Immeasurable Riches of His Grace

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon. Please open your Bible to Ephesians 2.

Paul lays out the gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ.

Read Ephesians 2:4-7- “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— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Pray.

Paul is describing salvation. Clearly, we see a change taking place in the believer. Paul is going to dive in to show us just how much a person changes when they come to know, love, honor and worship Jesus.

1. A new presence.

Hoping that we have covered well the new existence that had been given to the Ephesians, and by extension, to all believers.

From spiritual death, to spiritual life.

But Paul never really just says that. He wants his readers to know the extent their new reality. They are given a new presence, a new existence, and it’s not enough that they simply know that they are alive.

Paul over-explains. But really, this is exactly what we need.

Disney money- Ali and I have to do the work to make sure the kids begin to grasp what they have.

Paul is doing the same with believers.

How does Paul describe this new existence? By using a bunch of prepositional phrases.

In Jesus, with Jesus, through Jesus, by Jesus.

Seen extensively throughout chapter 1, but here we see it in v. 5-7 this morning.

Notice the language- alive together with Christ, raised us up with him, seated us with him...

What is Paul trying to communicate here with all of these various prepositional phrases?

I think he is giving us a better way of understanding what salvation is.

For many, salvation is something that has taken place in our lives from a distance.

Jesus did something a long time ago, in a place far away, that enabled something to happen in my life today.

I can choose to place faith in Jesus and then try my very best to behave in a way that would be pleasing to God.

Paul redefines salvation entirely, does he not? We are saved in Jesus, through Jesus, by Jesus. There is a closeness with Jesus being described here. A dependence upon Jesus.

Again, notice how Paul describes our salvation. We have been made alive with Jesus, raised up with Jesus, seated with Jesus.

What has happened to Jesus physically is what is taking place in our lives spiritually.

Intermingling of our life with Jesus’ life. Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done is attributed to us.

Think of it this way.

Romans 5:12- “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Sin and death spread to all of mankind as a result of the sin of Adam.

We did not sin in Adam’s sin, and yet, Adam was a representative of all mankind when he sinned.

Because Adam sinned, and we identify with Adam, we too sin and are guilty of our sin and die as a result.

Romans 5:19- “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

Just as we didn’t take part in the sin of Adam but still bear the responsibility and consequence of his sin, Paul makes clear that by faith, we can take part in the obedience, the righteousness of Jesus.

Jesus becomes the representative of all of those who possess eternal life through faith.

1 Peter 2:24- “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Jesus took our life of sin and gave us, through faith, His life of righteousness.

We receive the status of Jesus- what has happened to Jesus has happened to us.

This allows for Paul to say that we have been made alive with Christ, raised up with Christ, seated with Christ.

We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. And this was Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17:26- “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

When the Father looks at our lives, He sees the perfection and righteousness of His Son.

Jesus is not far off, a life lived long ago that we are to try to copy. Instead, we live by way of His eternal life already present within us. We live by His strength, not our own.

This is the new presence, the new reality, the new state of being into which we have been brought.

Once we recognize this new presence, we see find ourselves thinking differently about our lives.

2. A new perspective.

If we have been made alive, raised up and seated with Jesus, then it changes the way that we view our lives.

Children of God, just as Jesus is a child of God.

Consider the account of Jesus throughout the gospels.

Jesus delights in the Father.

John 14:30-31- “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Jesus expresses His love to the Father in a way that can be seen and understood by the world around Him, and He expresses this love through His obedience to the Father.

But the Father also loves and delights in Jesus.

John 3:35- “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.”

God the Father loves Jesus and has expressed His love by giving to Him all things.

Romans 8:32- “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Mark 1:10-11- “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

God is pleased with His Son and the work of His Son.

Father’s Day text message from Dad.

John 10:17- “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.”

Because of the Son’s obedience and righteousness, the Father loves and delights in the Son.

Zephaniah 3:17- “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Psalm 18:19- “He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”

Have you ever considered that if you belong to God, He delights in you.

Think about the swing that has happened. We were once children of wrath. We are now God’s children in whom He delights.

This gives a new vision for life, does it not?

How does one’s countenance change upon being the delight of their father?

We have seen it in our own household.

Don’t we often live in fear of God, worried of what He thinks of us.

Instead, we ought to live in light of God’s love, affection and delight in us.

Live for God, knowing that He will equip you with all you need.

God is generous, He is not stingy. You have not because you ask not.

What do you need to give God glory? Ask for it. God delights in you and loves to equip you for His work.

3. A new purpose.

What is God doing here. Why is He making the dead alive? What is His purpose? What is our purpose in all of this?

Or more specifically, what is God doing in our lives? What is He accomplishing?

Ephesians 2:7- “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

God desires to be known. So how does He make Himself known? By showing the riches of his grace and kindness in bringing the dead to life.

Billboards. We are the billboards.

This is what our lives are meant to proclaim.

We are to be a church that lives entirely for the glory of God.

Matthew 5:16- “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Your life is a billboard. What is written on it?

Does your life proclaim your inherent goodness? Or does it proclaim the great riches of God’s grace shown in kindness to you and others?

4. Some really great news.

All of life in the hands and power of God.

Gregory the Great- “Whoever, therefore, gives off the appearance of sanctity but destroys another by his words or example, it would be better for him that his earthly acts, demonstrated by worldly habits, would bind him to death than for his sacred office to be a source for the imitation of vice in another.”

Stated plainly, it would be better for you to die than to lead others away from God.

Complete reliance.

Bryan Chapell- “We are too dead to be the source of our salvation; we are too weak to be the maintainers of our salvation; we are too finite to be the eternal stewards of our salvation.”

This morning, we come to Jesus, and only to Jesus.

What has the past week looked like for you? Has it been filled with failure? What is coming this week for which you have zero strength?

How weak do you feel? How powerless to accomplish all that God has for you?

If you’re a believer, then Christ is in you and you are in Christ.

We beg of God’s mercy, knowing that He has already given it to us. We beg of God’s equipping, knowing that He has already given it to us.

As the Father sees and loves His Son, He sees and loves us. Hold fast to your union with Jesus.