Untitled Sermon (50)

Text: Ephesian 2:4-7

Introduction: About a month ago, I had the joy of walking one of my grandmothers into eternity. Having been her pastor for several years when I lived back in Kansas, I got to know her on a spiritual plain that caused me to be excited for her entering into eternity. However, the day before her funeral while I was preparing her funeral sermon, I received a phone call from one of the Elders of my Church. The call I had presumed to be coming at some point soon. Cameron, a man who is in his late thirties, has spent most of his life incarcerated for many differing crimes had been in a horrific motorcycle wreck. The wreck was so bad in fact that the doctors and nurses allowed him to smoke in both the ambulance and the Emergency Room because they presumed that he would soon pass away. His injuries were and still are extremely severe. From a broken femur, crushed ribs on his whole left side, broken sternum and crushed pelvis. To say that Cameron should have died that day would be an understatement. The reason why I was anticipating this phone call though was because of Camerons demeanor. He believes himself to be all but bullet-proof. It was nothing to see him riding his motorcycle with the throttle cracked wide open on the highway, all while dodging in and out of traffic. At the very same time, Cameron also believes himself to be saved. Having spent the better part of the last fifteen years in prison, he seems to know the Scriptures very well. Yet the elders and I at the Church have our concerns and rightfully so. I am not saying that the man is not redeemed in Christ, however, in many ways it would sure appear that way. The man is rough and we have prayed many times over for the Lord to either open his eyes to his position before the Lord or to reveal to us where Cameron stands. Prior to this accident, it would not have surprised me to get a call telling me that Cameron had been killed. However, since his accident and hearing the testimony of the witnesses who saw what transpired, I know for sure and Cameron does as well that the only thing that kept him alive was the grace and the mercy of the Lord. You see, after hearing the testimony I found out that not only was Cameron trying to do right. He was doing the speed limit, not dodging in and out of traffic and was honestly trying to take to heart some of the things that we had been teaching him. Yet none of that prevented the young lady from turning the opposite way which she had signaled, ultimately knocking Cameron head first into a full-size pickup coming the opposite way. After hitting the grill, the truck ran over him literally leaving tire tracks across his body and his face. Every doctor who has examined him cannot believe that he is still alive. Yet the elders of our Church, along with Cameron have all looked at the situation and have seen how the Lord bestowed upon Cameron a mercy and grace which he was not worthy of.

While the grace and mercy of the Lord was profound in this situation, that will pail in comparison to what this passage of Scripture tells us about God’s mercy and Grace. And while words will ultimately fail at casting a net and drawing in the depth of the mercy of God. The Lord saw fit to show us in His Word just how merciful He truly is to a people who were not deserving. The passage we examine today will put on display both the mercy of God and the holiness of God found in the person and work of Christ Jesus.

The reason that this is important for us is because we, as fallen people, both redeemed and unredeemed need to see the mercy of God in His dealings with you and I.

You’ll find examples of this mercy on full display all throughout Scripture. One place where this mercy can be seen yet rejected can be found in the story of the Exodus and Pharaoh. Pharaoh had enslaved the people of the Lord and when God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh of His glory, pharaoh rejected it. Not once, not twice but ten times pharaoh hardened his heart towards the Lord and ultimately, rejected the holiness of God.

An example of a time that the mercy of God was put on display and received is with King David. After he had stolen Uriah’s wife Bathsheba and had Uriah put to death, the Lord told Nathan to go to David and confront him concerning his sin before the Lord. And when David realized the way that he had sinned before God, what did he do? is our beautiful example of someone realizing the mercy of God and receiving that mercy to the glory of God.

So now that I’ve given you these examples, let me ask you four questions to consider as we dig into our text for the day.

Have you encountered the mercy of God?Do you understand the mercy of God?Has the mercy of God changed you?Do you understand the mercy of God as illustrated in the person of Jesus?

The reason why all of this is important is that as Christians, we need to see the glory of God on full display in order to walk according to our calling in Christ. And honestly, in a western society infatuated with self, we need to remove the glory which society tells us belongs to us and place it rightly upon the Lord where it belongs.

Purpose Statement: My purpose in preaching this sermon this morning is to put on display before your eyes both the mercy of God, and the holiness of God found in the person and the work of Christ Jesus.

I want to show you three ways in which God shows mercy to Christians. The first way that God shows mercy to Christians is that He, in His mercy, made us alive together in Christ Jesus, when he would have perfectly just to leave us in our natural state. The second way that God shows mercy to Christians is that He raises us up to heavenly places. The third and final way is that for all of eternity, He will forever continue to show us His mercy in Christ.

Contextualization: As you know from yesterday’s sermon on the spiritual nature of man, The first three verses of show us that before the Lord, mankind is spiritually dead. All of humanity sits in this position known as total depravity where all that they will ever pursue, apart from a work of the Lord is that which runs contrary to the holiness of God. This is what we addressed when looked at two misconceptions concerning the natural state of man. And apart from God doing a supernatural work to bring man to life, that is the way in which we will remain. That idea can be found back in chapter one as Paul lays out his exalted Christology. That beautiful portion of Scripture which magnifies the Sovereign work of God in redeeming a people to Himself and for His glory. And when we add all of this together, we find that as believers upon Christ, we need to see the mercy of God on full display.

Plural Noun Proposition: With that in mind, let me show you three ways which God shows mercy to Christians.

Three ways which God shows mercy to Christians.

In the mercy of God, He made us alive together in Christ Jesus, when he would have perfectly just to leave us in our natural state. a. The very first statement I would like you to look at is found in verse 4. “But God!” Now when we come across a statement like this, we need to look backwards a little bit to get the reason for the but. Look with me as I read verses 1-4a. (READ). I want to ask you by way of implication, what would happen if Paul ended everything right there at the end of verse 3. (Read). By implication, Paul lays out the spiritual bondage that man is in. He shows that from the time of the fall in the Garden with Adam and Eve, man is terminally fated and destined to be separated from God. He already spoke back in chapter one about the holiness of God and the need for redemption. He stated that back in . In Him, in Christ, we have redemption through the blood of Jesus, whereby we receive the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. But what would the result be if this was not the case? We would be as the end of verse 3 tells us, children of wrath. A people bound to endure the wrath of God over our sin for all of eternity. A people destined to be separated from the mercy of God where the Lord takes what He poured out upon Christ Jesus and pours it out upon us instead. And there would be no hope. Like I told you in the last sermon, what took Jesus a mere few hours would take us an eternity removed from the Lord’s mercy. “But God!” I don’t know that you will ever find a more beautiful phrase in all of Scripture! Regardless of all of our sin, disregarding the way that mankind has rebelled against Him and provoked Him to anger, the Lord showed mercy in ways beyond our comprehension. Look at verse 5, “even when we were dead in our trespasses…” Let me ask you a question, what would you have done if this was on your shoulders? What if all of humanities greatest need laid upon your shoulders? What would you have done? Now most people would like to claim that they would be fair right? After all, the human heart isn’t all that bad. Yet we find in Scripture an example of precisely what each of us would do if the offer of redemption for humanity was laid upon our shoulders. Turn with me for a brief moment to (READ, Emphasize). We would do exactly what this wicked servant did in this parable. When we encounter that person which we felt owed us something, we would cast them out of our presence for all of eternity. We would look at them and with a vengeance we would demand that they pay what they owe and when they couldn’t, we would cast them into the prison of eternity no matter how hard they would plead with us. “But God!” being rich in mercy. Would you Christian just ponder this for a moment and rejoice that the Lord is not like us. God would have been perfectly righteous and just to cast us out for all of eternity for our debt of sin against Him. “But God!” From the moment of the fall of man, God has been revealing His mercy to all of mankind. He has been giving that which is not owed to mankind, all for His glory. The Lord told Adam that on the day that he ate of the fruit of the tree which had been forgiven, on that day, Adam would surely die. Yet, after Adam disobeyed the Lord and hid from His presence, the Lord placed a covering over Adam and Eve which they didn’t deserve. He would have been perfectly righteous and just to wipe out all of humanity at that very moment. “But God!” look at the connecting verbs here. What does verse 5 say God did in spite of our spiritual state? He made us aliv