No Other Name For Grace But Amazing Series

NO OTHER NAME FOR GRACE BUT AMAZING!

Ephesians 2:1-10

WHO YOU ARE AS A SINNER:

1) YOU ARE DEAD,

(VERSE 1) “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,...”

Sinners are DEAD. They are not SICK! When you were a sinner, you did not

need RESUSCITATION ; you needed RESURRECTION!

All lost sinners are DEAD. Can one corpse be more dead than another? NO. The

only difference between corpses is the state of DECAY. The lost drunken derilict on the

streets may be more decayed and decomposed outwardly than the lost society leader, but

both are DEAD in sin! Our world is one vast graveyard filled with dead people waiting to

be buried. Sinners are dead while they live.

2) YOU ARE DISOBEDIENT,

(VERSE 2) “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.”

Sinners are DISOBEDIENT. They follow the ways of the world, not the ways of

God.

3) YOU ARE DEPRAVED,

(VERSE 3) “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of

our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.”

Sinners are DEPRAVED. Being depraved means that not only am I capable of

being evil, I am incapable of being good enough to meet God’s standards for living.

Actions become evil because appetites are evil.

Sinners often try to justify themselves, saying that they “keep the Ten

Commandments”. Let’s take a test! Have you ever done something you wanted to do

even though you knew that God said that you shouldn’t do that? Have you ever done

something you would not want God to see you doing? Have you ever done something

you would not want your Mother see you doing? Have you ever thought that since you

are “better” than so-and-so, that you should have gotten the promotion or the award or

the thanks that they got? Have you ever not told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing

but the truth in order to save your own skin? Have you ever lingered a little longer in

your gaze upon a member of the opposite sex and wondered? Need I say more? Without

Christ, sinners are depraved and cannot get out of it!

4) YOU ARE DOOMED,

(VERSE 3) “Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

Sinners are DOOMED. The unsaved person is condemned already because he has

not believed in the Son of God.

WHO YOU ARE AS A SAINT:

(VERSES 1-3) “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 sinful nature and

following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we WERE by nature objects of wrath.

YOU ARE NOT “A POOR SINNER SAVED BY GRACE”

YOU WERE A SINNER, BUT NOW YOU, WHO ARE LIVING FOR CHRIST, ARE

A SAINT!

YOU WERE, BUT NOW YOU ARE!

because

(VERSE 4-6) “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.”

1) YOU ARE LIVING,

2) YOU ARE LOOSED,

3) YOU ARE LIFTED,

4) YOU ARE LIBERATED,

All because of GRACE! (vs 8-10)

“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. For we are God’s

workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance

for us to do.”

In the Gospels, it is recorded that Jesus raised 3 people from the dead: the son of the

widow from Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus. As we look at Lazarus’ Resurrection,

notice what happened:

1) Jesus went where Lazarus was - He did not require Lazarus to come to

Him (because Lazarus could not. He was dead). IN THE SAME WAY, Jesus does not

wait for us to come begging Him for GRACE. He has brought GRACE to us in Jesus!

2) Jesus told others to take away the stone - He did not require the dead to

move the stone away. IN THE SAME WAY, Jesus does not require us to get rid of the

stones that trip us up and keep us from God. He has brought others into our lives to make