But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even we being dead in deviations, he made us alive together with Christ; by Grace you are having been saved, and he raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, that he might demonstrate in the ages coming on the exceeding great riches of his Grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, FOR BY GRACE YOU ARE HAVING BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.                                                        Ephesians 2: 4-10
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Wow, what GOOD NEWS! AMAZING GRACE! God through Jesus Christ came and found us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were lost, blind; heading for eternal condemnation and some of us didn’t even know it or realize it. His motivation is his love toward us and out of his great mercy he did it all by Grace through faith. Words really cannot express this AMAZING GRACE! (But thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15)
And you being dead in deviations and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also all conducted ourselves in times past in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things willed of the flesh and of the understanding, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest. BUT GOD… Ephesians 2:1-3
God does bend down from on high towards us, who were dead in the dirt because of our sins and he brings us back to life. Our sins had separated us from God and killed us and we were on our way to certain condemnation with no one else to blame but ourselves.
This is the application of John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. That is how the good news gets applied to his own, by his Grace, those whom he has chosen from before the beginning of creation.
But why does Grace have to be at the heart of it all? Can’t we just be good? Obey the 10 commandments? Work real hard at gaining God’s acceptance? Do all kinds of good deeds to make up for our past and earn our way into heaven?
All those human efforts forget one thing; our condition before God; DEAD. We were plain and simply dead to God, yes we may have felt like we were alive and kicking, but in truth before God we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Our sinning had destroyed our relation with God. So what can a dead man do? Nothing, because he’s dead you know. Only help from outside of himself can do anything for him now. (Like a clinically dead person needs help from others, electric shock, defilibrator machine, first aid resuscitation)
The first act of God’s Grace was to send his only son Jesus Christ to come and die for our sins. The second was to apply what Jesus has done to his own, thereby bringing them back to life, one at a time. Jesus took my punishment and gave me his life. Amazing Grace!
And not only have we been made alive, but we have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
Doesn’t that make clear that God saves his own and continues to save them until we actually attain being with Christ in heaven? And that it is all by his Grace through faith, the gift of God!
He calls us by his Grace, saves us by his Grace, and gives us eternal life by his Grace!
Therefore our salvation is all of Grace, God’s Grace! It is the basis of our salvation, God’s Grace!
What else could be the basis of our salvation? I can’t think of anything else that would work. It is God’s Grace and all to his glory! He gets all the glory!
And we respond in thankfulness. And owe him everything, our life, our being, our being sustained, everything!
Grace, amazing Grace!