Pastor Welton Watson, Central Baptist Church
I want to spend a little more time in Ephesians 2:4, 5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)” I am always fascinated as I see God butt into a broken and sinful life, right in the midst of the brokenness, and do a magnificent work of redemption. The verse says, “even when we were dead in sins.” This verse is talking about spiritual death, or, someone who has never received spiritual life through faith in Jesus Christ. In John 3:3, 7, this spiritual life is explained as “being born again.”
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” This new birth is a marvelous thing; in that, it changes our whole outlook on life. Our thoughts change, our actions change, our beliefs change, our language changes, our likes and dislikes change, and many times our friendships change, simply because we have a new master now. And they feel uncomfortable with the new life that we demonstrate. We, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17 become a new creature; “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold all things are become new.”
In the first verse of this chapter, the same picture of the unbeliever is placed before us, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Each person born into this life has a before and an after. That means that before salvation we are lost (dead) in trespasses and sins. Trespasses are the willful violation of God’s laws, and sins are the things that we do by nature; worldly and fleshly things that come natural because we are sinners. 1 John 2:15-17 tells us that there can be no relationship with the Father in these things: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
One day, I realized my lost and dead condition, and in my desperation for life I cried out to Christ, and believed what I had heard about him, and immediately my new life began. Oh, what a difference he has made in my life. Not only has he given me life, but he has given me light. John 1:4 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”