This morning, God is reminding us who we are. It’s a word of encouragement, but also a challenge. He’s calling us out and He’s calling us upward and forward!
This morning, the cross where Jesus was crucified is drawing a line dividing us between who we were and who we now are. The cross where Jesus was crucified is also drawing a line dividing those who have not yet accepted His salvation to us who have. The cross is creating a clear contrast.
A dividing line must be drawn for us to know and discern what is right from what is wrong, what is good from what is evil, what is spirit and what is flesh, and so much more. This line is good and necessary. However, a consequence of this line being drawn is that is clearly condemns us and shows how far from God’s glory and God’s plans and purposes we have fallen.
However, Jesus, the one Whom endured that cross, has in doing so, destroyed that barrier and removed the separation so that all who are willing can cross over that chasm and be reconciled and made righteous before God!
God is calling us to cross over from death to life.
God is calling us to cross over from curses to blessing.
God is calling us to cross over from darkness to light.
God is calling us to cross over from selfishness to goodness.
There is a simple, but life-transforming phrase found from cover to cover of the Bible that calls us out and up to cross over by simply saying, “BUT YOU”
Others do that, BUT YOU do this.
Others say that, BUT YOU say this.
You used to be that, BUT YOU are now this.
This chapter describes the dividing line of the cross and Jesus who demolished this separation and reconciles us to God.
Ephesians 2
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
This is where we all started from our very birth. We lived to please ourselves by doing what we thought was best and to satisfy our own desires. We all share this in common both believer and unbeliever alike. Wrath would have been all of our shared destiny as well had God not stepped in to make a way for things to be different! Oh, but did God ever step in and make a way to transform our destiny!
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 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. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We deserved wrath, but God made a way for us to be raised up out of it. Instead of wrath, we receive incomparable riches of God’s grace and kindness as a free gift. Instead of selfishly living to satisfy our own desires, we can do the good works that God prepared for us to do.
Just as a quick lesson for the next part, a Gentile is anyone who is not Jewish by birth. The physical distinction to show that a man was Jewish was to be circumcised.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) – 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Through Jesus and the new covenant that He made by fulfilling the law in its entirety and willingly paying the price for breaking it, both Jew and Gentile can receive all of God’s promises. The book of Romans describes this in great detail; how we have been grafted into the first covenant and are now spiritual children of Abraham.
Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Jesus changes everything! That’s why He can now call out to us and say, “BUT YOU.” It’s a new way to be human!
Ephesians 2 (cont.)
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
How awesome is Jesus that He would do such a thing for you and I? A new way to be human!
You who were hostile to God and deserving of wrath BUT YOU are now freely given grace and forgiveness and mercy!
You who were foreigners and strangers BUT YOU are now family of God and citizens of His Kingdom!
You who were alone and separated from God BUT YOU are now the dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit!
We have been transformed by the power of God; brand new creations in Him!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
We may have done plenty of wrong before we knew Jesus, BUT YOU have been washed by the blood of Jesus; all of that sin that made us as red as scarlet has been washed away and now we’re as white as snow! BUT YOU were sanctified, justified all in the name of Jesus by the Holy Spirit!
Now we can rise above our old self and do things that we could never do on our own! This same charge that the apostle Paul gave to Timothy applies to all of us.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
People won’t listen to truth these days, they disregard facts. Instead, they turn to the lies that they want to hear; to the myths that they want to believe.
BUT YOU, keep your head in all situations.
BUT YOU, endure hardship.
BUT YOU, reach the lost with the good news about Jesus.
BUT YOU, serve the needs of others faithfully and with excellence.
1 Peter 2:8-12
8 …They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
BUT YOU are a chosen people.
BUT YOU are a royal priesthood.
BUT YOU are God’s special possession.
BUT YOU declare the praises of Jesus who CALLED YOU OUT of darkness and into His wonderful light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
BUT YOU are the people of God.
BUT YOU have received mercy.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
These few verses are powerful life-changers if we learn to live by them. Realizing who we are from God’s perspective gives us courage and strength no matter what we may face in life. You are so much more than you realize!
A chosen people that Jesus deemed worth innocently dying for. You stand in the gap interceding between God and others. You pray for them, share good news with them, serve them, encourage them, and represent God to them.
You are able to live such a good life that when people accuse you of doing wrong, no one will believe it! You are a warrior who wins the battle that sinful desires wage against you soul!
What God spoke to Cain to give him the strength and courage to let go of his hatred toward his brother applies to you and I as well. God said:
Genesis 4:7
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.
God would never ask us to do something that we were unable to do. If God calls us to rule over the sin that is crouching at our door desiring to have us, then we can rule over. There is no fence to sit on when it comes to sin. There is no neutral ground. Either sin rules us or we rule sin.
Ruling over sin and living our lives the way that God intended us to is living by faith. It’s a way of expressing our love and gratitude toward God for all that He has done for us. Jesus said:
John 14:15-17
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The world can’t accept the Holy Spirit nor the things of the Spirit, BUT YOU do because you know Him. Not only do you know Him, you are also empowered by Him to be personal eyewitnesses of Jesus!
Acts 1:4-8
4 On one occasion, while he (Jesus) was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
And indeed, we still do not know the specifics time of the end, BUT YOU have received power and are witnesses of Jesus through the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The day of the Lord is coming, but when? We don’t know, that’s why we live ready and prepared for it. We do know that it is one more day closer than it was yesterday!
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
We encourage and build each other up eagerly awaiting the return of Christ with no fear. That day will not be a day where we suffer wrath, but a day when we receive the fullness of our salvation! Until then, we put on faith and love as a breastplate to guard our hearts and the hope of salvation to guard our minds. Until then, we invite all others to receive His salvation as well!
This morning, we have an opportunity to cross over. These are only a few of the several encouraging and challenging BUT YOU statements that God speaks to us calling us out and up!
Whatever we did, whoever we were, however we thought when we walked in here this morning is what it is, BUT YOU can trade it all in for the goodness of God! BUT YOU can live life to its fullest.
BUT YOU can surrender your all and hand those battles and those struggles over to Jesus right here and right now. BUT YOU don’t have to walk out of those doors carrying those overwhelming burdens any longer!