Easter Sunday 2026
Eph. 2:4-10
Prayer: Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we live among a proud and insolent people who have rebelled against You and Your Christ. But we know that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead for nations like ours because we are standing here by Your great mercy. And so we are bold to ask You to turn us back to Yourself. We know that this means nothing short of resurrection, and so on this resurrection day, we ask for that. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This nation was built by Protestant Christians – puritans and presbyterians who believed in the sovereignty of God. They believed that God was sovereign over the great movements of nations and civilizations because they believed He was exhaustively sovereign over every detail of the universe, preeminently the salvation of every man, woman, and child.
Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Witherspoon all preached this sovereign grace rooted in the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead – and this was central to the greatness of our nation. We have been great because we knew that all that we had was from the Lord Jesus Christ. America must return to this sovereign grace if we hope to be great again.
The Text: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:4-10).
Summary of the Text
The center of the Christian message is God – who is rich in mercy and full of great love for men who know themselves to be sinners (Eph. 2:4). He made us alive – He raises sinners from the death of their guilt and shame – and He did this in the resurrection of Jesus Christ – which means it was already accomplished and secured 2,000 years ago, for by grace you are saved (Eph. 2:5). He raised us from the dead and has made us ascend with Christ into the heavens, where He plans to show off the riches of His grace forever (Eph. 2:6-7). It is grace from first to last and everything in between, which means everything is a gift (which He planned to give to us before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1:4); we achieved nothing for ourselves – including our faith, so that there is not the tiniest scrap that we can boast about (Eph. 2:8-9), including all the good works He has prepared and is sculpting into us (Eph. 2:10).
American Heresy
One of America’s great heresies (among many) is that we have come to believe that we have a hand in our salvation. The message that many churches have come to preach is that Christ has done a great work by His death and resurrection that gives man “a chance” to be saved. The message is that God has “made it possible” if only you will believe, make a decision, etc. Sometimes, the verse from Revelation about Jesus standing at the door and knocking is used to try to make this point (Rev. 3:20) – as though Jesus is pleading with men to accept Him. The worst versions of this imply that God needs man and that man ought to have pity on God instead of the truth which is that man needs God and that God has had pity on man (Eph. 2:4).
This has resulted in the preaching of an impotent Christ, and an arrogant and self-centered and self-assured nation. The implication is that salvation ultimately depends upon man and so all of the emphasis has shifted to this goal, which also accounts for much of our therapeutic culture. But the problem is not that man is sick and needs medicine. The problem is not that man merely needs God’s helping hand. The problem is not that man has low self-esteem and needs more positive thinking.
Dead in Sins
The message that the Bible brings to the world is that apart from Jesus Christ, men are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1, 5). The problem with so much modern American preaching has been a tendency to downplay this, to explain it away, and to do so for egalitarian reasons. They want everyone to have a chance. And so they preach that Christ died to give everyone a chance, and then they plead with everyone to give Jesus a chance.
But the problem is that the Bible teaches that no one has a chance. Because of Adam’s sin, everyone is born in the death of guilt and sin and they cannot do anything to save themselves, and in that state, they do not want to: no one seeks God (Rom. 3:9-23). Even the righteousness of sinners is like filthy menstrual rags (Is. 64:6). The carnal mind is “hostile against God” and cannot submit to the law of God – it’s incapable of it (Rom. 8:7-8). The natural man “cannot understand” spiritual things – they are folly to him (1 Cor. 2:14).
A Valley of Dry Bones
God pictures the problem of human depravity in Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (Ez. 37). Dry bones are not freshly dead men; they are long dead men. And the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones of Israel telling them to hear the word of the Lord (Ez. 37:4). That is what preaching is. It is Jesus at the grave of Lazarus, but it’s a Lazarus skeleton, completely picked dry by the bugs and parasites.
Jesus is absolutely clear: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6:44). This is no impotent Jesus. Jesus did not go to the Cross to make salvation merely possible. He went to the Cross as the Good Shepherd to give His life for His sheep and guarantee their salvation (Jn. 10:11), and those who do not believe are not His sheep (Jn. 10:26). “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (Jn. 10:27-30).
Conclusion
J.I. Packer says of this message: “It announces, not merely that men must come to Christ for salvation, but also that they cannot come unless Christ Himself draws them. Thus it labors to overthrow self-confidence, to convince sinners that their salvation is altogether out of their hands, and to shut them up to a self-despairing dependence on the glorious grace of a sovereign Savior, not only for their righteousness but for their faith too.”
So this is the message to you, to America, and for the world. Christ did not die and rise again for all men everywhere in some vague, desperate hope that many would accept His offer. He is not dependent on us for His salvation to go forth. This is a hard word, but it is hard on our self-righteousness and self-confidence. God is God, and we are not. But it is such a wonderful word for those who are being saved.
Christ came and died and rose again for His own. Christ laid His life down for His bride, the Church, and so she will be sanctified to complete perfection (Eph. 5:25-27). Christ has entered the heavenly sanctuary with His efficacious blood and has secured the “eternal redemption” of His own (Heb. 9:12) and has perfected them for all time (Heb. 10:14). All that the Father has given to Christ will come and Christ will not lose a single one (Jn. 6:37-39).
You cannot lift a finger to save yourself, but all who come to Christ will be saved to the uttermost. It is all grace. So how is salvation possible? God’s grace gives what He commands. And so ministers of this gospel have been authorized to command that all men must repent and believe with this sure promise: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
And when you call it is because you were called. When you believe it is with a faith that you were given. And if you love Him it is because He loved you first.
Because it is all grace flowing from His empty tomb.
Prayer: Father, we praise You for confounding all the leaders and powers of the first century. You confounded the mighty and the rich and the wise, and You in Your great wisdom and power and might threw down the gates of death. You defanged our Enemy the Devil, and You took away all our sins and raised us from the dead with Your Son, Jesus Christ. And so we are bold to ask that You would look upon our land with that compassion and raise our neighbors, our city, our nation, and every nation from the dead. We ask in the name of Jesus…
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