9th Sunday after Trinity

SERMON - Conversion Is a Miracle of God!

INI

Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

In Christ Jesus, in whom the Spirit has led us to place our faith, dear fellow redeemed:

“Have you made a decision for Christ?” If you have family members or friends who are members of a Baptist, or perhaps Methodist, or some other Evangelical Reformed Church, you may well have been asked that question. It is a question, unfortunately, based upon a false presupposition. It presupposes that you by nature have the ability by virtue of your free will to respond positively to Jesus Christ and accept His gospel message. That is simply not the case. The “Word of Truth” printed on the front page of your bulletin today explains that: “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit!” (1 Corinthians 12:3b) The first sentence of our text today points out that we are by nature “dead in trespasses and sins.” Dead people do not make decisions! It is God the Holy Spirit who must and does make us “alive” through our conversions. To suggest that our conversions are simply an exercise of our free will is to misunderstand our lost spiritual condition and to deprive God of His rightful glory. Our text reveals that lost spiritual condition, from which we all by nature suffered, and also rightfully explains that CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE OF GOD! It explains, first of all, how He gives life to us—the spiritually dead! It explains, secondly, how He bestows the gift of salvation upon us—by grace through faith! It explains, finally, how He enables us to do good works—prepared specifically in advance!

I.

Yes, God, the Holy Spirit, gives life to us—the spiritually dead! Paul writes: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE OF GOD! In fact, the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6 compares the significance of conversion to an individual sinner with the importance of His miraculous creation of light at the beginning of time! The Bible uses several striking comparisons when illustrating the importance and power of the Spirit’s work within our hearts when He uses the gospel to bring us to faith. It speaks directly to our “conversion”—turning us around. Conversion is like going down a path in one direction and the Holy Spirit picks us up and turns us around a full 180 degrees, so that we are walking in the opposite direction. The Bible also speaks of conversion in the sense of being “born again.” Jesus once said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3:5-6).

The greatest picture, however, of conversion and of the Spirit’s role in conversion in my mind is the picture Paul paints right here. By nature, Paul says, we are “dead in trespasses and sins,” but that the Spirit has resurrected us to life once again! Every human being upon birth is living physically, but dead spiritually. The effects of sin are that great! The situation of all human beings by nature is that serious! Paul says that prior to the Spirit’s working in our hearts we all by nature “walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.” The world is filled with all manner of sins and is under the devil’s control…so were we! He says that just as Satan presently “works in the sons of disobedience” (the unbelievers in our world today), so we once “conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” We might be tempted to ask, “When?” After all, many of us were baptized as infants, raised in Christian homes, and may well be tempted to say we were never like that! But, let us recognize that we were sinful from the moment we were conceived (cf. Ps. 51:5), and even now we must contend with our sinful flesh, so much so that we too must cry out in frustration at times with the apostle Paul: “O wretched man that I am? Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24) The fact that we are condemned by God’s law even now for all manner of sins, ought make us realize what a great miracle it is that the Holy Spirit has brought us from death to life! We were “by nature children of wrath”—destined to spend eternity in hell, but now the Holy Spirit through our conversion has “made us alive together with Christ!” Yes, CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE OF GOD! God, the Holy Spirit, gives life to us—the spiritually dead!

II.

He also bestows the gift of salvation upon us—by grace through faith! Paul presents this truth so clearly in our text: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Grace is the undeserved love of God. Faith is that simple trust the Spirit plants within our hearts as we hear the gospel or as we bring our children to be baptized, so that we believe what He promises. Our salvation is not a product of our efforts—the well-deserved benefit of our own works. No, our salvation is a gift—a gift given to us in spite of the fact that we must confess ourselves to be sinful and unworthy objects of God’s love. The fact that we have been saved is not a boasting point for any of us, but rather the chief reason that we ought continually to praise our Lord and Savior!

Of what does that salvation consist? Paul says in our text: “By grace you have been saved, and raised…up together, and made…(to) sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Sin separated Adam and Eve from God—spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. Sin introduced death to this world and it together with death have wreaked havoc in the lives of every generation that has ever lived since Adam and Eve. The salvation plan of God—the sending of His Son to defeat Satan—removes that sin-separation between us and God, and restores us to an eternal relationship with God! When the Spirit of God brings us to faith He unites us with Jesus Christ. He, as it were, places us in Jesus’ tomb and raises us up with Him, so that Easter Sunday is not a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection alone, but a celebration of our resurrection. We are no longer dominated by sin and destined for death and eternal destruction. No, we have been raised with Jesus and—notice—Paul says that we have been “made…to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus!” We can truly confess with the hymn writer: “Heaven is our home!” (The Lutheran Hymnal, No. 660) But Paul does not speak of it in terms of the future, but that our salvation is so secure that he can and we can think of it as already being an accomplished fact!

To what end has God so saved us and brought us to faith? Paul writes, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” God has worked out our salvation so that we might join all of creation in praising the richness of His grace and kindness! Some day it will be our privilege to stand in the midst of the heavenly hosts and join them in praising forever our Savior God. John in the Revelation was given a taste of that celebration. He heard those heavenly hosts crying out: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!.... You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created…. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 4:8, 11; 5:12) Truly, CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE OF GOD! He bestows the gift of salvation upon us—by grace through faith!

III.

Finally, we see that He enables us to do good works—prepared specifically in advance! Paul concludes this marvelous text with these words: “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God did not create us, redeem us, and then bring us to faith through the work of His Spirit just to see us remain trapped in sin and controlled by Satan! As a contemporary Christian artist puts it in one of his songs: “God did not create us in order to watch us fail!” (Buddy Davis)

Dear friends, this verse is so exciting. Think about it! By virtue of your creation and conversion you are the workmanship of God. He has crafted your body, your mind, and your soul, just as a fine craftsman takes mere gold and fashions it into a work of art. He has done this in connection with the work of His Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf. The righteousness we possess is Jesus’ righteousness! The understanding that we now have of God’s grace and mercy is seen through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The hope, confidence, and strength that are ours through the gospel message and which enable us to approach the future in joyous anticipation rest upon the completed work of Jesus Christ. God’s purpose in doing all of this for us is so that we can then accomplish “good works!” God’s original intention for mankind was unparalleled success, which would bring Him honor and us joy! Now, that is possible as we walk in and with Him! Is that not astounding?—the Lord of the universe has designed each of us individually to serve His great purposes!

But what is even more astounding is that Paul informs us that these good works have been “prepared beforehand” by God that “we should walk in them.” We often and correctly say that God has a plan for our lives, although frequently, I think we think only in general terms. No, each day of our lives, God has a specific plan with specific things He would have us do. Each day we can arise and thank God for the time He has given us and seek His wisdom to know how He would have us use that time. Whom will God enable us to help today? That is the question we all ought ask ourselves each day. We need to pray that God would open our eyes to the works He has planned for us, so that those works might be done and His name then glorified by the same.

Dear friends, CONVERSION IS A MIRACLE OF GOD! He takes us dead sinners and gives us life! He does so by His grace through faith giving us the gift of eternal salvation! He crafts us into objects of His beauty and brings true meaning, purpose, and excitement into our lives as we discover just exactly what He would have us do each and every day! Praise be to God! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!