By Grace

The Condition

Stuff dies!

Old car that is on its way out

Starts making weird noises - sputters - brakes are bad

Wasn’t starting

We keep driving it anyway until one day it finally just dies - it has no life left - Things die

Going no ware - Useless

The other example is the car accident

Instantly written off - nothing salvageable

The Human condition is very much like an old CarPeople die

People die

The worst thing is to watch someone die a slow death

Disease

The difference between stuff and people is that we have a spirit

Our Spirit is given to us directly from God

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Just as things naturally deteriorate so does our spirit

From the moment of conception we begin our journey away from God

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Trespasses

We are born into the influence of the ruler of the air - and we follow willingly to our decline

It is our own choices and behaviours

Trespasses

No trespassing sign

As a young fella I spent several years on a farm in Ontario

Next door there were all these no trespassing signs to protect the maple syrup forests

Man I used to love to jump that fence and sneak into the sugar shack and make snow taffy

That sweat tasty reward was so satisfying

The sign was a boundary that I knew I was not to cross !

God has set boundaries for all of mankind

Show Video - 10 Commandments

Did you notice the no trespassing signs from God ?

I like to call them the “Ought nots”

Theses boundaries are set because God knows that pain caused from crossing these lines

There is another aspect as well and that is our “sins” - sin is a little bit different than trespass

Transgressions” (paraptōmasin, “false steps”)

Paul is telling us in this scripture that we were all

There is another aspect as well and that is our “sins” - sin is a little bit different than trespass

Sins

“sins” (hamartia is, “acts of missing the mark”)

“sins” (hamartia is, “acts of missing the mark”)

Sin is the act of missing the mark set by God

“The further you descend into a pit, the darker things appear. You can't keep digging to find the light.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich,

The Sinner has missed God’s mark for life and therefor stands in rebelled against Him

Man we have all been there in that place of darkness - EVERYONE HAS BEEN THERE

We all trusted our own thinker made our own decisions and followed the rest of mankind down into the pit - spiritual dead and separate from God trying to work our way out of that pit!

“The further you descend into a pit, the darker things appear. You can't keep digging to find the light.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, (chicken soup for the soul)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 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 further you descend into a pit, the darker things appear. You can't keep digging to find the light.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, (chicken soup for the soul)

When Paul is writing in this text that we were dead in our Trespass and sins he is saying that we have crossed the line of where we ought not to have been and we have missed the target of where we ought to have been.

Jesus - Perfection

Glory - Perfection

So the question of every human must be “ What would it look like to hit the Mark set out by God?”

Glory - Perfection

Jesus

Jesus did not trespass or violate any of the boundaries set out by God

Not once can you say about the life of Christ - He ought not have done that!

Jesus was perfect ! Without flaw blemish or trespass

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Gospel - Good News

God spoke this from heaven when Jesus was about 30 years old ! When Jesus was baptized

He had not crossed the line into disobedience once!

Prior to Christ’s baptism he was Giving us the perfect example for all to follow

in action - in attitude and in heart

But after his baptism Jesus begins to head for the target that only he could hit

No one else could have traveled the path set out for Jesus - From that day forward he began his journey to the cross

No one else could have pleased God as Jesus did - not one

Mercy and Grace

Gospel - Good News

God’s only Son Providing Everlasting Life

There is Good News !

English Standard Version Chapter 2

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast

God’s Mercy Love and Grace has provided a way for us to be seated right now in the heavenly realms with Jesus

Lets look at these words - Mercy Love Grace

Mercy

mercy is God not punishing us as our trespasses sins deserve

The wages of sin is death - Spiritual death - eternal separation from God - Being separate from God means the absence of everything good.

God’s mercy is displayed in the fact that even though we have sinned we can still approach him

Love

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

and grace is God blessing us despite the fact that we do not deserve it. Mercy is deliverance from judgment. Grace is extending kindness to the unworthy.

Jesus hit the mark

He went to the cross and paid the price for sins he did not commit - Your sins, my sins

He did this out of his love for us

God’s love for us is behind everything that the is ! The whole of creation was formed out of his everlasting love !

But it gets better - There is more

Grace

Grace is God blessing us despite the fact that we do not deserve it.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

do bad things happen to good people?

If all have sinned then no-one is good

Ryan Jorgenson - Teacher at convention for Bible Interpretation

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Why do good things happen to bad people?

Why do good things happen to bad people?

This is the answer:

God’s Mercy can deliver from judgment.

God’s love has prepared the path.

God’s grace covers and blesses us thought our lives.

But there is one more word that comes into play

Faith

Today the gospel is for you

You can have all of your sins forgiven and be seated in Glory with Christ

The sinners prayer