Ephesians: What a Difference It Makes
Notes
Transcript
Eph.2:4-7.
Last Sunday morning we looked at the Walking Dead. This is what we the born again were and what the lost are.
Spiritually Dead Men.
Paul showed us the state and severity of the lost mans existence.
He then went into detail and showed us why the lost are so disobedient
They follow society, satan and their sinful lusts.
Then Paul showed us why God has placed the Sentence of death on the sinner.
Because of Our Nature and Because of His Character.
If we were to leave it right there it would be a very sad story for all of man kind.
Man needed something that he could not give himself.
Man needed an external force to intervene and make him into something different.
That is where we pick up this morning.
The first thing we see is What a difference it makes when...
I.God Intervenes
I.God Intervenes
v.4-5a
But God,
these two words change everything for the sinner.
The words “But God …” are filled with glory, power and meaning.
Those two words, just six little letters, one conjunction and one personal noun, may just be the greatest words in the Bible
These two words tell us where salvation originates.
in the Person of God.
These two words also tell us who initiates salvation.
God always makes the first move in salvation
because the lost sinner is incapable of making the first move toward God, 1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
John 6:44
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.
These two words mark the difference between life and death,
between a life of turmoil and a life of peace,
between a life of sin and sorrow and a life lived to the glory of God,
between salvation and damnation, and between Heaven and Hell.
So, when God intervenes in the life of a sinner,
A. It is Personal
A. It is Personal
“But God …”
Ill. Take a moment to contrast the truths of verses 1–3 with the words
When you were dead in your trespasses and sins, BUT GOD
When you walked according to the course of this world, BUT GOD
When You were a child of the devil, BUT GOD
When you fulfilled the lust of the mind and flesh, BUT GOD
Take a moment to walk through the Word of God and see where the personal intervention of God made an eternal difference in the lives of the men and women mentioned in its pages.
(Ill. Abraham was justified , Lot was saved, Rahab was spared, The Three Hebrews were protected, Daniel was guarded, Elijah was nourished, Saul of Tarsus was converted, Peter was rescued and the list could go on and on .)
Praise God He took a personal interest in me!
I praise His holy name for the day He came calling and “butted” in on my life.
I wasn’t looking for a change of life.
I wasn’t looking for a Savior because He wasnt lost I was.
I wasn’t looking for anything but the next good time, the next big thrill and the next sin, but I praise the name of God that He had other ideas for my life!
Thanks to His personal intervention, I am saved.
What about you? Can you praise Him for personally intervening in your life?
B. It is Precious
B. It is Precious
Just look at the words that Paul uses,
take a moment to think about what Paul is saying here.
He mentions the fact that God is “rich in mercy.”
The word “rich” refers to “an overabundance, that which is without measure, unlimited”.
This suggests that God possesses in an overabundant, measureless, and unlimited quantity of “mercy”.
Our Savior was marked by His mercy while He walked this earth.
i. He was “moved with compassion” as He looked upon those who were helpless in their afflictions and in their sins.
On those occasions, the Savior mercy moved Him to reach out in love and do something to alleviate the sufferings of those He felt mercy towards.
ii. He does the same thing in salvation.
Look at verses 1–3.
There was never a more afflicted or miserable group than those described in these verses.
In spite of their wicked, fallen condition; in spite of their continual rebellion; in spite of their sinfulness and morally depraved state, He looked upon them with mercy in His heart.
In His mercy, He was moved to do something to help them even though they did not deserve it.
In the Lord’s mercy, He turns His wrath away from the “children of wrath” and He extends to them His forgiveness and His salvation.
He does not give them the judgment they deserve!
The Lord’s mercy for the sinner flows out of His love for the sinner. Paul calls it His “great love”.
What kind of love are we talking about here?
What kind of love are we talking about here?
• Eternal Love—Jer. 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
• Sacrificial Love—Rom. 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
• Unconditional Love—Rom. 8:38–39
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Individual Love —John 15:9
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
• Effectual Love—John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[A preacher one day announced he would be preaching on the love of God in the evening service. That evening as the daylight passed and service began, the preacher brought out a picture. He had the lights turned off and he turned on a small flashlight. He uncovered the picture and shined lite first at the top of the picture and it showed the crown of thrones on the head of Christ. He then shined the lite on the two sides of the picture and it showed the nail pierced hands, then he shined the lite on the bottom of the picture, it showed the nail pierced feet. He then took the flashlight and placed it on the pulpit shining the lite at the picture to revel the Crucifixion of Christ. He then walked out. ]
That is it. Calvary says everything you need to hear about the eternal, sacrificial, unconditional, personal, effectual love of God.
He loves you, of that fact there should be no question
What makes the love of God so amazing?
The objects of that love.
Verse 4 says “wherewith He loved us.”
The “us” in that phrase refers to those who are redeemed from among the lost multitudes described in verses 1–3.
It speaks of the “us” who did not love Him. It speaks of the “us” who lived in constant rebellion against God’s Word, His will and His ways.
It speaks of the “us” who deserved His judgment and eternal damnation in Hell.
It speaks of the “us” who hated Him, but loved our sins.
It speaks of the “us” who turned away from Him in open, unrestrained rebellion.
He loved “us”!
When we were in the depths of our sin, we deserved nothing but His wrath and damnation. He had no reason to reach out to us and redeem us. There was nothing in us that beckoned to Him and caused Him to move in our direction. Verse 5 clearly says, “by grace ye are saved”.
C. It is Profound
C. It is Profound
dead in sins
Notice when God intervened
i. Verse 5 says it was “even when we were dead in sins …”
God did not wait until we improved our condition.
He did not wait until we reformed.
He did not wait until we got better.
No! He set His love on us while we were still dead in our sins.
He loved us in spite of our wickedness.
He reached down to us when He knew that we could not, and would not, reach up to Him.
When God intervenes in the life of the sinner, he doesnt have to ask for permission, you just have to ask Him to do it.
When God intervenes He dosent need any other force in save you, He does it all on His own.
ii. God’s love does not make any sense to our mortal minds.
I cannot understand why God chooses to love us.
I cannot understand why He reaches out to save lost sinners and deliver them from the bondage of sin and spiritual death.
I cannot understand why He would love someone like me, but I praise His name that He does!
I praise His name that He intervenes in our lives and changes us; saving us by His grace!
That is profound! Thank God for His Personal, precious, profound and powerful intervention.
Thank God The Bible says, “But God!”
What a difference it makes when God
Intervenes
II. God Transforms vs. 5-7
II. God Transforms vs. 5-7
It makes a difference When God intervenes in the life of a sinner, it also makes a difference when transforms the sinner.
to transform means to change completely
When a caterpillar wraps themselves up into a chrysalis, the caterpiller dies and about 4 weeks later it comes out as a beautiful butterfly.
It is no longer a caterpillar.
It has been transformed.
Same concept for the lost sinner.
We are no longer what we were.
First notice about this transformation is...
A. The Power in the Transformation.
A. The Power in the Transformation.
You were dead in trespasses and sins, and He has made us alive in Christ.
now you are (quickened) made alive in Christ.
That means we are no longer what we use to be which is a dead lost sinner.
You are now alive
We are no longer dead, we are alive.
Just like Christ raised Lazarus from the grave which changed his condition, we have been raised from our spiritual death and been given newness of life.
God took this old dead sinner and made me alive in Christ.
How powerful is that?
We dont serve a weak God, we serve the creator of all things and the sustainer of all those things He has created.
This power is displayed through
a. The Grace of God
a. The Grace of God
You are saved by nothing of your own power, it takes the grace of God to save a sinner.
We have been bought by a price , by the precious blood of Christ.
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
i. Grace came in the form of Jesus Christ and His blood.
i. Grace came in the form of Jesus Christ and His blood.
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
ii. Grace was put on full display on Calvary’s hill.
ii. Grace was put on full display on Calvary’s hill.
God made a way for man to have the fellowship with Him that was lost in the garden.
God said I can not fellowship with evil therefore I must have a way that will take care of the evil that is in man.
That remedy came in the form of His dear Son and the blood that was shed on Calvary.
iii. Grace also came in the form of newness of life. 6a
iii. Grace also came in the form of newness of life. 6a
When Paul says that we have been raised up together, that as the sense of a resurrection from deadness. means to make new.
We have been raised in newness of life
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
God transformed our condition. We were dead in trespasses and sins and are now made alive in Christ. and have been raised from the dead spiritually into newness of life.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Paul then says in v6 that we have been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
B. The Position from the Transformation
B. The Position from the Transformation
we are no longer separated from God. We have been adopted into the family of God. Our Position changed the moment God saved us.
We are no longer children of disobedience and wrath.
We are no longer children of the devil.
We are now children of the living God.
We are joint heirs with Christ
C. The Promise Because of the Transformation v.7
C. The Promise Because of the Transformation v.7
The saved have been resurrected from spiritual death unto eternal life, positioned in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We can rejoice for the pardon we have received, but there is a wonderful promise that we can also claim.
Our salvation is not limited by time.
Our fellowship with the Lord and the blessedness of His presence are not limited to this life alone.
All of the saved will enter the presence of the Lord when we leave this life.
For the lost, this world is all they have to look forward to, but the saved have an eternal home waiting.
At the end of the age, the New Jerusalem will come down from God out of heaven, and we will enter that blessed home of the redeemed, never to leave.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.
We will enjoy the abundance of the Lord as eternity continues.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we consider the verses of today, we see that if it was not for God and His love v.4 we would still be dead in our sins v.5 but becasue he loved us He intervened in our lives because He loved us and He has quickened us made us alive in Christ His Son and has given us a new nature and has promised us that he will show us the exceeding riches of His grace in the form of our eternity with Him.
Paul has given us a great look at what we have because of the Love of God toward us.
If you are here today and are lost being dead in your sins, you too can know about this love of God and God whats to intervene in your life, you just have to acknowledge you are sinner, be honest with yourself and God and admit, that you have offended a holy and righteous God and deserve the full wrath of God.
Then Accept the fact that God sent His Son to bear the full weight of God’s wrath so that you might be free because He loves you.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Wont you come today and be born again
Those of us that are born again and have been made alive in Christ we have something to praise Him for.
We should be down here this morning praising Him for the great love he showed to us by saving us in our miserble lost dead condition. We didnt deserve anything but hell and yet He pulled us out of the horrible pit and placed our feet on a solid rock and has put a new song in our mouths.
why not come this morning and praise Him
Why not come lost sinner friend and be saved today.