Ephesians 2

4 But God

HAVE YOU HAD A BUT GOD MOMENT?

These two words, must be among the greatest words in the whole bible, to the Christian, they are music to his ears.

Man is in a condition that he/she cannot change and cannot hope to change, in verse 1 it says we are dead in trespasses and sins, indeed we are hopelessly trapped, we are as dead as a do-do.

Man seeks to be Mr. do it yourself, he/she seeks any method to make himself better, but he can’t.

Verses 1-3 paint a terrible picture of man’s condition, he has no hope and it is only God that can do anything.

If it wasn’t for God, then I would still be trapped in the pit of sin, every Christian has had A BUT GOD MOMENT.

My friend, you need to have a But God moment, when God steps in and saves you, there is no hope in trying to earn salvation, you can’t.

The rest of the verse tells us why God saves us and we will consider this next time.

Trust in Christ alone and have you own But God moment.

God bless you

Keith

EPHESIANS 2

4 who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

RICHES THAT ARE BEYOND MEASURE

We saw in our last devotion that those who are saved, all have their own BUT GOD moment.

How does this come about?

God has no reason to pour out his mercy on hardened sinners like us, he could and maybe should of turned his back on us, but thank God he didn’t.

Romans 5 says this:

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We are completely unable in our own power to do anything to help ourselves, it is God’s mercy that we are saved and not of human effort, the whole point of this section is to show that man is impotent, completely unable to do anything to change his sinful condition.

Mercy is the withholding of what we deserve, listen to the apostle Paul, as he outlines the mercy of God. Chapter 9 of Romans sums this up:

15
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

23

And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

God’s mercy is poured out on us, he can be merciful to us, because at the cross, he was merciless to his only son Jesus at the cross.

Mercy was extended to guilty sinners because Jesus laid down his life, Paul states this glorious fact in 2 Corinthians 5:

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The great love of God for us, is beyond our imagination, why should God love us?

I for one, cannot think of one reason, why he should love me, again Romans 5:8, sums these thoughts up:

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Christians know this rich mercy and great love, therefore we are to share it, it is our privilege to do this.

Are you sharing it or are you keeping it to yourself?

How selfish if you are?

But to those of you reading this, who do not know the richness of his mercy and his great love, the time to trust Christ is NOW

2 Corinthians 6:2

(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Do not harden your heart.

Trust Christ today, tomorrow may be too late.

Hebrews 4:7

Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

God bless you

KK

EPHESIANS 2

2 in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God]. 3 Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful self], indulging the desires of [a]human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God’s] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind]. 

ALL VERSES FROM THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE

BUT YOU HAVE BEEN WASHED

We are always told to look to the future and that’s so true, but we also have to remember the past.

When my dear and BELOVED brother Peter came over whilst we were in the UK in 2015, we went back to our home where he grew up and where I was born, we met the next door neighbour and she remembered him as the one, who was quite naughty, needless to say.

I do have people who are reading this, one in particular who does remember me, before I was a believer, a mixture of Dennis the menace and the joker (in fact it was no joke to those who met me, rather a nightmare).

As Christians, we need to remember, where we come from, we are now in the light, and that is wonderful, but what were we like.

In verse 2, we were following the world, we were running headlong after Satan and all the world had to offer, we were not interested in God or Jesus, we maybe kept up a veneer in Church attendance, like I did, I was ok to go to church for an hour, but for the rest of the week, I was a devil.

In reality, I fought against God, I was not for him, I was against him, he was irrelevant to me, something and someone, that was for sad and lonely people, who needed something to console themselves with.

I let my fleshly passions run wild, I remember that my father had a big jar where he put coins in, 5p and 1p (for my American friends, that’s a nickel and a dime). He often wondered, why his jar wasn’t getting any fuller, because this little thief, was helping himself to it, this is the reality of a sinful heart running wild and roughshod over any and every law and moral standard set down, it basically sets down it’s own rules, it is only when the Holy Spirit convicts and controls a person, that these passions are crucified and that takes a lifetime.

I was under wrath, God’s hand was upon me, and not in a good way. Now he holds me in his hand, back then, he wanted to throttle me, as many other people did.

So what does this mean to us as Christians, well knowing where we come from, gives us two things:

One is urgency, we see the world, as it is, without hope, people who are trapped in sin, just like we were. The world needs help, people all around us, are under the wrath of God, literally the righteous anger of God, many thousands today in your country and my country will die today.

There is really, no time to waste.

Second is compassion, we no longer, look on people, as those unbelievers, read what Paul says to the Corinthians in Chapter 6 of His first epistle:

9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; [d]neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [by perversion], nor [e]those who participate in homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers [whose words are used as weapons to abuse, insult, humiliate, intimidate, or slander], nor swindlers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer’s new life and changed behavior].

Such were some of you:

BUT YOU HAVE BEEN WASHED

That’s why we should remember, we were like them, but we have been washed.

We are where we are only because oof the blood of Jesus washing us from all our guilt and sin.

Let us never forget that once:

Such were some of you

God bless you

KK

Ephesians 2

 1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins

THE DIVINE DEFIBRILLATOR

Once I was in a hospital and watched as doctors tried to revive a man, they put the electric charge on his chest and kept charging it, sadly it was to no use.

This is what it was like with us, we were completely dead and trapped in sin, and we try and revive ourselves with all kinds of good works and false religions, which offer us no hope at all.

We are completely oblivious to anything spiritual, nothing can revive us.

The revival of our souls is personal, it is you that he has quickened,  every few seconds somewhere in the world, the Holy Spirit is working, he  is making someone alive that was dead, this is almost too incredible for words.

For those of us, like me and others reading this, this is the most amazing thing, so what does it make us do? It should make us want to share it, after all, it’s not everyday that you can get a new heart, so let’s share it to everyone we can.

Ezekiel in chapter 36 of his book, says these words:

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

And in chapter 37 of his book he says this:

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

What does it say in verses 7 and 10 of Ezekiel, so I  prophesied as it was commanded me, I spoke the words of life, we as Christians have the words of life, but we do not speak it, we have the opportunity to speak about Christ and yet we do not speak, I know most of all, it is easy for me in China, I can say ” well I don’t speak the language”, that is no excuse, and it will not hold water when God asks us, why we didn’t speak the words of life Ezekiel chs 3 and 33?

Do you know in America, the land of free speech, many believers have sticking plaster over their mouths, when it comes to witnessing, they only take it off to gossip and slander each other.

God through his Holy Spirit does the circumcision without hands, we have all had a heart operation done without hands, a spiritual operation, that is supernatural.

In John 11, we have the story of Lazarus, the grave is exactly, where we are, we are completely dead, we are in our graveclothes, completely dead, with no chance of revival, but Jesus comes and says Lazarus come forth, every single one of us, who has been saved is quickened or made alive by the Holy spirit and brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

You have been revived by the divine Defibrillator, you have been given

a new heart and are now made alive by the circumcision without hands, in Colossians 2:11-15, we have a great picture of what Christ has done for us, we are now alive, no longer dead in sin, but alive unto Christ.

11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

What a saviour!!!!

Thanks be to God

Amen

KK