Once, I was in a conversation with several people who were recovering alcoholics. The conversation somehow turned to the issue of divorce and remarriage among Christians. This was a personal issue for nearly everyone in the room and things were getting a little uncomfortable. Finally, one person said, “I need forgiveness for all of my sins - not just that one!” For her, the Good News has literally saved her life. For her, it wasn’t about whether or not God would allow divorced Christians to remarry; that was a side issue. The main issue for her was forgiveness and in her case it was a matter of life and death. If you’ve been a follower of Jesus for a number of years, you may have forgotten what it was like to live life without him. Today, let’s stop and consider that life for just a moment as we take a look at what Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians:

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Eph. 2:1-9 NLT)

In this passage, Paul reminds us that we were all renegades against God. And it wasn’t just that we were committing sinful acts—we were sinners by nature. Listen again to what he says: “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world…” Wow. It’s our nature to be sinners, enslaved by our sin and with no hope of escape. I say “no hope” because four times in this passage Paul reminds us that we were not dying from sin, but we were dead from sin. This is the bad news: we are dead sinners and subject to God’s anger. But here’s the Good News, two of the happiest words in the Bible: “But God…” Let’s listen again to verses 4-5: “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.” Paul then makes it clear that we can’t take any credit, because dead people can’t do anything – it was God’s free gift! Think about this: When Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, he had been dead for four days. Did Lazarus get any credit for his great saving faith? No. He couldn’t get any credit because he was dead! And spiritually, so were we in our sins.

Today, take a few moments to consider Jesus’ amazing love. He has called you out of your own grave and into eternal life with Him…and that’s such really Good News!