with Elder Elico Manenji
✝️Salvation is entirely God's work as naturally all mankind are spiritually dead to sin and trespasses. There is nothing mankind can do to redeem themselves from sinful state whose body and mind they are under the control of Satan. Sin has no discrimination, both Jews and Gentiles are all under the curse of the Law and consequently are rebellious against God. Such rebels do not deserve God’s love, but God loves them nevertheless, that is why He sent Jesus Christ to redeem from sin and death. There is nothing mankind can do even if they try to be good, nothing can bring life to them in their dead bodies of rebellion, no matter how much they may try to live well, they remain sinners because their natural state does not change. So it is by grace through Christ that mankind can be changed from death to life. By accepting Christ, He gives them new life by means or on the basis of His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. By God’s grace, Christ died to bear the penalty of human sin and rose to glorious life to give the repentant sinner a new lease of life that is heavenly and eternal. So, there is no discrimination, whether one is a Jew or a Gentiles, all are sinners saved through grace.
*1️⃣Ephesians 2:1-10: Sinners are saved by grace*
⏹️ The great evidence of God's power was the raising to life of Jesus Christ from the dead to save mankind from sin. The greatness of the power of God, which people may take for weakness is in the salvation of his people. The Apostle Peter says, *"Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole"(Acts 4:10).*
⏭️Because of God's infinite mercy humanity though dead to sin and trespasses are quickened together with Christ to newness of life and raised to sit with Christ in heavenly places. The Apostle says, *"Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) "(Ephesians 2:5).*
⏹️Salvation is not by human power but it the work of divine power working in mankind to will and to do what God desires to be done as they are God's workmanship created in Jesus Christ to do good works of Him who called from darkness into His marvelous light. The Apostle says, *" For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them"(Ephesians 2:10).*
*2️⃣Ephesians 2:11-22: Both Jews and Gentiles made one in Christ.*
⏹️It is a good thing for believers in Christ to remember that they were lost and that in Christ they become the commonwealth of Israel not according to human works but according to God working in them. The Apostle says, *"That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world"(Ephesians 2:12).*
⏭️The greatest event in human history is the coming of Christ to redeem them that are under the curse of sin, so that mankind can stand before God justified by Christ's death on the cross. The Apostle says, *"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons"(Galatians 4:4-5).*
⏹️For without Christ there is nothing better for mankind than this, without Christ there is no righteousness, there is no salvation to speak of, there is no fitness for heaven neither is there any pardon from sin. The Psalmist says, *"Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land"(Psalm 85:9).*
⏭️Without Christ, there is no intercessor, no mediator between God and man, there is no forgiveness of sin,
without Christ mankind is motiveless, there is no sympathy which God can offer to every person for perfect sympathy belongs to Christ alone. The Apostle says, *" For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus"(1 Timothy 2:5).*
⏹️A person who is without Christ is without any spiritual blessings which only Christ can bestow. For Christ is the life, He is the Truth and is the Way of the believer. Jesus said, *" I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me"(John 14:6).*
⏭️ Christ is the light of the world, without Him there is no light, or true knowledge, there is no light of true spiritual enjoyment, no warmth of true fellowship, without Christ there is no peace, no rest, no safety, no hope. All are saved by grace through faith, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, all need the reconciliation brought only to them by the death of Christ. The Apostle John says, *"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleans us from all sin"(1John 1:7).*
⏭️ In Christ, mankind is no longer strangers and foreigners to God but fellow citizens with the saints of the household of God. The Apostle Peter says, " *You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Chris"(1 Peter 2:5).*
*🅰️Appeal*
Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, He broke down the ceremonial law that made the great feud between the circumcised and uncircumcised blending the two parties into one new society of the body of Christ, being called God's people. In Christ there is no longer enmity between God and sinners, He came to slay that enmity and reconcile mankind to God. Sin is enmity with God and breeds a quarrel between God and mankind. Christ came to take up the quarrel, and to bring it to an end by reconciling through His body all who believe to become members of the family of God. The Apostle John says, *"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not"(1John 3:1).* Amen!!!
Elico Manenji
(+263712952704)
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