Saved By Grace!

Zombies - v1-3

Inability (Dead means Dead) - v1

Ephesians 2:5 “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

Ephesians 4:18 “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”

John 6:65 “And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.””

Slaves

The course of this world

in the majority / common wisdom

Least resistance

1 John 2:16-17 “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Following Satan (prince)

an active spirit

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Children of NOT GOD

everyone is a child of God in a creation sense, but since the beginning of scripture there is a consistent theme of dual lineages; The righteous and the wicked:

Seth & Cain

Jew and Gentile

Sheep & Goats

Children of wrath

2 Peter 2:9-16 “...the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgressions; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Like Everybody Else

v3 - among whom we all once… like the rest of mankind

Past Tense -

Acts 17:30 “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,”

But God - v4-7

Mercy and Love

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Ephesians 1:5 “[God] predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

When?

Ephesians 2:5 “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Eternal Election

In time natural sinners

Why?

Ephesians 2:7 “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

This is the grounding of the power in our testimonies; they reveal the experience of God’s kindness in Christ

Our Rescue - v8-10

BY and THROUGH

By: The Grounds & Power

Through: a conduit

Saving Faith = trusting/relying; not merely mental ascent

NO boasting

Grace is from God

Faith is from God

All we bring to the table is our sin; our need

To DO!

Saved FROM Hell, yes

Saved FOR right living

Church Family, When we look at Paul’s clear teaching in this first half of chapter 2, we see that there is no part of our being saved that we can take credit for. We understand just how amazing God’s grace is. We also see that God saved us FOR right living, not just FROM Hell. God help us live more and more to the praise of Your Glory!