folded it and laid it at the head of the tomb where He had lain. He, Himself, however, was gone. The empty tomb and the graveclothes proved Him gone risen indeed.
Thus it is in the new birth; there is not only a quickening, a new life, but there is a release from the old life. We are raised, that is, we are brought forth from the pollution and disintegration of the grave. Sin can no longer hold its sway and power over us, for we are raised to walk in newness of life.
Lazarus had been dead four days. When Jesus Christ stood at his tomb He said, "Take ye away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said: "By this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days." Jesus said to Martha: "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Then they took away the stone, and Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth" and he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes and his face bound about with a napkin."
Jesus saith unto them: "Loose him, and let him go."
Thank God, that Christ not only quickens us, but He raises us up together with Himself.
When the Children of Israel were under the blood and the power of a new life, they were brought out of Egypt. When we come into the quickening of God, and receive our new life, we are then raised, brought out of the old life. Old things pass away, and all things become new. Therefore it is written: "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
V. GRACE AND THE NEW FELLOWSHIP (Ephesians 2:6, l.c.)
The part of the verse to which we call your attention reads this way: "And made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
The sinner, of old, sat in the seat of the scornful; the believer, quickened and raised, is made to sit in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
1. How great the contrast between the old and the new. Of old, we walked according to the course of this world.
Now, we are lifted to another world. Our treasures are there, not here; our affections are there, our hope is there.
Once, we walked according to the Prince of the power of the air: now, we walk according to the Prince of Glory, the Prince of Peace. Once, we were the children of disobedience, having our conversation with them; now, we are the children of God and our conversation is in Heaven.
We were afar off, but we are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. We were children of wrath, we are children of peace. We were enemies, we are friends. We were aliens and strangers, without hope and without God in the world; we are citizens and comrades, under covenant with hope and with God.
2. How blessed and rich is our Heavenly heritage. The first chapter of Ephesians tells us that God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places. Some of these blessings are enumerated:
(1) We stand before Him in love, holy and without blame.
(2) We stand before Him having received the adoption of children.
(3) We stand before Him accepted in the Beloved.
(4) We stand before Him redeemed, forgiven, according to the riches of His grace.
(5) We stand before Him having obtained an inheritance.
3. How wonderful is our new fellowship. We are made to sit together with Christ in the Heavenly places. Did not the Apostle pray that we might know the exceeding greatness of the power of God toward us which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set us at His own right hand in the Heavenly places? This power is toward us, because we are led in the train of His triumph. Even now, while we are yet in the body and upon the earth; potentially, we are risen, raised, ascended and made to sit with Him in the glory.
"I have a Friend so precious, so very dear to me,
He loves me with such tender love,
He loves so faithfully,
I could not live apart from Him,
I love to feel Him nigh,
And so we walk together,
My Lord and I."
VI. THE FAR-FLUNG VISION OF GRACE (Ephesians 2:7)
1. Everything of God climaxes in the things beyond. When we think of grace we are half minded to limit its functioning to the Cross, and to that happy day when, at the Cross, our sins were taken away.
We need to remember that when Christ went to the Cross, He saw not merely our redemption, but our glorification. It was a far-reaching vision which led Him, when, found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
Christ's vision saw us as having received the adoption of sonship. He saw us as raised, and seated at His own right hand, inheriting the eternal city. He saw us as in the ages to come, under the ever unfolding blessings of the riches of His grace. Yea, He saw us reveling, with unspeakable joy, in the exceeding riches of His grace forevermore.
2. The present vision of the believer is a circumscribed vision. "Now we see through a glass, darkly"; now "we know in part, and we prophesy in part."
God has, however, given us a few certified visions of Heaven, of the New Jerusalem. We know they are all real, for God is real. If these things were not so, He would have told us. The city with its streets of gold, its towering walls of precious stones, its massive gates of pearl, its river of water of life, its fruit-bearing trees, and above all, God and the Lamb; its marvelous light, all, yes all is real.
However, our present vision is still circumscribed. We know not what we shall be, although we know we shall be like Him. We know not the eternal riches which are exceedingly marvelous beyond human ken, although we know that God in the ages to come will reveal them unto us. Only Heaven itself, only the ages to come, themselves, can unravel to us the hidden things which God hath in store for those who love Him.
VII. THE CLIMACTERIC OF GRACE (Ephesians 2:8-10)
1. Grace eliminates everything that concerns the works of the flesh. When God made the statement, "By grace are ye saved"; He was including not only the first steps of saving grace, but grace in finale; grace through the ages to come.
God, at once, granted that His grace was operative only through the faith of the believer. However, the Holy Spirit would not in any way take from the glories of God's grace, as though anything in and of our old life saved us, for grace ends the very moment that any worth upon our part begins. Thus, when God said, "By grace ye are saved through faith," He added that even the faith was not of ourselves, but was the gift of God.
The human heart in its sin is full of unbelief and is overshadowed with doubt. Saving faith is all foreign to the natural man, and is the gift of God. We could not have believed, except He had given unto us the power to believe.
Grace not only eliminates a self-gendered faith, but it adds, "Not of works" lest any man should boast. If salvation is by anything, which we are, or which we have done then we could be boasting our own power. It is true that we may, and should do everything that becomes a Christian, but we can do nothing to become one.
2. Grace exalts God's workmanship in creation. Ephesians 2:10 is our great climacteric! It says: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." We could not give ourselves life, but having received life, we can live for the One who gave us life. We could not do the work of creation, but we can render the good works of service. God creates us, creates us with power to serve. Therefore, immediately that we are created in Christ Jesus, we pass out of the realm of grace, so far as our service is concerned. The completion of God's creation in Christ Jesus finds, as we have already suggested, its full fruition only in the ages to come, when the exceeding riches of His grace will be unveiled. Grace is always operative.
However, we are created unto good works which God hath prepared, mapped out, for us. As we fulfill this God-given mission as servants, we will find abundant rewards, based upon our faithfulness in serving, and not included in God's plan of grace. Anything which we receive from Him as a reward, for our own works, will be given us as true servants, receiving their hire. Everything we receive by redemption is given us by virtue of Christ's death, resurrection, and exaltation.
Therefore, it is all in Christ Jesus, and, by grace are we saved.
AN ILLUSTRATION
"And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:24). A collier came to me at the end of one of my services and said: "I would give anything to believe that God would forgive my sins, but. I cannot believe that He will forgive them, if I just turn to Him. It is too cheap." I looked at him, and said: "My dear friend, have you been working today?" "Yes, I was down in the pit." "How did you get out of the pit? Pay?" "Of course I didn't pay anything. I just got in the cage and was pulled to the top." "Were you not afraid to trust yourself in that cage"? Was it not too cheap?" "Oh, no." he said, "it was cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink the shaft." Then the truth broke upon him, and he saw that he could have salvation without money and without price. It had cost the infinite God a great price to sink the shaft and rescue lost men. G. Campbell Morgan, in Moody Monthly.