Made Us Alive

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon Christian Church. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 2.

Thus far in chapter two, things have looked dire.

Man is defined as evil, sinful, dead.

Not only is this our predicament, but we have no ability to get ourselves out.

Why does Paul say this? Just trying to make his readers feel bad?

In our culture, Paul’s writing might need a trigger warning. We love plotting our own path and condemn anyone who might disagree.

Proverbs 14:12- “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Desires to be honest.

Job of any preacher. I’m just going to give you what I’ve been given...

Desires to make what we are about to read that much more special.

Define the difference between what we once were and what we now are.

Taking the kids to DQ.

Klyne Snodgrass- “The contrast between the plight of humanity without God and the privilege of humanity with God is remarkable.”

Consider chapter 1- the long doxology or song of praise- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ- Why the need for this? Because of who God is and what God has done in our verses.

Read Ephesians 2:4-5- “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

Pray.

So much that is packed into our text today, but it seeks to answer one simple question- What can be done?

Rich young ruler- How might I have eternal life?

If we recognize what was written in v. 1-3, then what is the answer?

Simply stated, it’s God. Entirely. The work of God driven by the character of God.

Markus Barth- “God is in essence what he manifests in action, and vice versa.”

We do things out of character. God does not.

What God does reveals who God is. Who God is fuels what God does. Always.

We must focus on both, the character of God and His action.

So who is God, and what does God do because of who He is?

1. God’s love is great.

The great love with which He loved us...

God loves big.

Jonathan Edwards- “Love is in God as light is in the sun, which does not shine by a reflected light as the moon and planets do, but by its own light, and as the great fountain of light.”

Tend to think of love as something that is ascribed to God, but this simply isn’t the case.

1 John 4:8- “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

In fact, God’s love is so great, so big, that we can’t even begin to comprehend it.

Ephesians 3:17-19- “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Takes something supernatural for us to begin to grasp God’s love. Beyond our own comprehension.

God’s love is at the core of who He is.

He loves us because it is the makeup of who He is.

It is not prompted by man.

God loves first.

1 John 4:19- “We love because he first loved us.”

We are simply reminded this morning- God’s love is great.

2. God is wealthy in mercy.

Let’s briefly consider the wealth of God.

Psalm 50:7-12- “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

A psalm of judgment against the people of the earth.

Point being made- You’re doing what I’ve asked you to do but not in the way I’ve asked you to do it.

Makes an important point- God has no need of our sacrifices. He owns all.

If God owns all and gives from what He owns, then consider God’s richness in mercy.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4- “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

God is not only seen as rich in mercy, but Paul sees Him as the Father of mercies.

He is not a little merciful. This might be how we would describe ourselves.

Spiritual gift assessments- Do we show mercy? Sure, on occasion, so we convince ourselves that we are rich in mercy.

God is not like that.

He is the greatest possible expression of mercy. And we would do well to consider just how merciful God is.

John Calvin- “God is said to be rich in it, because he is free and liberal in dispensing it, and the effects of it; and that to a large number of persons, in great abundance and variety, by various ways, and in diverse instances; as in the covenant of grace, in the mission of Christ, in redemption by him, in regeneration, in pardon of sin, and in eternal salvation; and yet it is inexhaustible and perpetual; and this sets for the excellency and glory of it.”

The point Calvin makes is that the wealth of God’s mercy is shown in everything He accomplishes on our behalf.

Every aspect of our salvation depends entirely upon the mercy of God.

3. God’s love and mercy are at work.

God’s character drives what He does.

We think of the wealthy as sitting on their wealth.

Scrooge McDuck- diving into his vault filled with gold.

We tend to think of God this way. Yes, he owns all that is, but He also withholds all that He possesses.

The very temptation of Adam and Eve- God is stingy, He is withholding from you.

Notice our text. God is great in love, rich in mercy, and as a result, He has diverted His wrath in order that we might be brought to life.

Ultimately we find that this is the core of the gospel. While we were sinners, while we were dead, God loved us, had mercy on us.

How was this love shown, or made manifest? Through the death of Jesus. His receiving God’s wrath for our sins.

Romans 5:6-8- “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Notice- God shows his love for us. His love is made known. For God SO loved the world that he gave His only son.

Through all of this, He has made us alive.

4. Some really great news.

Anthropology is a tricky study. We often think wrongly about ourselves and others.

Two errors that we make.

We are not all that bad.

We are simply too bad.

Ephesians 2:1-5 does away with both.

We are indeed that bad, but in all of our badness, God’s love and mercy are enough.

Richard Coekin- “Imagine yourself as a decaying corpse (we were spiritually dead), trussed up in chains inside a coffin (we were captive to the world, the devil and the flesh), heading inexorably into the flames of the crematorium fires (objects of God’s wrath). Suddenly as your coffin is engulfed by flames, someone leaps into the flames, smashes open the coffin, and despite the most horrific burns that scar him forever, retrieves your corpse, breathes life into your body, washes you and clothes you in his own clothes…and takes you home to his father’s palace, to stay in his rooms and feast at his table, enjoying the abundant hospitality of his father forever.”

Here is the story of everyone who places faith in Jesus. Rescued because of God’s great love and the riches of His mercy.

Ambrose of Milan-

“Call forth your servant, Lord. I am bound with the chain of my sins, my feet fastened and my hands tied, buried in dead thoughts and works.

Yet at your call I will go forth free and will be one of those who are sitting at your feast. Your house will be filled with the aroma of precious ointment.

I will be pulled from the fire, away from this world’s vanities, to a place where I can hear the choir singing.

And now I will continue serving not in my own strength, but by the grace of Christ, and I will sit among the guests at the heavenly table. Amen.”