Ephesians 2:4-7
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
-There are certain places we all wish to stay clear from, for many of us those places vary, but I think we all can agree on one - From time to time we all have to go to the dr., lets say that you go to a dr visit and the diagnosis is grim, your body is sick, you may ask the doctor what will be done, imagine the dr saying nothing can be done, that would be sad state, now think of our sin sick lives they were grim but the good news is that something has been done
-Everyone is spiritually sick, this is the point that many disagree on and want to pour some sugar, I’m a good person, I haven’t done what other people have
-But God, first two words of v. 1 - and you = God’s response to our hopeless state
-We are deserving of God’s rather that is why the phrase But God is so wonderful!
Our Hope Rests in the Character of God
Our Hope Rests in the Character of God
-Paul wanted it to be clear that our hope is not found in ourselves but in the character of God
-But God being - His very existence, because He is
-Two parts of God’s character that led to the provision of hope:
Mercy - rich in mercy
-in the sense that God is justified in allowing us all to spend eternity in hell
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
-parable of the unjust slave
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
Love - God extended mercy because of His great love
-3:17,19, 5:1- , 25, 28,
-1:4; 1:15; 4:2; 15-16, 6:23
-We have hope of salvation because of the great love of God that He extended mercy toward us
-Love is His motive, because he is rich in love, He is rich in mercy, rich in grace
-even when we were dead = Paul reiterates that it was in our darkness, in our desperation, in our helpless state that God intervened
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Our Hope is Fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ
Our Hope is Fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ
-How did God extend His mercy because of His love?
-made us alive together with Christ = through the death and resurrection of Christ we are made alive
-Notice God made us alive - regeneration = born again, it is a work of God, I cannot give myself life
-God did not just make us feel better about ourselves, He did not give us an emotional speech, a pep talk but He brought us back to life
We are dead on arrival spiritually—not just weak, ailing, critically ill, or comatose. There is no spiritual heartbeat, no spiritual breathing, no spiritual brain-wave activity. We are spiritually stillborn, and so we remain—unless God the Holy Spirit makes us alive.
R. C. Sproul
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
-made us alive together
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
-a wonderful illustration is the raising of Lazarus from the dead in John 11-
-Jesus called Lazarus out, God calls us out of death and brings us to life
-by grace = based solely on the generosity of God
-present tense = we are already made alive together with Christ
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
-notice the victory
-has already mentioned the great power of God
-perhaps to comfort the Ephesians in that the power of God is in them, they need not fear
-We need not fear, we have been made alive together with Christ, we have the promise of future glory
Our Hope is Eternal
Our Hope is Eternal
-God did this to show the wealth of His grace
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
-God saved us not to just show us His grace but to show us the surpassing greatness of His grace
14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.
-seated us with Him in the heavenly places
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
-What does this mean?
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
-It’s our world, the heavenlies, out thoughts are to be heaven centered, the way we live our lives are to be heaven centered, heaven centered because that is where Christ is
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
-coming ages - all future stages of the life of a Christian
-Notice how God displays His grace: in kindness
-This is the point - we are saved by God’s grace and we have all we need in God. We have the power and strength to face any adversity because of what God has done
It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our death beds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace. Grace, wondrous grace. By the grace of God I am what I am. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones