The Grace of God 07-28-2024

Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

                   The grace of God is marvelous, wonderful, and hard to fully understand.  It is His kindness and love beyond measure.  This morning we're going to look at the depths of the riches of His grace.  Our text this morning is Ephesians 2:1-10 where Paul wrote: "(1) And you has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins;  (2) wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience; (3) among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as others.  (4) But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved.  (6) And has raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  (7) That in the age to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  (8) For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest any man should boast.  (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." 

                   We see the grace of God in Jesus, when we look at His cross, feel the power of His resurrection, and know that there is life through Him.  We all have a story with a past, a present, and a future.  In Ephesians 2 the Apostle Paul is writing the spiritual biography of all believers.  Talking to us about what we were (our past), where are now (what Christ has done for us), and what we will be in the future.

                   Paul tells us in verses 1-3 that everyone is spiritually dead in our trespasses and our sins.  That means that there is no hope for the human race without God.  Being spiritually dead means we are without God and without hope.  The Bible tells of physical death, eternal death, and also spiritual death which is the separation of the life from God.  Not only are we dead, we're also disobedient to God and are all the walking dead unless we allow Jesus into our lives. 

                   Without God, we're dominated by three sinister forces:  the course of this world, Satan, and a spirit of disobedience.  These are our gods, and we have no choice but to live in that depravity; we are as bad off as we can be.  This is how we are without Jesus even though many will say they were morally good.  It's true, many are but that is self-righteousness and it's just as much a sin as unrighteous-ness. 

                    It's this terrible portrait that makes the grace of God shine all the more beautifully because as Paul tells us in in verses 4-6, grace is how God rescues us.  It's the mercy of God; meaning He doesn't give us what we deserve, and the grace of God when He gives us what we don't deserve, which together equals salvation.  He rescues us.  He comes to us.  He quickens -- or raises us from the dead.  And now we have life.

                   So, what is salvation?  It's receiving the life of God into our dead soul and spirit.  This happens when we accept Jesus into our life after recognizing and asking forgiveness of our sins.  When we do this, the very life of God now lives within us.  It's not just getting religion or being rehabilitated.  It's a dead person reborn into a new life through Jesus and why God has seated with Jesus in the Heavenly places as Paul tell us in verse 6.  This is the spiritual position of all Christians now and forever because of what Jesus has done on the Cross.  Jesus is the only way and there is nothing we can do to sin away our salvation. It is in Jesus alone, by grace alone, and through faith alone. 

                   Accepting Jesus into our lives means that we're no longer living according to the course of this world fulfilling the passions of sinful people controlled by Satan.  Instead, we're growing into what God intended us to be when He created us.  We're growing and learning through Jesus to walk in God's will and live as Jesus lived.  And in Jesus alone, the faith that saves us is the faith that works in us to live the best life we can that includes helping and serving others.  Work follows faith just like heat follows fire. 

                   Paul explains in verses 7-10 that when we come to Jesus in faith and receive God's grace, our character becomes that of a changed life for the glory of God.  He has saved us so that we could have a platform in life to give God all of the glory for what He has done.  There won't be any prideful people strutting on the streets of Heaven saying, "Look what I did," or "I deserve to be here."  Heaven is a gift that cannot be earned or is it deserved.  It's given to us by grace through faith unto good works.  When we put the three prepositions by, given, and unto in the right order our theology will be correct regarding salvation:  "by grace we have been saved through faith."

                    In 2010 when a Major League Baseball player for the Texas Rangers received the American League Championship Series MVP award, he stood on a platform.  It was an exciting Friday night when the Rangers finally won the pennant and beat the Yankees.  The confetti began to fly, and fireworks were going off.   Grown men had tears in their eyes and were hugging one another.  Josh Hamilton said he had been crying in centerfield before the last out because he remembered how far God had brought him from addiction.  And so, when he received the trophy for being the MVP and stood there along with the team's owners and all the fans, he said in response to the announcer's initial questions:  "Well, first of all, all the glory goes to God and Jesus Christ!"  He said other things as well, but that was what he said first. 

                   And that's the first thing we're going to say when we get to Heaven, when the victory is won, and God's own fireworks are celebrating our eternal victory.  We won't be standing there saying, "So glad I made it" or "I did it!"  We will be saying, like that MVP, "First of all, all the glory goes to God and my Savior Jesus Christ!"  We're all trophies because of the grace of God.  All that we are and all that we have in this world and for eternity is because of the grace of God and the willingness of our sinless Savior Jesus Christ to die on the Cross because of our sin.  We don't deserve it and we can't ever do enough to earn it.  It comes to us only because of how much God loves us. 

                    Until we meet again, may God bless and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.