Blessed Beyond Measure II – I’m saved!

Yeah, I’m at it again! I’m so excited by Ephesians. It has always been one of my favorite books of the bible so to share my passion with you guys just makes me want to jump in my bed lol.

Ephesians 2: 1-10

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Again, I’ll use bullet points:

• This was us before Christ
  • DEAD in our sins
  • Following the world
  • Following the prince of the power of the air (the devil)
  • Sons of disobedience
  • Living following the passions of our flesh
    • doing whatever our minds imagined to do
    • children of wrath
• We were dead before Christ. Children of wrath. Sin was our father, wrath was our mother. We were sinners deserving of nothing else but death. There was no good in us. We did whatever our minds and thoughts told us to do. We were basically prisoners in a jail awaiting our own lethal injection death sentence. Contrary to popular belief, there is no freedom in sin. There is no joy in sin. How can there be joy in anything that will only end in death? The wages of sin is death. We deserved to die for disobeying God. I mean come on, the bible called us children of wrath!
• BUT GOD!
• Verse 4 goes on to talk about the amazing overflowing mercy of Christ; he loved us even in our prison of sin. He loved us even though we were dead in our passions, ill and undeserving of him. He still loved us and HE MADE US alive in him. He raised us up. He seated us in heavenly places giving us access to every spiritual blessing (as we learnt yesterday). Why? (v7) so he could show us how great his kindness is towards us for years to come? The bible basically says he saved you so he could bless you
• So wait, let’s get this straight. You are a convicted criminal awaiting the death sentence. A millionaire comes to your prison to visit you and says, “I will take your place, just so I can show you how kind I am. Not only that but while I die for you, you can live in my mansion and have access to all my wealth and assets.” But that’s what Jesus did for us!
• I LOOOOOOVE reading about the gospel! It never fails to humble and excite me!!!! If this isn’t exciting you, then I’d ask you to pray that God return to you the joy of your salvation
• How can you say you are not blessed? How can you say you don’t have a purpose? How can you say your life is worthless? How can you say you are a mistake?
  • If you think any of these things, it’s like saying God died for the wrong person and you are rejecting the gift of salvation. God obviously thinks you’re worth it because he died for you!
• Verse 10 goes on to say we are created for his good work, so we can walk in it. That is just it. If you aren’t walking in the fullness of your spiritual blessings and doing the good works of the Father, then what are you doing?

The greatest blessing and testimony you have in life is salvation. Don’t make like about the goals you are trying to or have already achieved. The thing you should be most proud of is the fact that you have been redeemed from the enemy’s camp, you are now seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places, and that you are walking in the fulness of every spiritual blessing Christ has given you. A lot of us spend our whole christian lives trying to gain the approval of Christ and other Christians. This is wrong. While we were dead in our sins, we already gained his approval and love. That’s why he died for us and bestowed on us every spiritual blessing so we can be free to walk in the good works he prepared for us and not be bound to try and win the approval of man.

You are saved. Bought with a price. Free from sin. Free from bondage. Free from pain. Free from hurt.

Christ did that for you. The creator of heaven and earth has saved you.

Not only were you created for good works, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing to do good works.

You are blessed beyond measure…start believing it.