the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
Ephesians 2:12
‘Without Christ!’
Read Ephesians 2:8-22
‘Without Christ!’ A more miserable condition cannot be conceived! It is bad enough to be without money, without health, without a home, or without friends. But it is far worse to be without Christ! No tongue can tell the depth of wretchedness and misery that lie in those two words. There is no poverty like this, no need like this, Yet this is the condition that we were all in, when God laid hold of us by his mighty grace: ‘At that time ye were without Christ.’
When must we say that a person is without Christ? To be sure, all men are without Christ by nature. Sin has separated us from God. A man is without Christ when he has no knowledge of who Christ is, what he has done and where he is now. The purpose of preaching the gospel is to inform men of the person and work of Christ. Yet it is not enough simply to know the historical facts concerning the person and work of Christ. You may know all that is to be known about Christ and still be without Christ. A man is without Christ when he has no heart faith in Christ.
What does it mean to be without Christ? Paul points out four solemn deprivals of the soul without Christ. Without Christ you are ‘aliens from the commonwealth of Israel’, separated from the people of God. Without Christ, you are ‘strangers from the covenants of promise’. All the promises of God are in Christ Jesus, yea and amen. The covenant promises of forgiveness, guidance, protection and providence are for those who are in Christ. Without Christ you have no promise from God, except that of judgment. Without Christ, you have ‘no hope’. There is no hope of redemption, no hope of righteousness, no hope of acceptance with God, no hope of mercy, no hope of heaven. Without Christ, you are without God, perishing without the knowledge of God. Without Christ, you are among the lost, ruined, condemned sons of Adam in the world.
How can you be in Christ? You must be born again in Christ. You must be in Christ by faith. As soon as you trust Christ, you are in Christ.
