This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions and our second day of our
look at Ephesians chapter 2. We're going to be looking at verses 4 to 7 today.
I'm glad you came back after yesterday talking about the difficult, horrible
part of our spiritual history, that we're dead in our trespasses and sins.

I wanted you to hear the good news. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 to 7, listen to
these verses, "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by
grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and he seated us with him in the heavenly
realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ
Jesus. " And verse 4, "But God, but God, who is rich in mercy. " Those are two
words to change your eternity.

What made the difference? God made the difference. The motivated heart of God to
love us.

These verses talk about love, mercy, and grace. Because of his great love for
us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive and is by grace that you have been
saved. Love, God's willingness to sacrificially give to us.

Mercy, the withholding of deserved punishment. Grace, the giving of undeserved
blessings. All of those are caught up in the heart of God and what he's done for
us to make us alive in Jesus Christ.

It's all motivated by God. It's not motivated by us. It's not from our heart.

It's because of what he has done for us in Jesus Christ. We're talking about our
spiritual life history. You want to know the real you?

As a believer, look at the experience of Jesus Christ and you see the real you.
When you think about what happened at Easter, when you think about what happened
on the cross, when you think about what happened in the resurrection, it's not
just history. It truly is your story.

What Jesus did there brought death to your sins and brought life to you. These
verses talk about that we've been made alive. We've been raised.

We've been seated. Alive, raised, and seated. Those three words talk about who
you are now in Christ.

He made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in our transgressions and
sins. That phrase made us alive. It's one word in the Greek language.

He enlivened us. He made us alive. He brought new life to us.

The interesting thing about that one word in the Greek language is the word is
in the past tense. It's not he's going to make us alive someday in Christ when
we get to heaven. No, it's past tense.

The moment you become a believer, it's already occurred. You don't have to make
yourself alive. You don't have to hope that someday you'll be made alive.

You have been made alive in Christ Jesus. It's already occurred. Alive.

That's who you are. And then he says we've been raised up with Christ. Not only
a new person, but we also have a new power in our lives, a resurrection power.

Just like Jesus was raised from the dead, you and I have resurrection power in
our lives. And again, it's not something we conjure up from within. It is his
power, not our power.

Now, when you think about resurrection power, think about what happened at the
resurrection. What was dead was brought to life. Here people thought there was
no hope.

All of a sudden there was nothing but hope. And just like Jesus has been raised
from the dead, he wants to work that kind of power in your life. Sometimes we go
to circumstances when we think about this, and we think resurrections are all
about circumstances, that God wants to change this circumstance and that
circumstance and that circumstance.

And yes, he does want to change circumstances. Sometimes he changes them like I
want to. Sometimes it doesn't change as I would want to.

The truth of the matter here is the focus is not on circumstances, it's on you.
It's on what God wants to do in your life. He wants to bring a new power into
your heart, into your life, so that regardless of the circumstances, you know
you have the power to face it.

You know you have the power to have hope. You know you have the power to live in
a fresh new way. Just like Jesus was resurrected, you and I have resurrection
power in our lives.

Every time a new believer is baptized, we picture that. They go down into the
water as a picture of the fact that their sins have been, because Jesus died,
their sins have been forgiven. And they come up out of the water as a picture of
the resurrection, that we live to walk a brand new life.

We're alive, we've been raised, and Paul adds a third picture here. If you study
the Bible a lot, this one's going to be a little more unfamiliar. We're alive,
we've been raised with Christ, and we're also seated with Christ.

In verse 6, the phrase is, "We're seated with him in the heavenly realms. " Now,
that's quite a phrase. Alive means I'm a new person, raised means I have a new
power, seated means I have a new perspective on life.

And the idea here is I go straight from the graveyard to the throne room, from
dead, not just to life, but also to seated with him in the heavenly realms. I go
straight from grave clothes to royal robes. How do we get there?

What's he talking about here? Seated with him in the heavenly realms. Is this is
something that's going to happen someday when we get to heaven?

That when I get there, I'm going to be able to sit with Christ and be with
Christ? That's not the picture here. The picture here is that we're already
there.

Again, this is past tense. We are seated with him in the heavenly realms. We're
going to come back to that phrase, "heavenly realms," a couple of times as we
walk through the book of Ephesians.

We're going to see that it's a picture of perspective, the way that God sees
things. You see, all you and I see is the here and now, but God sees much more
than that. He sees the here and now and the then, and he sees them at the same
time.

And he sees earth and heaven together at the same time. And he sees us here on
earth, but he also sees where we're going to be someday, seated with Christ in
the heavenly realms. In fact, it's so true that the Bible says this, again, is a
past tense experience.

In Christ, we are seated there now. In Christ, we enjoy the blessings of that
high position even now. You hear what this is saying?

This is saying that even though while I'm on this earth, I still suffer the
temptations that are a part of this world, I still suffer the problems and the
struggles and the difficulties, the spiritual truth about my life history is it
was instantly changed the moment I came to know Christ. And when I look at
myself now, I can look at myself, see myself as God sees me, forgiven and also
seated with Christ. That's a place of security.

That's a place of hope. That's a place of blessing. The Bible says in verse
seven, here's why God did this.

In order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his
grace expressed in kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Wow. God is looking forward
for all eternity to showing to you and I the kindness of his grace because of
Christ.

I can't even get my mind around all that that means. But I do know that that's
my Father in heaven. When we look at these truths about ourselves, our spiritual
life history, alive, raised, seated, this is how to handle the daily realities
of life.

This is how you handle the frustrations and the faults and the failures that you
and I face every day of our life. There is a definite purpose to our lives
today. God is heading us toward this eternity.

And God has done all of this so that in the coming ages, he can show the
kindness of his grace to us for all eternity. Through all eternity, you're going
to be exhibit A. You and I are going to be exhibit A of the grace of God.

Picture for me for a moment. You're in heaven and I don't know this would ever
happen. It wouldn't ever happen.

But you're you're talking to a star and an angel and you in this conversation.
And the star says, I work in the creation section. All eternity.

I'm going to show forth God's creative ability. And the angel says, I work in
the holiness section. I'm going to declare his holiness, holy, holy, holy.

And they look at you and say, how about you? What department do you work in? I
work in the grace department.

My life for all of eternity is to show forth the kindness of his grace as he
shows to me the kindness of his grace. Just picture this idea of all of us being
display cases for the glory of God for all eternity. That's what the coming ages
is all about here.

All eternity. This is a new perspective of life. This is telling you and I that
life is more than womb to tomb.

It's more than just a little bit of time that we spend on this planet. God's
spiritual life history for all of us includes what he's done in our hearts and
lives in Christ on this planet, how he's growing us together as a church, but it
also includes what he has for us for all eternity. So as we pray today, as we
take a few moments to talk to him, I'd like to just tell him how grateful we
are.

As you pray, you might just say to God, God, that's my story, alive and raised
and seated with Christ. That's my story. And Lord, I realize there's no more
important story about me than this story.

This is the one that's going to last. This is the one that's at the core of my
being, who I really am. And it's all because of you.

It's all because of your love for me. I thank you for your love. I thank you for
your grace.

And I thank you as I read these verses about the honesty, about where I was
without you, but also the glory of who I am in you. Thank you, Jesus Christ, in
your name, amen. Make sure you join us tomorrow when you're looking at Ephesians
2, 8 through 10, three of my favorite verses in all the Bible.