Today it is my prayer that we will drink deeply from the wells of grace that we might become grace dispenser s to a world that is thirsty for grace.

Transcription

1 In his book What's So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey says that "the world thirsts for grace in ways it does not even recognize." He writes, "Little wonder the hymn 'Amazing Grace' edged its way onto the Top Ten charts two hundred years after composition." The hymn's composer John Newton, who was once an infidel and slave trader, had been thirsty for grace. After he discovered the grace of God, he never ceased to be amazed. And people have never ceased singing his song, "Amazing Grace." Today it is my prayer that we will drink deeply from the wells of grace that we might become grace dispenser s to a world that is thirsty for grace. Ephesians 2:1 (NKJV) By Grace Through Faith 2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins This chapter begins with the phrase AND YOU This means that chapter 2 is a continuation of the thought in Chapter 1 You and I are the topic of conversation In Chapter 1 Paul prays that we might know the greatness of God s power He prays that we would know the same power that raised Christ from the dead That we would know the Hope of His Calling and the Riches of the Glory of His inheritance in the saints That our eyes would be opened to see Jesus that He has conquered every power and has put all things under His feet And then Paul turns to you and I and says AND YOU WHO WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS Paul contrasts the previous condition and the privileged position of those who are in Christ. If you notice in your Bible He made alive is italicized. This means that it does not appear in the original language, but the translators added it to smooth out or clarify the translation. PREVIOUS CONDITION DEAD IN OUR TRESPASSES AND SINS There are three kinds of death mentioned in the Bible

2 There is physical death the death of the body o Physical death is described as being separated from the body o 2 Cor. 5:8 speaks of being absent from the body o Where the soul and spirit of a person leaves a physical body There is social death where a person is ostracized, separated or rejected by a community. o We see this exemplified in the story of the prodigal son o When the prodigal son returns, the Father calls a celebration and says my son was once dead and is now alive o The son wasn t dead just separated by choice he didn t want to be around his family because of how he was living his life The third death is spiritual death o Spiritual death is separation from God o Gen 2:17 in the day you eat you will surely die o Adam died as a result of his disobedience to God o Through Adam s disobedience both physical and spiritual death separation came into the world o Adam had to leave the Garden where he had unrestrained fellowship with God thus man is separated from God o This is the death that Paul refers to when he says you were dead in your trespasses and sins Notice, He doesn t say dead to God There is a belief that when man is dead in his sin that he is dead to God o This belief holds that man is unable to respond to God o However, we know from scripture that Adam continued to respond to God after leaving the garden of Eden o You might say well, he was God s chosen o Ok let s look at Balaam the wicked, non-israelite prophet who prophesied by the Spirit of God he was NOT chosen Rather, what we see in scripture is that God has created in all people the capacity to respond to the Spirit of God God gives man Free Will to accept or reject God If man didn t have Free Will, then our love for God would be meaningless But man has the capacity to choose to accept life in Christ or choose to remain dead in trespasses and sins Therefore, contrary to pop theology God doesn t send anyone to hell, man chooses eternal separation from God by rejecting God s grace.

3 What did this state of living death look like in our lives? How did we once live? Ephesians 2:2 3 (NKJV) 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. There were three influences that are hostile to God that directed our lives First The World You once walked according to the course of this world When you see the word walk in the Bible it refers to the way you live your life. Paul says, your behavior was determined by the powerful influence of the culture Attitudes, habits, preferences all of which were contrary to God s Word We can t underestimate the pressure of the culture we live in We live in a distracted culture where God is secondary in my life If you want to test this open up your check book and your calendar. Look at how you spend your time and your money. Are you tithing to the Lord? Are you giving Him your first fruits? Are you coming to Church? Is God in your daily and weekly calendar? Well, you don t understand how busy I am Not true. I ve just decided like Joshua of old, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The Second Hostile Influence was the Devil You once walked according to the prince of the power of the air You once walked according to the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience Paul depicts the second hostile influence as a powerful supernatural being who rules over this host of evil spirits: the ruler of the kingdom of the air Ephesians speaks more about principalities and powers and the evil behind it than any other New Testament letter He makes it clear that there are only two kingdoms in this world The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness You are either in one or the other

4 Those who are not in Christ are not only subject to the pervasive bondage of the present evil age, but they are also inspired and empowered by personal evil forces that direct their lives. The Third Hostile Influence was the Flesh By turning to the role of the flesh, Paul describes our PREVIOUS CONDITION from a different perspective The other two influences are outside influences we can always say the devil made me do it. But now Paul describes our fallen, self centered human nature that stands in rebellion against God You conducted yourself in the lusts of your flesh which includes anger, envy, rage, dissensions and self ambition (Galatians 5:20) You fulfilled the desires of the flesh You didn t have any problem living contrary to God s ways You fulfilled the desires of the mind Your thoughts were corrupt and they controlled your actions You were by nature children of wrath, just like everyone else o The Bible says that through one man s sin, sin entered the world o And so man is now born with a sinful nature o All sin and fall short of God s glory (Romans 5:12) o Because the wages of sin is death and all men are sinners then we are all by nature children born under condemnation, destined for judgment Paul gives a complete analysis of the human condition without Christ Man is under bondage to the world, the devil and his own fallen nature These influences lead you and I into trespasses and sins and thus we are destined for death and destruction If this was the end of the story, man s existence would be hopeless There would be no meaning, no purpose to life But Paul doesn t end there, he tells us now that we have a PRIVILEGED POSITION and he introduces this with two pivotal life transforming words BUT GOD. Ephesians 2:4 7 (NKJV) 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together,

5 and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You were dead in trespasses and sins BUT GOD You were controlled by the world, the flesh and the devil BUT GOD You were children of wrath, doomed for destruction BUT GOD WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT LOVE MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST BY GRACE AND RAISED US UP AND MADE US SIT IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS WHY? SO THAT FOR ALL ETERNITY HE COULD SHOW US THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS IN CHRIST JESUS POINT: If you get this one concept your entire life will be changed forever God is not mad at you anymore God is not mad at your sin He s not mad at the bad things you do He s not hiding in His office hoping you ll go away He is rich in mercy and full of love for you HOW DO I KNOW THIS? Because He did all of this for you when you were DEAD in trespasses and sins He didn t wait for you to come looking for Him He didn t wait for you to seek Him out You didn t even care about Him He went looking for you And when He found you, He clothed you in His robes of righteousness And He welcomed you into His family And He threw a huge party for you and told the entire world This is my son, my daughter who was dead and now He is alive I just want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you God restores us to that PRIVILEGED POSITION where He created us to be Right next to Jesus in the heavenly places and

6 How does He do this? He reveals His great love to us and How does He reveal His great love to us? By GRACE. Now I want to take a moment and speak about Grace. Grace is central to Paul s understanding of the salvation experience I believe that our understanding of grace doesn t reflect the life changing power that Paul preached. It was Webster s dictionary that defined grace as unmerited favor. But that definition never made sense to me if you take the passage For by God s unmerited favor you have been saved it really doesn t work. Another said it was God s Riches At Christ s Expense G-R-A-C-E GRACE. But that s doesn t really work either. I ve heard that judgment is getting what you deserve and mercy is not getting what you deserve and grace is getting what you don t deserve but to me it s just another definition for mercy. Strong s Concordance, on the other hand, defines grace as The divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life It is the divine influence upon the heart The manifestation of God s Power to save, heal, deliver, rescue, redeem, restore and renew. And the reflection in the life The manifestation of God s Presence in the life of the believer that conforms us into the image of Christ Grace is God s Presence and Power through Christ in us One scholar refers to grace as the supernatural power of God s love According to Paul grace then is both God s power to save and God s power to live the Christian life. This is what Paul means when he says Ephesians 2:8 9 (NKJV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

7 Grace isn t a theological concept. It s not a belief It s not a present that we open at Christmas time Grace is a person and that person s name is Jesus. This is why Paul says it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. I don t have the power to save myself but Jesus does I don t have the power to forgive my sins but Jesus does I don t have the power to raise myself from the dead but Jesus does And Jesus says I can be saved from death by grace through faith And if I believe, He said He would live in me And now Jesus lives in me And it is His Grace that is at work to release resurrection life in me And because of this resurrection life I am alive to God And I no longer identify with my sin nature, but I identify with my new nature in Christ And day by day I am being conformed into His image Now this is amazing news. This is truly good news problem is most Christians do not believe it Instead of abiding in Christ and surrendering to His work in our lives We try to satisfy our own guilt by doing subtle little things that we hope will earn God s favor in our lives We believe deep down inside that we re damaged goods or worse yet a lemon a manufacturer s defect. But Paul tells us Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Do you realize that You are God s masterpiece? That God created you for greatness? That God has great things in store for you? Things for you to do? That He has an abundant life for you to live? VIDEO: GOD S CHISEL (9:32)