Sermon Tone Analysis

In the Progress Magazine, December 14, 1992, a story was written about Billy Graham stating when driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding.

Graham admitted his quilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

The judge asked, "Guilty, or not guilty?"

When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, "That'll be ten dollars -- a dollar for every mile you went over the limit."

Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister.

"You have violated the law," he said.

"The fine must be paid--but I am going to pay it for you."

He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!

"That," said Billy Graham, "is how God treats repentant sinners!"

If it weren’t for those “But God” moments...

Mercy and grace, that is how God treats repentant sinners and these verses are an awesome example of both in action!

As we have spoken about many times:

Mercy - Gr eleos for “compassion” the emotion felt towards those undeserving.

He does NOT feel sorry for us, but realizes our need and meets those needs for us through salvation and asking nothing from us in return.

Grace - Gr charis for “gift”.

Goodwill freely distributed by God, especially to the benefit of the recipient.

As ones who have accepted the free gift offered:

We have experienced the feeling of God’s mercy and grace - receiving salvation (something we did not deserve) in place of what we rightfully deserved - eternal separation because of sin.

You see, God doesn’t just focus on the “right now” moments in our lives, but instead focuses on the eternal welfare of us as His creation.

In these 3 verses of Ephesians, we find that God is rich in His mercy because of His love for us, and even when we were separated from him spiritually, He provided a way for salvation through grace, and our relationship has been restored if we accept Him as our redeemer.

Abundance of Mercy

Leading up to this verse, Paul references a believers life before conversion and how God views us as sinful mankind.

He sees a life of death, one of trespasses and sins, a life of disobedience and worldliness, and a life that is cursed by God’s wrath.

The unconverted person does not accept God, nor do they accept the gift of salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

By nature, God is love.

Because of His love for us, there is a game changer with the first two words in verse 4 “But God”.

The Pastors Outline and Sermon Bible makes this statement “The most astounding interruption in human history is the word ‘but’ in this passage.

Man is dead in trespasses and sins, but God is rich in mercy.

He has intervened in the destiny of man; He has interrupted the doom of death and judgment.

God has had mercy upon us!”

While we were dead in our sins, God made away for us to LIVE! Notice there is nothing that we have done that makes us deserve this saving - no amount of works, trying, crying, or buying will get us into heaven.

It is ONLY by God’s mercy.

We cannot achieve salvation through our own efforts (works), but (there’s that word again) simply a result of God’s mercy and grace through regeneration (a complete change in ones life returning to the former relationship we had with God) and renewal (the becoming of something new and different, implying that we become something superior that where or what we were).

Wow, if that does not send chills up a Christians spine thinking of what God has done for us; regenerating us, renewing us, through His mercy and grace.

It should give us all an amazing feeling of HOPE and SECURITY in God.

So why this conversation?

What happened to break the relationship we originally had with God?

Dead in Trespasses

What caused us to be dead in our trespasses?

It all started some time after creation;

Sin.

In the simplest for I can try to explain this, sin (the willful disobedience towards God) forever broke the trust, the relationship, the communion we (as humankind) had with God.

As a result, we were separated from God both physically and spiritually, and earned a death that would separate us from Him for eternity.

Yet God looked at us, His creation in our corrupted, defiled, sinful state and said…wait, I will make a way to restore their relationship with me.

Jesus Christ made a way for our relationship with God our Creator to be restored IF we believe in Him.

God made us alive together with Christ!

There is a spiritual resurrection that is given to a sinner when they hear the Word of God and believes it.

As stated earlier, this does not come from our own works, but simply by God’s grace.

It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!

It is salvation that brings those spiritually dead back to life.

The same power that raised Jesus from His physical death is the same power that raises believers out of spiritual death and makes us alive.

What God has done for us, through Jesus Christ, we do not deserve, we could not earn, and we will never be able to repay.

Raised in Life

As Paul Harvey was famous for saying, “here’s the rest of the story”.

When we were saved in Christ, our location changed.

No longer were we in a dark grave of sinful death, but we are seated with Christ!

Where is Christ?

Christ has been raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

So, by default Paul tells us we, too, as believers are seated (as joint heirs, brothers and sisters in and of Christ) with Him in the presence of God.

We should no longer walk “according to the course of this world”, but we should desire to walk in newness of life.

God changes us, He renews us, He regenerates us, and He RESTORES us WHOLE again.

And Christian, we should ACT like it.

There should not be a desire to continue living in sin.

There should not be a desire to hang with the same people.

There should not be a desire to do the same ole “things”.

There SHOULD be a desire to act like we are in the presence of Jesus.

Conclusion

But is it really that easy?

Can we be guaranteed salvation knowing we will continue to sin?

In John 10:28 we are given an affirming YES!

In Romans, Paul also comforts us with the affirmation that NOTHING can ever separate us from God’s love.

So why is it so hard?

Why are we tempted by sin and sinful things?

Temptation - which comes directly from Satan.

Yet do not feel like you are alone when sinful thoughts, moments of discouragement, and failures occur.

Many have misinterpreted this scripture by saying “God won’t put more on you than you can handle”.

What the verse actually says is that he won’t let us be tempted beyond our ability.

God will not put more temptation on us than we are able to bear, but it most certainly may be more than we can handle (at least alone).

That is why Paul follows up with He will provide the way of escape.

The clear implication here is that God is faithful to provide us a way OUT of the temptation, an ESCAPE for His people.

Even though we are sinful humans, God’s grace is sufficient in every case, He has provided for our every need, and gives us an opportunity to thrive IN Him instead of flounder WITHOUT Him.

We all will undergo temptations, it is common to all of us.

Even more so as a Christian, because when we face the challenges of tests and temptations, it truly is testing the integrity of our faith.

However, every believer can find reassurance in the fact God does not want us to sin, and he provides us with wisdom, knowledge, and guidance when needed, and a path of escape when necessary.

When we get down and out and discouraged when we may have failed God, take comfort in Psalm 73:25-26

Regardless of our failure, regardless of the shame of our sin, regardless of the temporary pleasures we may find in wickedness, Asaph realizes that God is what he truly desires.

God is who He can count on, and the relationship they have makes him realize it is in God that his true strength lies.

There are many times, though, we can more resemble Psalm 73:14

But this defeated attitude is not what God desires for us.

We may not see a way out.

We may not understand why things are going the way the are.

We may not get the answer we are seeking.

We may think what we are going through is impossible to overcome.

But Jesus tells us in Mark 10:27 “With man it is impossible, but not with God.

For all things are possible with God”.

God is able to do what we cannot.

When life seems impossible, God already has if figured out.

God already knows the end.

God already has the plan in place.

God will work everything out in His time, following His plan, and for His purpose.