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Chilean Miners - On August 5th, 2010, 33 miners working in the San José Copper & Gold Mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert were about 5 hours into their shift, approximately 2000 feet below the earth’s surface when they began hearing strange noises, then loud explosions. Dust filled their work areas and small rocks began dropping on them. Fortunately, they were able to move into a specially designed steel reinforced room which kept them safe. They had enough provisions to feed 25 men for 2 days. Many thought they would be rescued in a few days. They didn’t realize that a 550 foot tall, 770,000 ton piece of Rock had broken off of the mountain and fallen into the mine. It sealed off all ramps and openings into the mine. All power, phone, water and air lines were broken off. For 17 days the miners rationed their food and attempted to survive. They ate a teaspoon of tuna with some water, and bits of cookies that were found in the safe room. Finally, after hearing probes being drilled around them one punched through into their room. They beat on the probe with hammers, painted it red and attached a note which when drawn to the surface said “We are okay in the refuge, the 33 miners.”
It would take 52 more days until they were rescued, but eventually all 33 were brought to the surface.
4 rescue capsules were built, although only one was used.. They were almost 13’ tall and 21” wide. The capsules were raised and lowered inside a 24” hole that had been drilled down to the miners.
Each miner wearing a special rescue suit was strapped into the capsule. They wore sunglasses as well as a communication helmet, monitors and probe’s to keep track of their vitals as the capsule was then pulled to the surface. The journey took 10-15 minutes. The whole operation took 22 1/2 hours to complete. But late in the evening of October 13th, all 33 Miners were safely back on the surface!
After being trapped for 69 days, 2000 feet below ground they were Saved!
Today, our message continues from the book of Ephesians 2:1-10
Let’s open our bibles or turn in your bible app and follow along as we read. (Events in Bible App)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Paul turns his attention to our spiritual condition as he continues his letter to the Ephesians Christians. Remember, these believers were living in a city that worshipped the Pagan god Diana, which included the worship of silver statues of her sold by the local silversmiths.
These believers were surrounded by neighbors and other citizens who were not believers. Greeks and Romans who would live a life of revelry and sin. These believers were living in a culture similar to ours. A culture that allowed various forms of worship. A culture that allowed just about anything, and a culture that new little about God.
Paul had spent the first chapter of Ephesians explaining the benefits they now enjoyed because they were believers and followers of Jesus.
He talked about the blessings they had as Christians.
He reminded them that they were chosen by God, that they were adopted as sons and daughters, with all the benefits that gives them. He reminded them of their redemption and forgiveness that they now enjoy.
In Chapter 2 he begins by explaining spiritual condition before the followed Jesus. As we start I want to say this: Nobody likes to think about sin and it’s punishment. In fact, preachers seldom preach about Hell and the afterlife.
Many preachers think these are not appropriate and uplifting comments.
I recently saw an article that said you would most likely never hear Joel Osteen preach a sermon about hell. In fact, Joel had this to say about sermons regarding hell:
“People already feel guilty enough. They’re not doing what they should, raising their kids—we can all find reasons. So I want them to come to Lakewood or our meetings and be lifted up, to say, ‘You know what? I may not be perfect, but I’m moving forward. I’m doing better.’ And I think that motivates you to do better.”
Now, I don’t want you all to go home today and say “That was a pretty depressing sermon.” I don’t want you to go away feeling bad about yourselves. But i think it’s healthy and okay for us to think about sin and it’s consequences. It’s okay to speak about hell. It’s okay to be reminded of where we will end up if we don’t follow Jesus. In fact, one of our first motivations to follow Jesus is to avoid going to hell. That’s okay. I hope you don’t want to go to Hell.
It’s not funny. I hate it when people joke about hell. You’ve heard people talking and maybe tell a coarse joke or some particularly unclean story and then say something like “I’ll see you in Hell” and then laugh about it.
Why do they do that? Why do we even remotely think hell is a place we might want to be?
Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-3 about our spiritual condition before we followed Jesus:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
While Paul doesn’t go into detail about what Hell is like, he does very clearly state the spiritual situation we are in without Jesus.
DEAD!
Dead in your sins.
Deserving of wrath.
In other words, you have no hope!
To help us understand a little bit of what awaits those who don’t obey and follow, let’s look in the book of Luke at a story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus first explains how on earth the Rich man lived a life of ease and pleasure while, Lazarus, a beggar had lived a very difficult life. When they die, Jesus explains how they are doing while awaiting the final judgement.
Both men were in “Hades” but Hades is not hell. Hades simply is the temporary dwelling place of the dead. (We may need to study this at another time) We know Hades is not hell because the book of revelation tells us at the final judgement both death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire.
Look at how Jesus explains the conditions the rich man now finds himself in:
Luke 16:22–24 (NIV)
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
The Rich man was now suffering. He was in agony in the fire. Why? Because while he lived he chose to please himself and follow his desires. He refused to believe and obey Jesus. The result was that when he died he “earned” a reward - a reward of agony and punishment.
We need to understand our condition with out Jesus is perilous. Utterly hopeless!
If we chose to spend our lives only in efforts to satisfy our desires. If we only seek to gratify the “cravings of our flesh,” If we chose to ignore God and don’t turn and follow Him - this is what we can expect.
Torment! Agony! Fire!
We need to see that without Jesus Christ our efforts are hopeless!
For 17 days the Chilean miners were trapped in a “Safe Room” 2000 feet underneath the surface of the earth. They had minimal supplies and no contact with the outside world. They nearly gave up hope.
There meager supplies were running out. It was dark, it was sweaty, and it literally stunk.
They feared that if one of them died, they would end up being lunch for the survivors.
The contemplated suicide. They were nearly ready to start a nearby engine so they would suffocate and die on it’s exhaust fumes.
Their situation was hopeless and they saw no way out!
Paul reminds us that our condition without God is hopeless. There is no way out. Sure we might enjoy a few good times while we live on earth, but nothing good awaits.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says it this way. Hebrews 10:26-27
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Life without God, life without obeying and following Jesus leads to death, judgement and fire!
Thankfully we have a great reward awaiting .
I said I don't’ want you to go home today thinking this was a depressing sermon.
Paul doesn’t want to end that way either. The first 3 verses are simply to set up and contrast our spiritual situation now.
Look at what Paul says we have in Christ:
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.
In contrast to Hell’s punishment stands our situation with Jesus Christ!
God made us Alive!
Paul started this chapter saying without Jesus we were dead, but in stark contrast to that we now stand Alive!
Do you see the difference? We have been brought to life through the work of Jesus. without Him we face death and punishment.
Paul tells us that because of God’s great love for us, because God is a God of mercy and forgiveness - he provided a way for us to avoid the punishment laid out for the disobedient.
How did He do that? He made us alive in Jesus Christ.
If you haven’t figured it out by now let me say it again.
Our forgiven lives are made possible because Jesus died on the cross for us.
God did it! He provided the payment that was owed for our sins.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin deserves punishment, since all of us have sinned, all of us deserve to die.
God, however has other ideas. God, through his son, makes possible our life, and our forgiveness.
Look at verse 6 from today’s text:
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Alive. Raised up. Heavenly realms. Seated with Jesus. Because of the Grace of God.
Grace - undeserved favor.
Grace is when you spill your drink on the floor and you should have to clean it up, but your mom jumps up grabs a towel and a rag and does it for you.
Grace is when you get stopped for speeding, and the officer only gives you a warning.
Grace is when your in the checkout line at the grocery, struggling to get your groceries bagged, while keeping the kids from grabbing candy bars and chewing gum only to realize your 10 dollars short and the lady behind you offers to pay.
In verses 8 & 9 Paul reminds us that God has provided us with Salvation. It is a gift given by God. Let’s read those verses.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Now these simple verses can sometimes be confusing. And they lead many to say that we don’t have to do anything to be forgiven.
Many people say these verses show that all we have to do is believe in God and all will be forgiven.
Yet you hear me say again and again, that to become a christian we must believe, repent, confess and be baptized.
So how do we make these verses work? How do we understand God’s gracious gift, made possible by the death of Jesus, yet turn around and say that you must be baptized.
I think the Chilean Miner rescue will help us understand these verses.
As i said for 68 days the miners were trapped 2000 feet below ground. They had no way of getting out. thousands of tons of rock had sealed them off. There was no escape.
But overhead, the rescue effort was underway.
Escape holes were being drilled, and as we mentioned rescue capsules were being built.
Finally after a few test runs the capsule was dropped down into the “Refuge Room” and each miner then was lifted to safety
The miners didn’t drill the holes, they didn’t build the rescue capsule, they didn’t run the hoist that lowered and lifted the capsule. They didn’t pay for any of the supplies or purchase any of the equipment.Every aspect of their rescue was taken care of, was made possible by the work, effort and money of others. They were saved by the grace and generosity of others.
Even though they paid no money, nor did they do any work to bring about their rescue - they did do one thing.
They stepped into the rescue capsule. You see all of the work, the drilling, the money and supplies would not have worked if they hadn’t squeezed into that 21” wide rescue capsule.
Our forgiveness is understood just in that same way.
God, through his son Jesus, does the “work” required to save us.
God drills the rescue hole, God builds and provides the rescue Pod, but it is worthless unless we step into the rescue pod.
That’s where obedience, repentance, confession and baptism come in.
Our forgiveness is made possible because Jesus died on the cross for us. He paid the price. His death was the “wage” our sin deserved.
God’s grace is that He makes that available to us, but we gain it when we step into the waters of baptism, allowing our bodies to be plunged beneath the water, and are lifted back out a new person, saved by God’s Grace!
Ephesians 2 is written to remind us of what a great, great thing we have in Jesus Christ.
The riches and rewards lavished on us who chose to obey stand in stark contrast to the Dead lives we had without him.
Paul wants us to see how great a thing it is to live in Christ!
I want you to walk away today assured that you won’t face the punishment and agony of hell.
If you have chosen to obey and follow Jesus Christ you are Alive!
Finally, Paul ends this section of Ephesians 2 by reminding us of what we should be doing in light of God’s grace:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We were created in Christ to do good works.
It’s not enough to sit back and go Wow! What a life! Thank You God!
Our lives should be working for him in response to what He’s done for us.
Living for Jesus. Working for Him.
We can find verse after verse that tell us how we should live.
Let’s end with a few from Galatians:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
There is a great choice to be made in our lives.
Will you choose life or death?
Will you choose reward or punishment?
Will you choose to step into the rescue capsule or will you ignore your chance to escape.
Not one of the Chilean Miners refused to step into the rescue capsule.
They knew it was a no-brainer. Of course they wanted to be Saved!
Each one was brought to the surface. Each one was reunited with family. Each one was saved from the hopeless situation 2000 feet below ground.
What will you decide?