Sermon Tone Analysis

*January 8, 2006—Evening Worship*

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*“The Glorious Grace of God” Series – Part 4*

*The Salvation Combination*

*Pictures of Grace*

*Ephesians 2:1-10*

* *

*Intro:*  You are valuable to God!

You are precious to God!

You are of great worth to God! God went to great lengths to secure your salvation.

But He was willing to do so b~/c He loves you w~/an everlasting love!

          Jesus Christ left His home in glory to come to this earth & live in human flesh; to die as your substitute on a rough, rugged Roman cross!

Jesus Christ gave His life in exchange for yours & then 3 days later, by the power of God, He was raised from the dead!

Oh, you are valuable to God, but not b~/c of anything you’ve ever done!

It’s not b~/c of anything you would ever do!

It’s all b~/c of God’s amazing grace!

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see!

The whole book of Ephesians details for us the glorious grace of God.

& when you take the sinfulness of man & combine it w~/the grace of God, you find God to be the God of all forgiveness.

Think back on your life before God saved you.

You didn’t love God; you didn’t care about God or His ways or even His word.

You just lived for yourself & your own pleasure.

As the apostle Paul was writing to the believers in Ephesus, he penned these words of great encouragement as he develops for us 3 pictures of grace in the 1st 10 verses of chapter 2. Let’s read them together as we observe these pictures of grace.

*Ephesians 2* */1/*/ & you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses & sins, *2* in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, *3* among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh & of the mind, & were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

*4* But God, who is rich in mercy, b~/c of His great love w~/which He loved us, *5* even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together w~/Christ (by grace you have been saved), *6* & raised us up together, & made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, *7* that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

*8* For by grace you have been saved through faith, & that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, *9* not of works, lest anyone should boast.

*10* For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them./

- The 1st picture Paul develops is…

*1.

A Picture of the Natural Man.

*(vv.

1b-3)

- & as he develops this picture, he helps us to understand it by breaking it down into 3 elements.

- 1st the Scripture tells us that the natural man, all those who do not know Christ in a personal love relationship, are…

*    A.

Spiritually Dead in sin.

*(v.

1b) */“…/**/you…who were dead in trespasses & sins.”/*

- The Bible does not say that those who don’t know Jesus are on their last leg; it doesn’t say that they are drowning; it doesn’t even say that they are dying.

- The Bible says that all those who don’t know Jesus are already dead spiritually.

- They are dead in their trespasses & sins.

- That means that they have no capacity to choose to follow God; it means they have no sensitivity to the word of God or the Spirit of God.

- Being spiritually dead is not something that happens to a few people here or there.

- Spiritual death is the condition passed down to all of us from Adam, who was the 1st human that sinned against God.

- Adam was created in a state of innocence, not knowing any evil, only the good.

- But when he chose to sin, Adam plummeted the whole human race into sin, & therefore, we were all born in sin.

*Genesis 2 /16/*/ & the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; *17* but of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."/

- & that death, spiritual death, passed to all mankind.

- Men & women, boys & girls in every nation all over the world are spiritually dead in sin.

 

- But not only that, but the Bible tells us they are also…

*    B.

Physically Powerless to change.*

(v. 2) */“…/**/in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience/**/.”/*

- W~/o exception, everyone that is not a part of the family of God, is walking/ “according to the course of this world/.”

- IOW lost men & women, boys & girls in every nation all over the world are just going w~/the flow.

They’re just doing what everyone else around them is doing.

- They are just like fish that swim in schools or birds that fly in formation.

- They are just doing what everyone else around them is doing & they’re doing it b~/c that’s all they know to do.

- Being born a sinner & being a sinner by choice, they have no real understanding of God!

- & having no understanding of God they have no desire to change & furthermore, they have no ability to change.

- They are pawns to the will of /“the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”/

- All unbelievers are under the influence of the devil; all unbelievers are slaves of sin; all unbelievers are powerless to change themselves or their desires b~/c they are bound in sin.

- IOW they are w~/o hope, w~/o help, w~/o power, w~/o purpose—being separated from God!

 

- But not only are all unbelievers spiritually dead & physically powerless to change, they are also…

*    C.

Morally Bankrupt by nature.*

(v. 3) */“…/**/among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh & of the mind, & were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”/*

- Every one of us, before God saved us, were just like every other unbeliever; all we wanted to do was to have a good time; to do our own thing; to be our own boss; to decide for ourselves what & when & where we would do what we would do!

- I can think back on some of the things I did before God saved me & it actually causes me to shutter!

- My mind was so far in the gutter; my heart was so hard; my thoughts were so evil; my desires were so disgusting—all b~/c I had no moral compass.

- I had nothing to direct my life but the hunt for pleasure.

- Now you may have not been as much of a sinner as I was – or you may have been worse than I was – but the point is that no matter how good & helpful & moral you were or tried to be—it was as filthy rags before a holy God!

- & b~/c we were all God-hating sinners, His wrath was hanging over us, just as it is over all those who are alien, unbelievers.

*John 3 /16/*/ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

*17* For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.*18*

"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, b~/c he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God./

- The wrath of God is abiding over all unbelievers who continue in their sinful state.

- & you see that Paul is talking about all of us b~/c we were in that same condition before God saved us.

 

- That’s not a very pretty picture of the natural man, but Paul goes on to give us…

*2.

A Picture of the Supernatural God.

*(vv.

1a, 4-7)

- While the natural man is spiritually dead, the picture Paul develops of the supernatural God reveals that He is…

    *A.

Spiritually Alive forever.

*(vv.

4-5) */4 But God, who is rich in mercy, b~/c of His great love w~/which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together w~/Christ (by grace you have been saved)./*

- After that rather dismal picture of the natural man, Paul connects that thought w~/the simple phrase, /“But God.”/

- It was God’s mercy that reached down to us in our bondage to sin; it was His overflowing abundant mercy that delivered us.

- Why? b~/c of His great, abundant, exceeding, overwhelming, unconditional, eternal love!

- & notice that vv.

4-5 echoes the thought of *Romans 5:8* which says that, /“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”/

- But what I really want to point out is in v. 5, that God /“made us alive together w~/Christ.”/

- Here, the Bible confirms the truth that Jesus is alive; He died, but was raised from the dead; He defeated death, hell & the grave & now is seated at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes for all believers!

- Jesus is alive & He’s alive forever more!

He’ll never face death again b~/c He’s conquered death!

- & if we believe His word & have faith in Him, death for us is just a passage way to glory!

 

- Jesus is alive forevermore & He is…

 *   B.

Permanently Omnipotent over all.*

(vv.

1a, 6) */1a & you He made alive…6 & raised us up together, & made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus./*