The Heart of the Gospel - Pt 12

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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— 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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. (Ephesians 2:1-5 ESV).

If you are near Arlington, Texas, today I will be preaching from the passage that is a part of our reading. I will be at Gospel City Church of Arlington. We have two services, 9:30 am and 11 am. I would encourage you to come to the early service and stay for a special teaching time at the later hour led by my son, Kyle. As we have been going through Ephesians at our church, he has been expanding the teaching following the earlier service. Today, I am going to focus on the concept of New Birth. It is from start to finish an act of sovereign creation. In other words, it is necessary to receive Christ in order to become a child of God, but the birth that brings one into the family of God is not possible by the will of man. Only God can do it. Our reading says that we are dead in trespasses and sins (v. 1). We cannot make ourselves new, or create new life in our own strength. We must be born of God. Then, with the new nature of God, we see Christ for who he really is, and freely receive Christ for all that he is. The two acts (new birth and faith) are so closely connected that in experience we cannot distinguish them. God begets us anew and the first glimmer of life in the newborn child is faith. Thus new birth is the effect of irresistible grace, because it is an act of sovereign creation, “not of the will of man but of God.” We began the devotionals looking at irresistible grace by saying that most Christians know intuitively that God’s grace has been decisive in bringing about our conversion. We look at those who resist the gospel and say with trembling, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” I hope it is now clearer why that is. God really did overcome out resistance. He really did draw us to himself. He really did grant us repentance. He really did cause us to be born again so that we received Christ. He really did shine in our hearts to give the light of the glory of Christ. It is not surprising then, that all true Christians, even before we have been taught these things, know intuitively that grace was decisive in bringing us to Christ. Often the heart precedes the head into the truth. My prayer is that because of this you will go even deeper in your experience of the grace of God. May you worship God and love people as never before. That is what a profound experience of sovereign grace does.