Lifted By Grace
What's So Amazing About Amazing Grace • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Over the last few weeks, we have defined grace as God’s unmerited favor. We have shared acronyms that have helped us define several elements of grace.
God’s Redemption At Christ’s Expense
God’s Redemption Anyone Can Experience
Today, with help again from our theologian in residence, here’s another one:
God’s Redemption And Condemnation Expelled
Our text today helps us understand this acronym a bit better. Once again, it is a familiar text found in Ephesians 2:8-9.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
The first thing that we notice about this grace that is God’s redemption and condemnation expelled, is that by it we are saved.
Notice, we are not being saved, we will not be saved in the future, but we are saved. It is complete. It is done. An act has made it finished.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
We are saved by grace through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a once and for all act that never has to be repeated. Your debt and my debt are paid in full. Because of grace I have salvation and I am lifted from life without salvation. Before we discuss what we are lifted from and lifted to, let’s gain understanding about this word lifted.
Lifted is word that is used throughout scripture. I love how it is used in Mark 9:27. Jesus comes across this young boy that has an evil spirit in him. Jesus rebukes the evil spirit and it flees out of the boy. The boy is lying on the ground and the people think he is dead. Then Jesus does something for that boy that He does for you and me.
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
The word for lifted is translated egeiro (eg-I-ro). It means to rise, to raise, or arise. In its use here it means to arouse from the sleep of death. Because of grace, Jesus takes us by the hand and lifts us up, helps us get to our spiritual feet so that we can have life abundantly and everlastingly.
So what does grace lift us from exactly? There are lots of things, but I see distinctly two things that we are lifted from and one that we are lifted to by grace.
From the Depth of the Mire
From the Depth of the Mire
One of the things that I see we are lifted from because of grace is being lifted from the depth of the mire. Growing up in Eastern North Carolina, I would spend hours in the woods around my house. We would play and explore the creeks and sometimes there would be swampy areas near the creeks. We had to be very careful because sometimes these areas were so muddy that we could be up to our waist in just a matter of seconds. We learned quickly where to step and where not to step. For many of us, the word swamp gives us the “heebie-jeebies.” When we think of that type of place, we think of an area infested with things that would harm us. There are snakes and other creepy things that could indeed cause us great pain and affliction. I knew that while walking in that mess, I could easily start to slip. Do you know what happens when you start to slip? Often the next thing you know is that you will get stuck. I always had this fear while I was playing in the woods that I would get stuck in the swamp and a 30 foot water moccasin would come and eat me alive.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
In Genesis 3:1 we see that the serpent was more crafty then any other animal that had ever been made. We know in studying Genesis that the serpent was satan in disguise and he was trying to trick Eve. Obviously he did trick her and guess what? He still tries to do so with us today. His scheme is to lure us into the swampy areas of life. The further we go, the slippery it gets.
From a spiritual stand point, the same thing happens to us.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
I call this spiritual LSD. We have desire or lust, giving birth to sin, which leads to death. Before long, we lose our traction in the muck and mire, that we cannot find our way out. I remember being stuck in the swamp and the more I tried, the more stuck I got!
Another Eastern North Carolina scenario comes to mind. The coast of North Carolina is known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic.” There are hundreds of shipwrecks where the vessel becomes stuck on a sandbar and the ship cannot move. Modern day rescues include ways to lift the ship off the sandbar before it is destroyed.
In Acts 27:41, we read about a time when Paul was shipwrecked.
But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
Just like these ships from Paul’s day as well as those off of the North Carolina coast, sometimes we get stuck in the muck and mire of life. The harder we try to get ourselves unstuck, the more stuck we get. Thanks be to God that in His rich mercy, He lifts us by grace up from the depth of the mire and sets our feet on solid ground.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
When God lifts us by His grace from the depth of mire, we are experiencing something that is not of ourselves. It can happen only through God’s grace. We are also lifted by grace from the despair of misery.
From the Despair of Misery
From the Despair of Misery
Despair is the loss of hope. I know many people that lost hope in their lives. Many are on a path of destruction and some I have known that have been so hopeless that it has affected their physical well being. There is no misery like despair and no despair like misery.
When one is in despair and misery, he or she is downcast. The Psalmist wrote about how tough it was to be in such of a position.
I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
Other places like Psalm 42 the Psalmist recognizes that his soul is downcast, however he also recognizes what to do.
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and
We deal with so much in this life that pulls us into misery and despair.
“See, O Lord, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.
My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?
We become depressed. By the way, depression is real. It hurts to the bone.
A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
When we become downcast, disturbed, and depressed, we find ourselves disappointed. But God, rich in His mercy and loving us through His grace, lifts us up out of the disappointment. This is His gift to us!
As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
The fact that we can trust in the Lord is so comforting to me! God can lift me from the depth of the mire and from the despair of misery through His grace. It saves us, and confirms to us that we cannot find this any other way but through Him.
Strong’s Greek Concordance gives a beautiful summary of this in its definition of grace.
Grace is “the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His Holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ; keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection; and, kindles them to the exercise of Christian values.”
-Strong’s Greek Concordance
There is another thing that God does for us through His grace. He lifts us from death to being marvelously made alive!
From Death to Marvelously Made Alive
From Death to Marvelously Made Alive
God lifts us by grace so that we cannot boast and say, “I did it!” There is nothing you and I can do to earn this grace.
he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Theologian Francis Foulkes wrote: “It is the voice of God that arouses, that awakens, that causes a man to think and enquire; It is the power of God that gives strength to act; it is the same power which makes provision for the need for new life.”
The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
God awakens us physically and spiritually to take us from death to life. He does not have to do that but He choses to do so because of grace.
God desires for us to abound in His grace and experience His great love.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God’s design is that we, as Paul put it in the verse we just read, “abound in every good work.” We see in Ephesians 2:9, though, we cannot boast in our works because our works do not save us. Rather, it is through grace that we are saved and we can boast in what Jesus has done for us.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
We are given an abundant life because God is an abundant God!
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
Son what does it mean then to be lifted by grace from the depth of the mire, from the despair of misery, and lifted by grace from death to being marvelously made alive?
I am glad you asked. There is a mindset among us as Christians that says there are things we cannot do. We think we are not smart enough. We think we are not big enough. We think we are not capable because it is not within our “pay grade.” We think that someone better will make a decision or implement a plan. We think that we do not have to resources to make something happen. We feel that we are helpless and hopeless because we are not good enough.
The truth of the matter is that by grace we are lifted up and given instruction. We are lifted up by grace and told how to stay out of the swamp and to keep our feet on solid ground. By grace we are able to be lifted up out of the muck and mire and away from the despair of misery. By grace we are lifted up from death and are marvelously made alive in Christ Jesus. By grace we are able to be freed from anything that casts doubt in our lives and leaves us hopeless. By grace we are saved and that salvation makes us unstoppable in the eyes of God!
So dear friend, be lifted up by this amazing grace. Take hold of the fact that it has saved you. Take hold of the fact that it has changed you. Take hold of the fact that it has given you the ability to see the hand of God at work. Take hold of the fact that the Lord has promised good to you. Take hold of the fact that His word my hope secures. Take hold of the fact that He will be my shield and portion as long as life endures. Take hold of the fact that you are lifted up by His grace and His grace is sufficient for you to do His work then do it! Stop living in the depth of the mire and the despair of misery. Know that you have purpose and through His grace, you have marvelously been made alive!
So live!