Justice or Grace
Tom Shrader works through Ephesians 2:1-10, explaining that all people enter the world spiritually dead and incapable of responding to God without divine intervention. He unpacks the doctrines of election, atonement, and regeneration, showing that the Father chooses, the Son dies for His people, and the Holy Spirit applies salvation—leaving no room for human pride. The teaching closes by previewing the next session on the security of salvation and why God leaves redeemed people in the world rather than taking them immediately to heaven.
“You are here as a follower of Christ in spite of who you are, not because of it. This is not a source of pride. This is not something to go debate and just take some sort of pride that you were chosen.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Ephesians
Recorded: 2010 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 45 min
Themes: grace, salvation, spiritual death, mercy, election, pride, redemption, faith, new believer, struggling with worthiness, doubting salvation, questioning faith, young adult, seeker, feeling spiritually lost, wrestling with pride
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 1:18, John 6:44, John 3:16, Romans 5:1, Romans 5:6-10, Acts 13:48, Acts 16:14, Titus 1:3-4, Titus 3:3-5, Romans 9:10-13, Romans 9:20, Romans 3:23-25, Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:68, Titus 2:14, 2 Corinthians 5:18, Ephesians 5:25, Galatians 3:23, John 10:11, John 10:14-15, Romans 5:8-9
Theological Themes: total depravity, unconditional election, regeneration, soteriology, atonement, sola gratia, pneumatology, substitutionary atonement
Full Transcript
Introduction to Ephesians 2
If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and the guys will bring you a copy of the scriptures. Go about two-thirds of the way back to the New Testament, to page 150 or so. That will get you to the book of Ephesians. We are in Ephesians chapter 2.
Paul is writing to this group of people. As we noted, the earliest manuscripts do not contain the phrase "at Ephesus," but rather "to the saints." The idea was that this general epistle would be sent to Ephesus, circulated to the cities in Asia Minor, and obviously to us today. It is important to remember that Paul is writing to a group of saints — believers.
We are looking at verses 1 through 10. We have been in this passage for two weeks, and we will continue today and finish up next week. We will spend four weeks in these ten verses, and I hope that yields a rich harvest for us.
The Text: Ephesians 2:1–10
Remember, Paul is writing to men and women, students, who are Christians — followers of Christ, saints. That is why he uses the past tense in verses 1, 2, and 3.
Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1: "You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Among them we too formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were, past tense, by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Then comes the contrast in verse 4: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
Who Is a Saint?
As I said, the audience here is a group of believers. Paul calls them saints, and it is important for us to wrap our arms around that and remember it. That is who you are — you are a saint. There is not a formal process involved.
When we hear the word "saint," we typically think of a formal process of canonization, the adjoining miracles, and all the criteria now in place — typically through the Catholic Church — to declare somebody Saint Whoever. That is not what God does. God says that if you know Christ, if you are in Christ, if you believe in Him, you are a saint. He does not identify you as a sinner saved by grace rather than a saint. He says you are a saint. That is how He sees you, and that is what it means to be a Christian.
I have reached the point where the term "Christian" does not really mean much anymore. I was somewhere that required a religious preference, and I wrote "biblical Christianity," because I have learned that writing "follower of Christ" leaves out the gospel, and "Christian" hardly means anything anymore — it speaks of ethics as much as belief. What I am trying to say by "biblical Christianity" is this: those of us who have come to understand that we are sinners, that our sin has had an effect in our lives and separated us from God, and that Christ died, and if we believe in Him, trust in Him, have faith in Him, and trust Him alone as the payment for our sin — then we are followers of Christ, Christians, biblical Christians, as the Bible defines it.
Dead in Sin, Then Made Alive
Paul writes to men and women who have the past he outlines in verse 1. You were dead spiritually, and in verses 2 and 3 he says you acted like it. You did the things that come with that condition. You were identified as children of disobedience, and because you were a child of disobedience, you were by nature under the wrath of God. That is who you were.
We spent some time defining what it means to be dead. We were not mostly dead — we were dead, unable to comprehend and believe spiritual truths. Spiritually speaking, we are deaf and blind to the things of God. I would say there was a day when I went to Phoenix Country Club when I heard the gospel for the first time — and that is really important. It was not the first time the gospel had been proclaimed to me. The gospel had been proclaimed to me on many occasions, but that was the first day I actually heard it. I was deaf and blind, unable to comprehend spiritual things, and then all of a sudden it made sense. That is exactly what Paul describes here: you were dead, but now you are alive.
How did that happen? That is what we focus on today. We gave you two key verses last week to understand the condition of the natural man. The first is 1 Corinthians 2:14: the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit — they are foolishness to him. Paul writes a little earlier, in chapter 1 verse 18, that "the cross to those who are perishing is foolishness." It does not make sense. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit; he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned, and he does not have the Spirit and is spiritually dead.
The second verse is the words of Jesus recorded by John in his gospel, chapter 6 verse 44: "No one can come to Me unless" — so something has to happen first, a pre-existing condition — "unless the Father who sent Me..."
Recap: Ability Versus Permission
Every idea begins with a distinction Jesus makes in John 6:44 between ability and permission. Someone came up after one of the services last week and said their child and they had been arguing about the sovereignty of God for a long time, and that distinction was really helpful. When one person finds something helpful, it is rarely just one person.
Jesus says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." That is a wonderful verse, and it tells us that God loved us, He sent Jesus to die, and if we believe in Him we have eternal life. But it is not relevant to the discussion of ability. All that verse says is there is universal permission — whoever believes can come and whoever believes can be saved. It does not speak to ability.
Consider the illustration: there is a difference between "Mrs. Gadiot, can I sharpen my pencil?" and "Mrs. Gadiot, may I sharpen my pencil?" No one has the ability to come to Christ unless the Father moves and draws. That word "draw" is used two other times in the New Testament to describe people being dragged away — that is the force of the word.
So it is not that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman who kindly knocks at the door of your heart. He can knock and knock and knock. He can get a bullhorn. He can do whatever He wants to do. But you are on the other side, and what condition are you in? Dead. You cannot respond. If a person is dead, some external force has to be applied.
But God Moved
That is exactly where Paul brings us in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4. "But God" — there is the contrast. You were dead, but God moved. That is the bad news followed by the good news. God intervenes. You were dead, but you were made alive in Christ. You were a prisoner of the prince of the power of the air, but now you have been raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places. You were dead, sons of disobedience, deserving the wrath of God, but God instead poured out His blessing on you. You were following your own desires, doing what came naturally, following your flesh and your mind, but God now allows you, in verse 10, to do good works — good works that He prepared beforehand.
Paul gives us the bad news: here is your condition. But he quickly tells us that God moved, and then he tells us why. See it in verse 4: He is rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us. That is His motivation. His heart is touched. He is driven by love.
The Meaning of God's Love
Probably the most familiar Bible verse in our culture is John 3:16. If you went to Fashion Square and stopped a hundred people and asked them for one Bible verse they know, most would say John 3:16. Some might say "judge not lest you be judged" — a whole group of people love that one — but most would say John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
That verse tells us about God's deep love, but we understand that love is not just an emotion. Love is a choice followed by action. It is not uncommon to sit down with a couple having some kind of marital problem. You start with the wife, because the husband does not know why he is there. You ask what the problem is, and she says it is him. You ask what he has done, and she says he does not love her. So you turn to the husband and ask if he loves her, and he says yes. You go back to the wife and tell her he says he loves her, and she says, "He says he loves me, but he doesn't show it." We know intuitively that if someone loves you, you are going to see it.
Our love is imperfect. A husband may love his wife a great deal, but there are times when that love is demonstrated and times when he does not respond lovingly. But God loves perfectly. God so loved the world that He said, "I am going to send Jesus, and if you believe in Him, you will have everlasting life." He loves the world, and He showed it.
Dead, Yet Made Alive
So Paul says He is moved by His love. Verse 5: even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive. Paul reinforces the point. Your condition was that you were dead. You could not make yourself alive. He did it while you were dead.
Turn to the book of Romans. If you have one of the Bibles provided, it is on page 121 — Romans chapter 5. Paul has a very similar concept there. Romans 5:1: "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." As Paul addresses the church at Rome, he tells them that they now have peace with God. They did not naturally — naturally they were at war with God. God and sinner are reconciled. That peace comes through Christ.
Paul then discusses tribulations and the benefit of tribulation before coming to verse 6: "For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." That phrase "still helpless" is worth underlining. Verse 8: "God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Verse 10: "For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God."
The Condition We Were In
It did not occur to me until I was making some notes this morning that there is almost a progression in the passage. We were helpless — verse 6 tells us that. Why were we helpless? Because, as verse 7 and verse 8 explain, we are sinners. And since we are sinners, verse 10 tells us we are enemies of God. So we are helpless sinners who are enemies of God. Going back to our text, we are children of disobedience, and therefore under His wrath. While we were in that condition, God moves. He responds. We have peace because Christ died for us, not because we deserve it.
That raises the question we are moving toward now: what was it that God saw in us that prompted that action? The answer is going to be nothing. So let us go back to our text — "While we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us."
Two Paraphrases of Ephesians 2:4–6
Looking at verses 4, 5, and 6, let me read from two paraphrases to give just another little insight into this. Eugene Peterson's The Message renders verse 4 this way: "Instead, immersed in mercy and with incredible love, He embraces us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on His own with no help from us." And verse 6: "And then He picked us up and He set us down in the highest heavens in company with Jesus, our Messiah."
Phillips' paraphrase reads: "But even though we were dead in our sins, God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love He had for us, gave us life together with Christ. It is, remember, by grace, not by achievement, that you were saved, and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with Christ in heaven."
God Saves Sinners
I like simple. There is a sentence that most people who say they are Christians will affirm — at least in a general way, across the board there is a common affirmation within the Christian community for a three-word sentence: God saves sinners. Most Christians would say amen to that. Most Christians would agree with it. What I find, however, is that we affirm it, but when we begin to define it, we start to get some pushback.
I have shared with you before that I was never much of a student, and I have always blamed the educational system, frankly. I consider myself an inquisitive person, relatively bright, and if you cannot engage me, it is obviously your fault, not mine — that is my view. Part of the problem was that we had to do things I never saw value in. Math, for instance, never seemed helpful to me, and I was not good at it. But I remember one time I received a 94 on a math test, which must mean I was sitting next to an exceptionally bright person that day. I remember being so proud of that score, until one of the nuns said to me, "If you are working somewhere and you give correct change 94% of the time, do you think your boss will be happy?" I thought, what affirmation. How encouraging.
The most useless thing I ever thought we engaged in was diagramming sentences. I hated it. We were very precise — you took a ruler, you drew lines, everything very exact. The Sisters of Mercy were very precise in this. I remember complaining about it to my father, who was a banker, and I said to him, "Did you diagram a sentence today at the bank?" I remember very clearly what happened next — I had better not say more, except that my father had very low tolerance for that kind of thing.
Diagramming a Three-Word Sentence
And yet, I will tell you sincerely, I do not think I have ever used the skill of diagramming a sentence as much as I have for this one three-word sentence. It has absolutely changed my life. So in an indirect way, I am thankful to the Sisters of Mercy for helping me here.
God saves sinners. A subject is a noun or pronoun — something being talked about. In this case, it is God. The predicate is the verb, the action — it tells us something about the subject. The direct object is the recipient of that action. So in our sentence: God is the subject, the noun. Saves is the predicate, the verb, the action. Sinners is the direct object, the recipient. Even at this level, heads are still nodding up and down positively.
But if we really define it, let us understand what we are actually saying when we say God saves sinners. By God, we mean the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit save, meaning They do everything there is pertaining to salvation, and They save sinners. You are free to put your own name in there if you are a follower of Christ.
The Triune God and the Work of Salvation
God the Father chooses those who will be saved. God the Son redeems — He dies for that group of people. And the Holy Spirit, at the appointed time, comes and applies that salvation, regenerating us. There is a great progression that Paul follows here, and it is wonderful when we think it through.
We are dead in our sins and trespasses — not mostly dead, not dying, but dead. If we are dead and we need life more than anything else, that is precisely why Jesus said, "Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again." Why must we be born again? Because we are spiritually dead. We are hopeless and helpless, deaf and blind to spiritual things.
God's Sovereignty Over Salvation
It is not that I don't get it — it goes beyond not getting it. I can't get it. Some external force has to come into my life to move me from dead to life, and that is the Holy Spirit who applies this. How can a dead man possibly come to Christ? When Adam sinned, he plunged us into that sin. We can't save ourselves, but God saves sinners.
God is sovereign. That word "sovereign" means above or superior to all others, supreme in power and rank, independent of all others. There is no restriction on Him other than His own nature. So we have to be really clear when we talk about God, because this will be the question: Can God do everything? No, God can't do everything. He can't lie. He can't act contrary to His nature. He is absolutely free within the boundaries of His nature, and those are boundaries that He places on Himself.
So God, at this point in time as it deals with sinful man, can do as He pleases. He doesn't need anyone's permission. He is under no obligation to redeem some, none, or all. He can do whatever He wants to do. He's God.
Chosen Before the Foundations of the Earth
What we saw when we began our study in the book of Ephesians, in verse 4 of chapter 1, is that He chose us before the foundations of the earth. God moves, God determines — and we are putting time on this, but God doesn't operate in space and time. God determined before the foundations of the earth, before this creation, that there would be this group, this people. Paul says "us" — a plural personal pronoun — the saints, the believers. He would save us, the Holy Spirit would seal us, and Christ would die for us.
Turn to the book of Acts and see how this works its way through. We'll look at two examples there. Acts chapter 13, verse 48 — Paul is traveling with Barnabas. The Jews are gathered around, they are jealous, there are crowds, and Paul is at the center of all of this. He begins to declare the truth: "When the Gentiles heard this," heard Paul's proclamation of salvation, "they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord." People that day got saved. Who got saved that day? As many as had been appointed, chosen, determined, selected beforehand.
You could say those who believed, but that begs another question: Why did they believe? We keep coming back to that. Why did these dead people respond? Because God had chosen them before the foundations of the earth, Christ had died for them, and at that moment in time the act of salvation was complete. The Holy Spirit regenerates them and causes them to be born again. And because they are born again — sequence is crucial here — because they are born again, they now proclaim that. They now respond to the gospel. They now rejoice. It is not that they had faith and then all of a sudden were born again. They were born again under the act of the Holy Spirit, and the evidence of that internal transaction is now evident through their proclamation and their confession of sin.
Lydia: The First Convert in Europe
A little later in Acts chapter 16, we follow the exploits of Paul even further. In verse 14, there is the first convert in Europe — a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabric. She was a worshiper of God who was listening, and "the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by God." She had believed in the God of Israel, but she had not become a full follower. At this moment, God opens her eyes. The Holy Spirit intervenes, and she moves from sinner to saint.
She now hears the gospel — not just in the function of her ear hearing words vibrate, but with full understanding of what that gospel means. Why? Because God opened her heart.
Regeneration and the Work of the Holy Spirit
Let's go back to the book of Titus. Paul is writing to Titus, whom he identifies as "my true child in common faith." He has been talking about the way believers are supposed to live. In verse 3 he says, "We were once foolish, disobedient" — very similar, dead. Then verse 4: "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we had done, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit."
I am spiritually dead. I need life. How can I be born again? God saves me. God the Father, before the foundations of the earth, elected those He would save. Christ died for that group of people, and the Holy Spirit applies that salvation.
How Do I Know I Am Chosen?
Frankly, I never had these questions, but I get them all the time: How do I know that I'm one of the elect? How do I know if I'm chosen? Do you believe? Yes — then you were chosen. Do you not believe? No — then maybe you were, maybe you weren't. We don't know yet. There is time, and we'll figure it out. But if you are focused on the question "Am I chosen?" it starts with a problematic premise and leads into a whole range of ancillary issues that I don't think are helpful to what we are actually talking about.
Romans Chapter 9
Let's go to Romans chapter 9. Paul has been dealing in Romans 6, 7, and 8 with man, and the end of chapter 8 has this wonderful conclusion —
Election and the Question of Fairness
Paul is making an argument in Romans 9 about what can separate us from the love of Christ, about God being for us, and he begins talking about the idea of election — choosing nationally, but also individually. In verse 10 he writes: "Not only this, but there was Rebecca also. She conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. Though the twins were not yet born, and they hadn't done anything good or bad, but so that God's purpose, according to His choice, would stand, not because of works — not by the works of either of these two twins — but because of Him who calls us, it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.'" That is the reverse order of their culture. Then in verse 13 Paul adds, "Jacob I loved and Esau I hated."
That statement should create some level of tension, unless you have worked through this before. Here is what Paul is saying: take the same mother, the same father, in the womb — no genetic differentiation, no claim to a different pedigree, the same religion, the same background. They had not yet done anything good or anything bad. They had not earned anything, and they had not disqualified themselves. In that condition, God says, "Jacob I love, Esau I hate."
What God means by this is that He will give Jacob mercy and simply leave Esau in his natural condition. The moment you hear that, something inside you should scream, "That's not fair." Paul anticipates exactly that reaction, and he addresses it directly. He writes in verse 14, "What should we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be." Paul is saying: take a breath. This is not unjust. This is not unfair.
What God is doing is giving justice to Esau and mercy to Jacob. God is not intervening in Esau's life to make him do something he does not want to do. Everybody ultimately gets what they want. You will hear the objection: what about those people who want to come to Christ but cannot? They are unicorns. They do not exist. There is no one who genuinely wants to come to Christ but cannot.
If you want to come to Christ, you will come. There is nothing in you that would produce any desire to come to Christ unless the Holy Spirit first intervenes, causes you to be born again, and at that moment the thing you want most is to come to Him in repentance and faith — and you will.
God the Potter, Man the Clay
As Paul continues to address our objections, he says in verse 20: "On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me this way,' will it?" God is the potter and you are the clay. From the same lump He makes one kind of vessel and another kind of vessel. He is God. He is sovereign. He answers to no one and does as He wishes.
This truth should produce one thing and one thing only: it should make you a humble, grateful, praise-filled person. There is no source of pride here whatsoever. Paul strips you of all pride completely. What God chose to do in your life has nothing to do with something intrinsic in you.
Arriving Ready to Worship
Consider the practical reality of how most of us arrive on a Sunday morning. Most of you did not spend the hour before this service in focused spiritual preparation. Most of you were scurrying around — in some cases trying to get children cleaned up and out the door. Just getting young children into a car is a major transaction. You have to get each one dressed, fed, buckled in, and corralled before you even pull out of the driveway. So if you have children, you have all of that going on, and on top of it you may be trying to get ready for work the next day or finishing up whatever else needs to be done.
The fastest way to get your heart prepared for worship — even now, even in the middle of a service — is to think seriously about this truth: God saved you, redeemed you, and brought you into right relationship with Himself. You are a saint today because of His work in your life, not because of anything in you.
Chosen in Spite of Yourself
Some people want to soften this idea of God choosing by suggesting He simply looked down the corridors of time, saw that you would one day choose Christ, and selected you on that basis. But consider what Paul is actually teaching. If God looks down through time and sees you in your natural condition, how many people will He see coming to Christ on their own? None. Naturally, you will never come. You are here as a follower of Christ in spite of who you are, not because of it.
You were just like Jacob — in the womb, having done nothing, with nothing meritorious about you, just as disqualified as anyone else. He chose you in spite of you. That reality should generate genuine humility and thankfulness, and it should move you quickly to praise. When you truly begin to contemplate what it means that God saves — when you really diagram it out — there is simply no room left for pride.
Coming to the Cross Empty-Handed
God, based on nothing within any of these groups of people, decided to save them. When man sinned, God had essentially three choices — there may be more, but these are the three to consider. He could have saved none, and been totally just. He could have saved everybody, showing total mercy. Or He could have saved some. He chose the third. He did as He pleased.
His decision to save some did not obligate Him to save others. All three options are perfectly just, and no one is treated unjustly. Jacob gets mercy, Esau gets justice — no one is treated unjustly. Here's what Paul is telling us: your experience can be deceiving in this sense. I would say that on that day, in that parking lot, I came to Christ — and that's true, but it doesn't go deep enough.
The question is why. Because before the foundations of the earth, God chose me. That is not a source of pride — He just did. And if He doesn't choose you, you will never come.
Christ Died for His People
When Christ comes and dies on the cross, He fulfills the desire of the Father to save a specific group of people. Christ died for His people. Christ satisfied the wrath of God toward His people. He reconciles His people with the Father, redeems them from bondage, and covers the guilt and wickedness of their sin.
Romans chapter three, verses 23 and following: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being freely justified by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as our propitiation." This is really important. When Christ died on the cross, the question is: did He actually save anyone, or did He merely make it possible that we would be saved? When He cried out, "It is finished," did He mean, "I have done everything I can do — now it is up to the person to choose Me"? Or did He mean, "It is finished, it is done, it is completed," and that at that point the Holy Spirit would apply it to His people?
The Meaning of Propitiation
The word propitiation is crucial. Propitiation means to satisfy the wrath of God. When Christ died on the cross, He redeemed us — He loosened us from the bondage of sin — and to the Father, He paid the price. He was our propitiation. Consequently, we are reconciled to the Father. God and sinner are reconciled.
Christ died on the cross actually to atone for the sins of His people. It was not theoretical propitiation — it was real. It was not theoretical reconciliation — He reconciled us. He redeemed us. Matthew 1:21: "He will save His people from their sins." Luke 1:68: He has come to redeem His people. Titus 2:14: "He gave Himself for us to redeem us." 2 Corinthians 5:18: He reconciled us to Himself. Ephesians 5:25, which we will return to: Christ loved the church and gave His life for her. Galatians 3:13: Christ redeems us.
The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life
Turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 10. We will come back to this passage next week, but it is important to see the claim that Jesus makes here. He is using the imagery of the shepherd. Looking at verses 11, 14, and 15, He says: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." So who are the sheep? Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd. I know my own, my sheep, and they know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."
Romans 5:8–9: "But God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him." When Christ died on the cross and cried out, "It is finished," what He meant was: I have paid the price of sin for My people.
Justice Demands a Perfect Sacrifice
Remember that God is a just God. When man sinned, God had a choice — He could save some, all, or none. Once God determined He was going to save some, it demanded a perfect sacrifice. It demanded Christ's birth. God could not simply look down from heaven and say, "You are all forgiven," because that would be a violation of His justice. He must act in a manner constant and consistent with His nature.
Jesus died on the cross, and in doing so, He did not make salvation theoretically possible — He guaranteed it. Every sin ever committed by every person who has ever lived must be paid for in one of two ways: either by that person, never paid in full, suffering eternally in hell, or it was paid for by Christ on the cross. Those are the two options.
When Christ said, "It is finished," here is what He was saying: the Father has elected, the Son has died, God's wrath is satisfied, God and sinner are now reconciled, they are now redeemed, and the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
That is the condition you are in — but now the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit is the one who causes us to be born again. And then, of course, the question we face is whether there is anything that can change this relationship. Is there anything that could undo this? Is it possible — to use a term you may be familiar with — to lose your salvation?
Why did God save you? What was His purpose? If the goal was simply to get you to heaven, it seems strange that He did not take you there the moment you were born again. There is clearly a purpose — He left you here for a reason. What is He doing? We will look at that next week. Next week we will examine whether there is something that can undo this, whether salvation can be lost, and why God redeemed us in the first place.
Grace That Transforms
But God moves. What did He do? He opened your eyes — my eyes — the eyes of His sheep. And all that were called will come. This is a really simple but, to me, very clear truth: I was dead, and now I am alive. Something had to happen.
Maybe you are here today and at this very moment you are either filled with questions or you want to talk to somebody about what you heard. There are guys who will be here at the front of the chapel and over in the conference center immediately after this service, and for however long you want. They exist for one reason, and that is to glorify God as they serve you in those times of prayer and those times of consultation. They are here to pray with you and to rejoice with you — not just for prayer requests, but to serve you. We will pick up essentially right here next week.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray together. Help us see this amazing truth — that while we were yet sinners, while we were helpless, at the right time Christ came and died so that we would have eternal life.
Father, thank You that You sent Jesus to save His people from their sin. Thank You that You chose us before the foundations of the earth, that Christ died for His people, and that Your Spirit is alive and works in our hearts and opens our eyes to see these truths. Thank You that salvation is not theoretical, that atonement and Christ's death is not theoretical, but real. We love You for a very clear reason: because You first loved us. The evidence of Your love is Christ. Our evidence of our love for You is our declaration of faith and a transformed life.
God, as Your people, remind us that this is not a source of pride or arrogance for us, but really a source of humility that generates gratitude and praise in our life. Father, thank You — thank You for saving us and causing us to be born again. We pray to You in Christ's name. Amen.