But God: When Grace Interrupts Death

There are two words in the Bible that can interrupt an entire life. Just two words. Not a long paragraph, not a speech, not some self help slogan. Just two words.But God, you were lost, but God, you were dead in sin, but God, you were far away. But God, you were carrying shame you couldn't lift, but God, you were trapped in patterns you couldn't break but God.And you were trying to fix with willpower what only grace could resurrect. But God, Those words are comforting, but they're also confronting to us because they remind you that salvation doesn't begin with your strength.It begins with God's mercy. It doesn't begin with your effort. It begins with God's love. It doesn't begin with you climbing up to him.It begins with him coming down to you in Jesus Christ. So today on Truth Unveiled with Ralph, we're stepping into Ephesians chapter 2.This chapter tells the truth about who we were, the truth about what sin did, and the truth about what grace does. And it tells the truth about who you become when Jesus Christ steps into the graveyard of human rebellion and speaks life.Now, today is not theology for your notebook. This is truth for your soul. This is a mirror. This is a rescue story.This is a call to wake up, come near and walk in the life Christ purchased for you. No matter how dark the chapter was, no matter how dead the situation looked, no matter how far you felt, the gospel still says but God.Hello and welcome to Truth Unveiled with Ralph. I am so grateful you're here today.Whether you're driving, maybe you're out walking, maybe you're working or you're just sitting quietly or listening because your heart is hungry for clarity. I want to say this plainly from the beginning. Today's message isn't here to crush you. It's here to wake you up. It's not here to shame you either.It's actually here to show you grace. But grace only becomes beautiful when you're honest about what it rescued you from. And like I said, today's message is called But God.When grace interrupts death, we're going to walk through Ephesians 2 and we're going to call this a three part sermon. And here's the thesis I want you to carry as I talk today. The gospel is not the story of good people trying harder.It's the mercy of God making dead sinners alive in Christ, saving us by grace, bringing the far off home. And here's the anchor line for the complete episode. Today you were dead, but God made you alive. You were far off, but Christ brought you near.Now let's get right into Ephesians. Ephesians 2 is one of the clearest gospel chapters in all of Scripture because it refuses to flatter us.It tells us plainly who we were without Christ. It uses terms like dead, disobedient, deceived, far off, separated, without hope and without God in the world.But then it tells us something beautiful. It tells us what God has done for us. He's made us alive. He's raised us up. He seated us with Christ. He saved us by grace. He created us for good works.He brought us near. He broke down that wall and he made us members of his household. Now, friend, that's not about religion. That's resurrection.And it isn't some behavioral cleanup. This is a new life. So today is not some motivational talk. This is the gospel.So before we walk through the three movements, I want to talk about today, I want us to hear the word of God directly. The first half of Ephesians 2 shows what God does in you. Then we're going to talk about the second half. That shows what God does among us.That first half is resurrection. The second half is reconciliation. That first half says, you were dead, but God made you alive.The second half says, you are far off, but Christ brought you near. Let's get right into the text. It's Ephesians, chapter two, verses one to ten. And you can follow me along if you want, if you will.Here's what it says.As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin in which you used to live, when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the Spirit who is in now at work in those who are disobedient. 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. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.It is by grace you have been saved.And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming age he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It's a gift of God, not by works. So no one can boast.For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And then it goes on to say this. And this is Ephesians 2, 11, 22.It says, Therefore, remember that formerly you who were Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, which is done in the body by human hands.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.But now in Christ Jesus you are once were far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier that dividing wall of hostility by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.His purpose was to create Himself one new humanity out of two, thus making peace and in one body to reconcile both to them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who are far away, and peace to you who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.Consequently, you no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.And in him you too are being built to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Now, I know that's a lot to get to, but I wanted to really read that whole chapter because it's so important.We understand that those two sections belong together. Because the grace that saves you personally also changes how you live relationally.The same cross that brings you near to God teaches you how to live near to others. The same blood that removes guilt also breaks down pride. And that same mercy that rescues the sinner also forms the family.So let's walk through this in three parts. Here's the first part, the diagnosis. You were dead in sin. That's the first truth we have to accept.You were dead in sin, not merely distracted, not merely confused, not merely weak. Dead. And if you look at Ephesians 2, it brings in these words. It says, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walk.Now that's a strong word, isn't it? But we have to let Scripture speak with its full weight. Paul doesn't say to us you are slightly off track. He doesn't say you were spiritually tired.He also doesn't say you were basically fine, but you needed a little polishing. That's not what he says at all. He says you were dead. Now what does that mean?It means that a person apart from Christ can never do anything that looks good on the outside. Someone can be kind, they can be generous, they can be disciplined, they can be intelligent, they can be respected, they can be successful.And they can even be admired and still be spiritually dead apart from Christ. Spiritual death, if you will, means separation from God. It means the soul is cut off from the life it was created for.It means sin is not just something you do, sin is something that ruled you. And that's where many people resist the Bible. Because we want God's grace, but we don't always want God's diagnosis.We want that comfort of forgiveness, but we resist the truth about sin. We say things like this, oh, I'm just struggling. I'm just an imperfect person. I'm just trying to do better. I just need more discipline.I just need a fresh start. And sometimes those words describe part of the problem. But Ephesians 2 goes even deeper.If the problem is only weakness, then those self improvement things might help, right? But if the problem is only ignorance, then information could work, right? If the problem is only bad habits, then clearly discipline would help.But if the problem is death, you don't need a life coach first, you need a savior. You need resurrection. And that's why this matters. The scripture doesn't flatter you. It frees you. It tells you the truth and then it shows you mercy.It says that sin was worse than you wanted to admit, but God's grace is greater than you ever imagined. Paul says, we once walked according to the course of this world and that tells us something.That means there's a current, there's a direction, there's a value system moving away from God. And before Christ, we didn't just stumble into it and then we walked into it.We lived under its assumptions, we breathed in its values, we followed its appetites. We called Norma what God had called broken. We called freedom what was really bondage and we called desire what was really deception.And if you're paying attention today, you can still see that current moving. You can see it. When culture tells you that truth is whatever you feel. We've talked about that on this show many times.Culture tells us truth is whatever you feel, you can see it. When rebellion is rebranded as authenticity, you can see it when holiness is mocked as oppression, you can see it when chains are sold as freedom.And you can see it when identity is built on appetite instead of being rooted in the God who made us. And that's why you need discernment. This isn't a time to panic. It's not a time to have outrage. It's a time to understand discernment.Because the world rarely calls deception by its real name. It dresses it up, it makes it pretty, it makes it sound compassionate. It. It makes it sound progressive, it makes it sound brave.But anything that leads you away from God isn't freedom. It's another form of slavery. Now Paul also says there's spiritual influence behind that rebellion. He speaks of the prince of the power of the air.I thought that was a really interesting part to that. And that reminds us that sin is never merely personal preference. Friends, there's a spiritual war taking place right now amongst our world.There's lies being whispered, there are systems being built, there are desires being stirred. There's temptations being dressed up as identity. And there's chains being marketed as liberation. And then Paul brings it to close.He says we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. Notice what he says. They're all of us. Not just publicly broken, not just scandalized, not just the people whose sins are easy to point out. All of us.That means respectable sinners need grace. That religious sinner needs grace. That successful sinner needs grace. That private sinner needs grace. Those church rate sinners need grace.That preacher needs grace. The person listening right now needs grace. And yes, I need grace as well. This is why pride has no place at the foot of the cross.The gospel doesn't allow you to stand over someone else as if their need of mercy is greater than yours. And you might not have the same testimony, you might not have those same scars, you might not have that same past.But apart from Christ, the diagnosis is the same. Dead in sin, fallen, the world enslaved to desire, under wrath. And yes, in need of mercy.And truth is, some people soften sin because they think honesty will make people hopeless. But Scripture tells us the truth. It doesn't tell us the truth to make us hopeless, but to cut away those false hopes.If you think you're only a little lost, you might keep trying to find your own way. But when you realize you are dead apart from Christ, you stop pretending and you start crying out for resurrection.And that's where grace starts to shine. Not when we minimize sin, but when we see mercy standing over the grave. So here's the question for your heart. Have you accepted God's diagnosis?I know that's a tough question. I'm not talking about culture's diagnosis. Not your own self protective explanation, not that version that makes you feel safer. God's diagnosis.And you might be saying, ralph, how do I know that? Well, here's how you know that. Have you let scripture tell you the truth about sin? Have you stopped calling bondage just a season of your life?Have you stopped calling rebellion just my personality. Have you stopped calling compromise? I'm just being realistic. Have you stopped calling spiritual coldness just being busy.And have you stopped decorating the grave and start calling it life? Ephesians 2 doesn't say you were busy. It doesn't say you were misunderstood. And it doesn't say you were almost there. It says you were dead.You were dead. But thank God the sentence doesn't end there. Because the second part of the sermon begins with the interruption of mercy. You were dead but God.So let's get into part two. And that's what I call the intervention. But God made you alive.And if we get into Ephesians 2, verse 4, it begins with two words that change everything but God. That's the interruption. That's the turning point. That's the sentence where death loses control of the story. And it says this.But God, rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. And that's not reluctant in mercy, that's not barely merciful. That's not running low on compassion. It says he's rich in mercy.Overflowing, abounding mercy isn't something God has to manufacture. Mercy flows from who he is. And look what Paul says. Paul says God acted because of the great love with which he loved us.And it wasn't because we cleaned ourselves up. It says in the Bible we are filthy rags before Him. And not because we showed promise. We don't show any promise to God.It's not that we had suffered enough. Not that we had built some spiritual resume because of his great love. So please hear this clearly. Grace doesn't meet you halfway.Grace comes all the way down. Grace doesn't wait for the dead people to move first. Grace speaks life. Grace doesn't say to us, fix yourself and then come.No, grace says Christ has come because you could not fix yourself. And that's why this gospel isn't advice first, it's an announcement.If you think about it, advice would say something along these lines, here's what you got to do. But that's not what the gospel tells us. The gospel says, here is what Christ has done. Advice tells us, climb up out of that.What does the gospel tell us? Jesus came down to us. Advice tells us, oh, go prove yourself. But what does the gospel tell us? Jesus paid it all.Advice tells us, we'll just try harder. But the gospel tells us, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that doesn't mean there's no response. Faith responds. The act of repentance responds.Obedience responds. But none of those things are the cause of God's mercy. They're just the fruit of it. And some of us need to let that settle deep.You've been living like God loves the improved version of you. As if he looked down and said, when you get more consistent, Ralph, then I'll draw near.But Romans 5:8 says, God showed his love for us while we were still sinners. Not after we became impressive, not after we became stable. Not after we become easy to love while we were still sinners.Now, that doesn't make sin small. It makes mercy breathtaking. God didn't wait until the grave looked cleaner. He stepped into the graveyards.He didn't wait until the prodigal had restored himself. He ran toward him. He didn't wait until Peter proved he would never fall again. Jesus restored him.He didn't wait until Paul built a gentle reputation, he met him on the road, and he changed his life. That's the phrase. Over every redeemed life. You were proud, but God, you were addicted. But God, you were bitter. But God, you were religious but empty.But God, you were smiling in public and dying in private. But God, you were far from him, but God. And you were dead. But God made you alive together with Christ. But Paul doesn't stop there.He said God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places. That means that grace doesn't merely forgive the guilty. Grace unites the believer to Christ. Think about this.Grace gives you a new standing, a new identity, a new future, a new seat at the table of mercy. Friend, you weren't alive because you were strong. You're alive because God is merciful. You aren't raised because you earned it.You're raised because Christ is risen. And you're not seated with Christ because you climbed high enough.You're seated with Christ because grace brought you where effort never could take you. And then Paul gives one of the clearest statements in all of scripture. He says this. For by grace you have been saved through faith.And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not a result of anything you did, not a result of works so that no one may boast. And there it is.The very act of grace removes boasting. It removes that spiritual arrogance. It removes the illusion. It can point to performance as the reason God should accept you. Friend.God removes the scoreboard. He removes the ladder. He removes that fantasy that you're okay because your sins look cleaner than someone else's. But grace also removes despair.Because if salvation depended on your works, then every failure would threaten your standing. Every weak week would feel like a verdict. Every single stumble would sound like rejection.Every inconsistency would make you wonder if God was done with you. But if salvation is by grace, through faith in Christ, then your hope's not in the strength of your grip on God.Your hope is in the strength of Christ's finished work. But that doesn't make obedience optional. It makes obedience possible. Common religion says, obey so God will love you.But that's not what the gospel says. Gospel says, God loved you in Christ. Now walk in life that he has given you. Modern religion says work for acceptance.But the Gospel tells us work from acceptance. Religion tells us perform. The gospel says abide. And that's where many believers get exhausted.They understand the language of grace, but they still live under the pressure of earning it. Yeah, sure, they say amen to Ephesians 2:8, but they live like the verse has hidden conditions in the fine print.So many of us believe that Jesus saved us, but we somehow think that we gotta maintain God's affection by never disappointing him. Listen carefully right now. God disciplines his children. He corrects his children. He prunes his children and he calls his children to holiness.But he doesn't adopt his children by grace and then keep them. Shame. Living in shame. The same grace that saves you teaches you something. That same grace that forgave you forms you.That same grace that brought you out walks with you through it. So ask your heart these questions. Am I serving God from love or from fear?Man, I've asked myself that question so many times, and we got to reconcile that. Are you serving God from love or from fear? Ask yourself this. Am I obeying out of gratitude or trying to prove I was worth saving?You're never going to prove you're worth saving. Am I hiding from God because I failed or running to him because grace made a way?Am I comparing myself with others because I still think there's something to boast in? And am I judging someone else because I forgot what God rescued me from? See, in the End grace humbles the proud, and grace lifts the ashamed.Grace says to the proud, guess what, friend? You didn't earn this. But grace also says to the broken, you're not beyond this. Nobody gets to boast and nobody has a despair.But Paul doesn't end grace as a theory. He brings grace into your walk. Look at Ephesians 2:10.It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. This reassures me. You are his workmanship. That word carries the idea of something made, something shaped. You can just picture this in your own mind.Crafted, designed, a workmanship. Friend, you're not an accident in God's hands. You aren't some spiritual scrap metal that you're just laying around in the yard.You're not some discarded project. You are his workmanship. And some of you need to hear that. Because you've been defining yourself by what went wrong.You've been defining yourself by that divorce you went through, or maybe that addiction you've been suffering through, by that betrayal that broke you, by that failure you thought would never get past it, by the wasted years, by that family background, by those labels other people have placed on you, and by the sin you're ashamed to mention. But in Christ, your identity isn't built on what Sid made of you. Your identity is built on what God is making in you. Again, I want to say it.You are his workmanship. Not because you were never broke, but because God is the Redeemer. And it's not because your past is clean, but because his blood is powerful.And it's not because your story is simple, but it's because his grace is enough. Now, notice this carefully. You aren't saved by good works.This is going to foul up some people, a lot of people's teaching think, oh, if I just do the right thing, I'm going to get to heaven. But that's not what it says here. It says, you're saved for good works. Works aren't the root of salvation, but they are the fruit of salvation.You don't perform good works to become God's workmanship. You walk in good works because grace has made you new. And see, that corrects two dangerous errors that we hear in culture all the time.I hear this constantly. But Ralph, my works save me. That is false. Since works don't save me, they don't matter. That's also false. We hear both of those things.Grace doesn't produce laziness. Grace produces life. And when God made You alive. You begin to walk differently. Now, you're not going to be perfect overnight, but you will be genuine.You get new desires forming in you. Old patterns begin to lose their grip. That conviction returns.Your compassion grows, humility deepens, and obedience becomes less about pressure and more about love. Friend, good works aren't staged performance. They're the pathway of a resurrected life. Forgiving the person you wanted to hate.Serving when nobody applauds. Deciding to tell the truth when lying would be easier. Praying when anxiety tells you to panic. Choosing purity when temptation is strong.Showing kindness to someone who can't benefit you at all. Opening Scripture when your emotions want to lead you.Reconcile when pride wants to protect itself, and showing up for the body of Christ when isolation just feels easier. These aren't ways to purchase grace. They're ways to walk in grace.So ask yourself, what good work has God placed in front of me that I keep pushing off and postponing? Again, a tough question. Who needs my apology? Who needs my forgiveness? Where's God calling me to serve?What area of obedience have I treated as optional? And where am I still living like I belong to my old life? Scripture is very clear. You are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.So walk in those good works, not to earn life. You've already got it. Walk. Because you have been made alive. What does it say? You were dead, but God made you alive.And now we're going on to part three. It shows us that grace doesn't apply, doesn't only change your private standing before God. Grace brings you into a people. What does it say?You are far off, but Christ brought you near. So let's get into part three. I want to talk about the new household that Christ brought you near.In the second half of Ephesians 2, Paul shifts from personal salvation to corporate reconciliation. He begins to speak about those who were once separated, alienated, strangers to the covenants, without hope and without God in the world.And that strong language. Ponder this for a second. Far off, excluded, outside, separated. Those are all tough things to think about.But then verse 13 gives another gospel interruption. And this one is beautiful, it says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.Not brought near by culture or politics or some public pressure or some human optimism. Brought near by the blood of Christ. Paul says Jesus himself is our peace. Not just that he gives peace. It says he is our peace.It says he's broken down that dividing wall of hostility. He creates one new people, and he reconciles us to God in one body through the cross. But friend, we live in a world full of walls.Just look around us. There's racial walls. There's political walls, clearly economic walls. Some of us have family walls. There's church walls. There's generational walls.Some of these walls were built by pride. Some of these walls were built by pain. Many of them were bought by fear. And there's also some that were built by offense.And we got to be honest with ourselves. Some walls have been created because people have been deeply wounded. Some of that distance exists because real harm happened to someone.And the Bible doesn't call you to pretend wounds aren't real. Being reconciled is not denying those things. Peace isn't pretending they never happen. Forgiveness is not the same as ignoring justice.But Ephesians 2 still tells us something we cannot lose. The cross of Jesus Christ isn't only about private forgiveness. The cross is also about God's answer to hostility.Christ doesn't save you and then leave hatred untouched. He doesn't redeem you and then bless prejudice. He doesn't forgive your sin and then excuse your contempt.And he doesn't bring you near to God while letting you despise your brother or sister. He also brought near.And this gets very practical because it's easy to celebrate being brought near to God while resisting reconciliation with people. It's easy to sing about grace while clinging to bitterness. It's easy to thank God for saving you while refusing to forgive someone else.And it's easy to love the idea of the cross while avoiding the people the cross calls you to love. But what does it say? It says, Jesus is our peace. And if he is our peace, hostility can't become our identity.You can't keep feeding division and call it discernment. You can't baptize pride and call it conviction. You can't hold people at a distance forever and call it wisdom when the real issue is bitterness.Hear me clearly on this. There are situations where boundaries are necessary. There are relationships where trust has to be rebuilt slowly.There are abusive or unsafe situations where dissonance may be wise. And yes, necessary. Biblical reconciliation never means pretending evil didn't happen. But the heart of a believer should never be ruled by hatred.The heart of a believer should be surrendered to Christ. And as far as it depends on us, we're called to pursue peace.So ask yourself, what's that wall that I've been maintaining that Jesus wants to tear down? What group of people have I quietly written off and just kicked to the Side. Who do I struggle to see as someone Christ died for? Where?Of politics or pride or praying or preference? Spoken louder than the cross. Have I confused being right with being righteous? Have I confused distance with holiness?And have I confused bitterness with strength? Christ tears down all those walls. And sometimes the wall he starts with is the one inside us.But then Paul gives one of the most beautiful identity statements in the chapter.In Ephesians 2:19, it says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. And I just love this.No longer strangers, no longer outsiders, no longer spiritually homeless, no longer standing on the edge wondering if there's room for you in Christ. You belong. And I think this matters because many people live with this deep ache of not belonging.Because you can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. There are people attending church that are in the church, but they still feel outside of the church.You can know Christian language and still wonder, are you truly accepted in the family? Yeah, you can have followers, but no fellowship. And you can have success, but no spiritual home.But Ephesians 2 says that in Christ, God doesn't merely tolerate you. He brings you into his household. Friends, you're not a guest. You're not some guest. He's waiting to push away your family. But Paul goes even further.He says, this household is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone. And that tells us something really important. That means the church isn't built on trends. It's not built on personalities.It's not built on entertainment. It's not built on politics or charisma or preference. It's not built on the loudest voice in the room.The cornerstone, the household of God is built on Christ. And think about a building. If you take away that cornerstone, what happens? It collapses. So if Christ is removed, guess what happens to the building?The building collapses also. But if Christ is central, the whole structure grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And that's why belonging in the body of Christ matters.See, some people want Jesus without his people, salvation without the community, worship without accountability, inspiration without commitment, the benefits of family without the responsibility of being a member of that family. But Ephesians 2 is very clear. It doesn't present Christianity as some isolated spirituality. It presents us as being built together. Together.And that word matters. I think you can't be built together if you're committed to isolation. You can't mature in family while treating church like this product.To consume it when you want it. And you can't grow in spiritual strength if you only connect when it's convenient for you. Now, yes, church hurt is real. I've felt that at times.Disappointment is real. Hypocrisy is real. There's leadership failure in churches. That's real. And if we're being honest, people can wound one another deeply.We don't deny that. But the failures of people don't cancel the design of God. Christ still builds his church.Christ still calls us into his body, and Christ still makes us family. I'll give you a great example of this. I played church league softball last night.Right before the game starts, we all get together, we put our hands in, and, you know, we scream family. Because that's what this is all about. So you got to ask yourself, have I withdrawn because God told me to? Because pain made me afraid?And that pain is real. I'm not saying the pain is not real, but what's keeping you from doing that? Ask yourself, have I confessed church hurt with Christ himself?It's okay to say to Christ, church has hurt me, Lord. Have I been consuming spiritual content without avoiding spiritual community?Have I allowed disappointment to make me unavailable to the body of Christ? And here's a real zinger. Have I forgotten that I'm not only saved from something, but also saved into something?What does it tell us in Christ, you're no longer a stranger. So come home. Don't come home to perform or pretend, not some religious game. Come home to Christ. Come home to grace.Come home to the family that God is building. Because again, what does it say? You were dead, but God made you alive. You are far off, but Christ brought you near.Let's slow down for a moment, because Ephesians 2 isn't just a chapter to understand, it's a chapter to sit under. Because it searches us, it humbles us, and it heals us. And just think about the movement of this. You were dead, but God made you alive.You were enslaved to the course of this world, but God raised you with Christ. You were under wrath, but God was rich in mercy. You couldn't boast, but God gave grace. You weren't saved by works, but God prepared good works.You were far off, but God brought you near. You were separated, but Christ made peace. Yes, you were a stranger, but now you're a family. And that's not just doctrine, that's testimony.Every single believer has a but God story. It may not look dramatic to some people, but it is miraculous in the eyes of heaven. Some were rescued from obvious rebellion.Some were rescued from quiet self righteousness. Some of you were rescued from addiction. Some of us were rescued from empty religion meditation.Many of us were rescued from despair, from pride, chasing approval, thinking that we were already fine. But every true believer was rescued from death. So ask yourself, where am I still living as though Ephesians 2 is the final word over me?Where am I still acting dead when Christ has made me alive? Where am I still wearing shame that grace has already answered? Where am I still trying to earn what God has already given me?Where am I still standing far off when the blood of Jesus has already brought me near? Where am I still treating myself like a stranger when God calls me family? And one more question.Who needs to experience the mercy of God through my life? Because, friend, if God has shown you mercy, you can't become merciless to others.If God has brought you near, please don't delight in keeping others far away. If God has forgiven you, you can't build your identity around unforgiveness.And if God has made peace through Christ, you gotta stop feeding hostility and calling it faithfulness. The grace that saves us also needs to reshape us. And one sign that you've understood mercy is that you start extending mercy.Not cheaply, not foolishly, not without truth, but humbly. Because you remember where you were and you remember what God did. So here's today's truth. Unveil moment.The gospel is not the story of good people becoming better. Some people think that's what it is. Oh, there was good people. They become better. No, it's the story of dead people being made alive.It's really that simple. And that means that salvation isn't God rewarding your potential. It's just God displaying His mercy. It's not God polishing your image.It's God giving you a new life. It isn't God helping you finish what you started. It's God doing what only he could finish. But here's the part we can't miss.The But God of Ephesians 2 doesn't only change where you go when you die. It changes how you live while you're here. It changes your identity, it changes your relationships, it changes your priorities.It changes your posture towards sin. It changes your understanding of the church. It changes how you handle shame. It changes how you respond to conflict.And it changes how you see yourself in the mirror. Because once God was made alive in you, you can't keep living as if the grave still owns you.And and once God has brought you near, you can't keep living as if you were still far away. And once God has called you family, you can't keep living like a stranger. Now maybe you've been listening. You realize something, Ralph.I don't just need encouragement, man. I need salvation. You don't need a better week. You need a new life. You don't just need to feel closer to God.You need to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 says we were saved by grace through faith. And that means that salvation isn't something you earn, it's something you receive.Jesus Christ, the son of God, lived a life that we couldn't live. He died to death, our sins deserved. He rose from the grave in victory. And now he's calling sinners to repent and believe.Now what does repentance mean? Repentance means turning away from sin and self rule.Faith means trusting in Christ alone, not Christ plus your good works, not Christ plus your reputation, not Christ plus your religious background, Christ alone.And Romans 10 tells us that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. And that's not some magic formula. That's a surrendered heart responding to the gospel.So right now, if today is a day you need to come to Christ, you can call on him right now. And it's not about perfect words. It's not some religious performance, it's just honesty. You can pray this from your heart.Now, I'm encouraging you right now. If you feel that the Lord is pulling you, pray with me right now. Lord Jesus, I know I've sinned and I know I can't save myself.And I truly believe you died for my sins. I believe you rose from the grave in victory. So right now, today, I turn from my sin, Lord, and I surrender my life to you.Make me alive in you, Lord. Save me by grace. Bring me near, Lord. Make me new. I just ask right now that you would be my Lord and my Savior. And I ask this in Jesus name.Amen, friend. If you prayed that sincerely, don't disappear into isolation like we talked about.Tell a faithful believer, get connected to a Bible believing church. Open the word of God and begin walking with Jesus. Salvation isn't the finish line. It's the beginning of a new life.And Ephesians 2 leaves us with three words to carry into this week. And I want you to really focus on these three this week. Alive, grace and home. And let's start with alive. Alive because you were dead in sin.But God made you alive with Christ. And then there's grace because you didn't earn this and you can't boast in it. And home because you are far off.But now you've been brought near and made part of the household of God. So don't go back to the grave. Don't go back to trying to earn it. Don't go back to isolation.Don't go back to hostility, and don't go back to shadow shame. And don't go back to living like God hasn't spoken over you. Because if you're in Christ, your story's marked by but God.Now, that doesn't mean life becomes easy. A lot of people get into Christianity. Oh, it's going to be an easy life. No, it doesn't work that way.It doesn't mean that struggles are going to disappear. You're going to still struggle. And it doesn't mean that every wound is going to heal overnight.It doesn't mean that every relationship is instantly restored. But it does mean death doesn't get the final word. That sin that you were living in doesn't get the final word.That shame that you felt doesn't get the final word. That distance doesn't get the final word. Jesus gets the final word and his word is life. I'm going to read Ephesians 2. 8 Again.For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourself. It is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Remember this, friend, by grace, through faith, created in Jesus for good works. That is the life we're called to walk in.How about we close in prayer together? Father, in the name of Jesus, I just want to thank you so much for the Word. I want to thank you for Ephesians chapter two.And thank you for telling us the truth, Lord. Thank you for not flattering us into destruction. Thank you for showing us what sin really is.But more than that, thank you for showing us who you are, rich in mercy, great in love and abounding in grace. And Lord, we confess right now that apart from you, we were dead in trespasses and sins. We confess that we followed the course of this world.We confess that we've trusted our own strength. We tried to earn what only grace could give. And we confess shame and pride and bitterness and that fear that's often shaped us.But today we remember something. But God, thank you for making us alive together with Christ. Thank you for saving us by grace through faith. Thank you for raising us up.Thank you for bringing us near by the blood of Jesus. Thank you for breaking down those walls of hostility and making us members of your household.And Lord, right now I want to pray for the person who still feels far away. You draw them near, Lord, for that person who feels dead inside. Wake up their spirit, Lord, for that person buried in shame.Remind them there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that person trapped in pride. Humble them with mercy, Lord, for that person who's been wounded by people, heal them with truth and grace.And for that person isolated from the body of Christ, I just ask that you would lead them into a healthy and faithful community. Because people who walk in good works that you prepared for us, not striving for your love, but living from your love.Not boasting in ourselves, but boasting in Christ and not returning to the grave, but walking the resurrection life. Jesus, be that corn cornerstone of our lives. Be the center of our homes. Be the foundation of our faith.Be the peace in our relationship, the hope and our weaknesses, the life in our souls. Lord, we surrender again, we believe again and we come near again. And I just ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.I want to encourage you if today's episode spoke to you, I want to encourage you to share it with someone who needs to remember that this story's not over.Share it with somebody who feels far off or somebody who feels ashamed, somebody who thinks they're too broken and just share these two words and then share this with them. But God, and if you haven't done so already, I'm going to encourage you to subscribe and follow us.You can do that at truthunveiledwithRalph.com and I don't want you to do that just to hear another episode. But I want to keep placing truth in front of your heart. Because in a world of noise, you need the word of God.You need that clarity, you need that conviction. You need that grace and friend. We all need Jesus. And remember this. You were dead, but God made you alive.You were far off, but Christ brought you near. You were a stranger, but now you're family. And I just want to encourage you walk in truth this week and until next time, keep seeking the truth.Keep walking in grace and keep your eyes on Jesus. Take care. God bless you.