Grace Alone - Sola Gratia, Part 1
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Reformation Matters • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 38:39
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· 18 viewsBy Grace Alone, the dead are made alive, saved from wrath, raised with Christ, and empowered to walk in faith.
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And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
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.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
What comes into your mind when I say the word, “grace”?
“Doing what they could”
Martin Luther and his response to....“to the one who does what is in him, God will not deny grace”
Divine sentimentalism toward people.
What do we do when we apologize?
An apology says, “Will you absorb my offense toward you?”
To not apologize is to reject that anything wrong has been commited and this is grievous error.
On the other hand to respond to an apology with, “It’s fine, we’re good.” or “No problem” is to cheapen the offense done to you.
When we seek someone else’s forgiveness we show what we believe by the grace of God.
So if we rush in demand to be forgiven, we forget the gross offense that our sin is.
When we extend forgiveness but in actuality we withhold forgiveness we show what we believe about the grace of God.
According to Scripture alone we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.
By Grace Alone means that by the forgiving grace of God, sinners are made alive, saved from wrath, and empowered to walk in faith.
Dead in Your Sins
Dead in Your Sins
Life apart from Christ
(Eph 2:1-3)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
When Paul says, “you”, he means “all y’all”.
Not some of “y’all”.
Everyone of us.
Now that word for “dead” is really unique.
It means “dead”
Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden all humanity has lived under the curse of sin.
The curse is what God told them in the garden...
Genesis 2:16–17 (ESV)
“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The death that Adam and Eve brought into the world has been inherited to every person since that time.
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—
This is known as the “spiritual death” or the alienation from a relationship with God.
“dead in the trespasses and sins” is to say that humans DO NOT have an ability on their own to merit salvation.
Just like Lazarus could not call himself from the tomb in John 11, so Christians cannot make themselves alive.
“Tossing a Life Vest or Reviving the Sinner”
The way we understand our problem is important for the solution.
If we are simply drowning in a pool and God needs to toss us a life vest.
“The problem is simply ignorance.” or “If we just had more knowledge!”
Grace becomes more about BETTER teaching.
Then the work of Jesus just throws us a life vest.
But what Paul shows here is actually that we have drown and are at the bottom of the pool.
There is no life in us.
If we’re dead at the bottom of the pool, then we need resurrection.
Grace becomes the UNILATERAL action of GOD.
“Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!” — Leonard Ravenhill
We don’t need spiritual healing.
We need spiritual resurrection.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
A person is dead in their sins prior to anything they themselves have committed.
This is the natural state of humanity.
We should never ask the question, “Why does humanity act like this?”
The humanistic answer that people want to give is that it all comes down to upbringing.
Everything comes down to how we were raised, but this does not account for what Paul has said here.
The answer the Apostle would give is that everyone is dead in their sins and transgressions.
Following your flesh.
Following your flesh.
Notice the stackable nature of what Paul describes here.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
“in which you once walked” refers back to each of our complicit activities within the rebellion currently on display in the world around us.
This means that every one of us have at one time walked in a way contrary to God and His purposes.
Everyone at one time was a hater of God and one another.
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
The chief way that the devil will tempt you and I are through our desires.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Following the world.
Following the world.
Ephesians 2:1–2 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world,
The second thing to note here is the direction of our lives.
We were once following the “course of this world” or the “direction of the present age.”
When you look at the folly and foolishness of the world around you.
You ought to be compassionate because you were once actively involved in their system of destruction.
Following the devil.
Following the devil.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
The third thing to note here is the person we were once following, “the prince of the power of the air” or “the being that had others under his control.”
At one time we did the bidding of the devil.
We have not always been opposed to the devil and his purposes.
Actually the Bible tells us that we were actively working for him at one point.
The “spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”, this spirit is seen in the sons of disobedience who continue to disobey and rebel against the gospel.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
“It is neither an impersonal process of cause and effect, nor God’s vindictive anger, nor unbridled and unrighteous revenge, nor an outburst of passion. Wrath describes neither some autonomous entity alongside God, nor some principle of retribution that is not to be associated closely with his personality.
Furthermore, the wrath of God does not stand over against his love and mercy....He is a holy God, and therefore he does not stand idly by when people act unrighteously, transgress his law, show disdain to him as their creator, or spurn his kindness and mercy.” (O’Brien)
This should create sobriety in us.
We were once as cold and dead as the outside of Lazarus’s tomb.
We were at one time without hope like those outside of a dead man’s tomb.
Forgiving Grace
Forgiving Grace
From Death to Life
(Eph 2:4-7)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
God is the One who is “rich in mercy” is the One who has saved us.
We were once destined for wrath and destruction....
BUT God came in and rescued sinners.
We were all offensive to God....
BUT God came in and saved sinners.
We were all “dead in the trespasses and sins”.....
BUT God was kind toward people who were dead in their sins.
Paul again highlights the “deadness” of our hearts in verse 5.
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Even while we were “dead in our trespasses”, God made us alive with Christ.
The salvation that God grants does not come to us when we get “cleaned up.”
It comes to us while we are still dead in our transgressions.
While we are dead in our iniquities, God makes us alive.
God’s creational love.
God’s creational love.
What is the grace of God?
Grace has been defined and helpfully so as “God’s unmerited favor”.
This would be God’s favor which is NOT DESERVED by others.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Grace in the Old Testament
Grace, we might say, is a response, an application of God’s character and attributes, to human rebellion. Grace is that aspect of divine action by which God blesses his rebellious creatures, whether through preservation (common grace) or salvation (special grace). It characterizes the manner in which he deals with those who through their rejection of him as their Creator and sovereign deserve nothing from him and yet whom he still chooses to bless.
God’s Love vs. My love
My love is responsive.
I need to see something lovely to love it.
I need to recognize that thing to be lovely to love it.
God’s love is creative.
His love doesn’t wait for something to be lovely to love it.
His love CREATES the loveliness.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Luther’s Development to 1518
“The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.”
It’s the kind of love that He lavishes upon Adam and Eve.
When they sinned they covered themselves with leaves because they were filled with shame and guilt.
But even there in the garden, God’s love comes near.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
The act of God clothing Adam and Eve in the garden was an act of grace.
God covered their shame and guilt by taking the life of another.
By grace you are made alive in Jesus.
By grace you are made alive in Jesus.
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
God’s love vs. My love
I saw my wife and I loved her because she was lovely.
Marriage requires that my wife’s debt becomes my debt.
God’s love saw corpses.
He saw dead corpses like the valley of dry bones that Ezekiel sees (Ezekiel 37).
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
The reason Paul can tell the Colossians to set their minds on the things of heaven is they have been made alive.
How should we view our old way of life?
Home videos and the death I once walked in...
What are we saved from?
By grace you are saved from the wrath to come.
By grace you are saved from the wrath to come.
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—
[I]ndeed, the idea of gift (free and unearned) is at the heart of this word. Grace, ‘favour towards men contrary to their desert’, is attributed to God in his relations with sinful human beings and to Christ, inasmuch as the gracious attitude of God to sinners is also that of Christ; and it is the work of Jesus, especially his death, that manifested God’s grace. —Peter O’Brien
Listen to how Paul talks in another place....
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
What are people’s response to this grace?
We often forget when telling the story of Jonah about the point of the story.
My son right now loves hearing the story of Jonah.
He says, “Tell the story of Jonah”, and right now he wants to hear about the big fish and all the craziness of being swallowed by a fish.
But what I continually emphasize to him because its the point of the story is the extravagant grace of God toward the people.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah was angry because God was kind, gracious, and merciful toward sinners.
And Jonah represents the heart of all legalists.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Grace in the Old Testament
Yet Jonah’s reaction is only so ugly because God’s grace is so beautiful. An entire city of sleazy, corrupt, vile human beings is yet delivered from judgment and brought into joyful communion with God. The story is not so much about Jonah’s bitterness of soul as it is about God’s glorious grace.
The heart that sees others receiving the forgiving grace of God, they become angry.
They become angry because they presume that their judgments are more just than Gods.
Or take Pharaoh’s response in the Exodus...
Every time a plague came upon Pharaoh he pleaded with Moses to take it away.
He pleaded that God would be merciful to him.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
Time and time again the grace of God toward Pharaoh only hardened him.
God’s Son Taking His Bride
The reality is that Jesus married a bride who was dead in her sins.
He married a bride who was under divine judgment.
By grace you are raised with Jesus.
By grace you are raised with Jesus.
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.
The benefits of the grace shown toward us in the gospel is God raising us up with Jesus.
Seating us in the heavenly places with Jesus Christ.
Paul’s point here is that when we see Jesus’ death, we need to see our own death.
When we see Jesus’ resurrection, we need to see our resurrection.
Notice the purpose....
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
God’s purpose of salvation of sinners is to show us the “surpassing greatness”, “exceeding riches”, “surpassing wealth” of His grace toward us.
God delights to take the base things of this world and make them new BY HIMSELF.
He delights to take the wicked things of this world and make them lovely in His Son.
Empowering Grace
Empowering Grace
Saved by Grace to walk in Faith
(Eph 2:8-10)
Legalism - “If I try hard enough, God will love me”
License - “God loves me either way, it doesn’t matter how I live.”
Saved by Grace to Walk in Faith
“I have been saved as the gift of God, so I want to walk in obedience to Christ”
“I have been saved as the gift of God, and I want to continue by the power of God”
Grace is the gift of God.
Grace is the gift of God.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
When a person has trusted Jesus for salvation, we don’t bring anything with us.
There is NO amount of saying....
“I have done ______”
“I have committed myself for 30 years”
This is also where it can be unhelpful things like the “sinners prayer.”
When we strip trusting Christ down to some formulaic expression of faith, we diminish salvation by grace through faith.
When we elevate walking an isle to being what saves you, we diminish salvation by grace through faith.
When we subtilely begin to believe that we come and receive salvation, the emphasis begins to be placed upon ME.
The emphasis here though is on God.
When the priority of Scripture governs us we see that the emphasis here is on the gift of God toward us.
One of God’s purpose in salvation is so that nobody can stand back and say,
“I did it!”
“I made the decision!”
“I chose to follow Jesus!”
the emphasis is upon the gift nature of salvation so that nobody can say that this was of them.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
Grace is the power to walk in faith.
Grace is the power to walk in faith.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
It’s this same grace that can cause Paul to say later…
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Chapter 1: Grace in the Bible
He does not just save us from our sins, but he also matures us in the faith and uses us to bring glory to his name even while here on earth. Yet this too is ultimately the gracious work of God. Thus, these two meanings are intimately connected: it is because we are saved by grace that grace then works in our lives to accomplish God’s purposes for us. The Christian life originates in God’s grace and is lived by God’s grace. And this is true of both Old and New Testaments.
By Grace Alone, the dead are made alive, saved from wrath, raised with Christ, and empowered to walk in faith.