INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• We are in the middle of a series entitled, “REASONS FOR MY HEART TO BEAT.”
• This series deals with things that can help bring passion back to our faith, things to help give us the drive to live life with passion and gusto.
• The REASONS FOR MY HEAR TO BEAT we have examined thus far are TO PRAISE HIS GLORY, TO KNOW HIS POWER, and today we will look at a third reason for our hear to beat.
• One of the REASONS FOR MY HEART TO BEAT is TO SHOW HIS GRACE.
• This reason for the heart to beat is one that may be one of the more difficult ones for us to live out and therefore one that may be hard to get excited about.
• As we may know, GRACE is defined as UNMERITED favor. That means someone gives you or does something for you not because you deserve it, but rather because THEY want to do so.
• Grace is one of those interesting things that we ALL want to RECEIVE but sometimes are not too eager to extend to others.
• When we hurt others we do not want we deserve, we want grace, but when people hurt us we really want them punished to the fullest extent, we want them to get what they deserved. We want them to have the punishment they EARNED!
• I think that is the natural tendency most of us naturally exhibit.
• Today as we examine God’s Word together, I pray that we will go deeper than just KNOWING God’s grace, I prayer we will endeavor the SHOW God’s grace to others.
• I want to take us through the path of Ephesians 2:1-10 this morning.
• Has we hike down the path together, we will make a few stops on the path to make some observations that will really bring the beauty of SHOWING God’s grace into focus for us.
• Our journey will begin in verses 1-3 as we stop to make our first observation.
• SLIDE #2
• Ephesians 2:1–3 (HCSB) 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
Outside of Christ we all experience…
I. A life lived for self. (1-3)
• Before we submit our lives to Jesus, we all had a past, a past that was not too pretty. A past that had we continued to live would have kept us separated from God.
• When we commit our first sin even if it were our ONLY sin, we become spiritually dead.
• This does not mean we do not exist, rather death represents separation. When we de physically we are separated from the physical world, when we die spiritually we are separated from God.
• This applies to ALL of us. When we were outside of Jesus, we were DEAD in our trespasses and sins.
• The word sin means to miss the mark, whereas trespass represents more of a willful action.
• We see signs that say no trespassing. If we read the sign and cross the line, then we have willfully trespassed whereas if we are about to cross onto property we do know we are supposed to be on, we would have sinned.
• When we separated ourselves from Jesus life was lived for self, it was lived as the world would live life, all about self.
• One thinks that when they are outside of Jesus that they are the master of their own domain but in truth when in that state we a life according to verse two, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
• That life of freedom we thought we were living was in truth directed by Satan himself. In that state we are driven by the spirit of disobedience that is total opposed to God and His ways.
• No we were most likely not into devil worship, but we are open to allow him to influence how we lived life, we lived for our own pleasure and desires.
• This is what verse three draws out.
• Now you are free to live however you chose and if you are here this morning thinking this guy has no clue, I am not influenced by anyone! Really, look at what you were, how you speak, what you listen to where you eat.
• You my friend are controlled more than you will ever think and my friend that is part of the deception you are living under.
• Many think they are free to do drugs or other substances or to be promiscuous sexually, but in truth you become enslaved to those things.
• Sometimes as Christians the further away we get from the old life the more we forget what we were doing, the more we forget we too once walked in a disobedient way to God.
• We too as verse 3 reminds us 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
• Galatians 5:19-21 gives us a list of the works of the flesh hall of shame.
• SLIDE #4
• Galatians 5:19–21 (HCSB) 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• What a list! Suffice to say, we were all in desperate need of some help. Our God is a Holy God; He cannot have sin in His presence.
• WE cannot pay our own sin debt. We need some help. We cannot earn a ticket to heaven; we need some help we need help because we cannot do it alone.
• We were children of wrath meaning that we ALL deserve death; we all deserve to be separated from God’s presence for eternity.
• So something great happened.
• SLIDE #5
• Ephesians 2:4–5 (HCSB) 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, 5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
• SLIDE #6
In Christ we can all experience…
II. Life lived by grace. (4-5)
• When you read verses 1-3 it looks like game over, those verses do not inspire much hope; they are kind of a downer.
• Before Jesus we had no hope and no purpose other than pleasing self, living for self, all for self I freely give.
• Well, sometimes big things come in small packages, in this case verse 4 starts off with a small word that will have a BIG impact.
• BUT! BUT! This turns out to be a big …WORD.
• One would think that after all the difficult language in verses 1-3 we would expect to read that and THEN God FLAMED THEM AND CASTE THEM INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL!
• Instead we read BUT…
• Instead of the flame job and the hell thing, God makes us alive with Jesus EVEN though we were dead in trespass. Then we read we are SAVED BY GRACE!
• Yes that word GRACE comes into play!
• You, me, all of us who by nature were children of wrath can be SAVED BY GOD’S GRACE!
• Now I know what you may be thinking, I HAVE DONE WAY TOO MUCH, I HAVE DRIFTED WAY TOO FAR FROM GOD FOR HIM TO ALLOW ME TO BE SAVED.
• I have living with well-deserved guilt etc…
• BUT- GOD WHO IS RICH IN MERCY…
• What do you think of when you hear the word rich, other than I WISH I WAS!
• You think of someone who has a LOT!
• Well the good news is that God is wealthier than your sin than your guilt than any other excuse you can conjure up!
• Why would God extend grace to you? BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU WITH A GREAT LOVE.
• When Rach was little she would come up and grab your face and go….
• She was trying to express the enormity of her love for her dad!
• Notice God did not wait to love you UNTIL…
• He loved you when you were DEAD in your trespasses!
• Now WHY are you saved if you are Jesus? By your achievements, your position, your intellect? No!
• You are saved by GRACE!
• You always need to realize grace was extended to YOU so you need to show grace to others!
• Let look at verses 6-10
• SLIDE #7
• Ephesians 2:6–10 (HCSB) 6 Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, 7 so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
• SLIDE #8
In Christ we will all experience…
III. Life lived with purpose. (6-10)
• Ok, dead in your sins, living according to the ways of the world, following the fleshly desires. Some of that may seem fun for a season, but you will be left empty and ruined.
• What purpose does that kind of life give you, being selfish? Well enough of that, when you are in Christ you can NOW live life with purpose!
• Instead of being anchored to the world and the fate of the lost, you are now together with Jesus seated in the heavens! You have an eternal home! Our SPIRIT is ALIVE in Christ!
• In verse 7 we see that God wants to use you to demonstrate His grace through His kindness.
• And because we are saved by grace, we cannot get puffed up, but rather we give God the glory and as a result we have a new PURPOSE for life!
• Verse 10! 10 For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
• We are not self-made, we are GOD CREATED! God gives us new purpose! Life is not about ME, it is ABOUT GOD!
• The good works we are called to walk in are prepared by God, not man! God has rescued us from the destructive walk of the world we used to be driven by, NOW we have a NEW way to live!
• GRACE TALK
• SLIDE # 9 Now let’s talk about how this applies to the title this morning. Verse 7 reminds us, 7 so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
• Now you have heard it said that Christians are the only bible many will read or the only Jesus people will see. Basically that means that when we call ourselves Christians, or more accurately DISCIPLES, we should reflect the God we serve.
• If we always demand JUSTICE when we are wronged or always DEMAND people get what they deserve, then where does that put us?
• What If God would have done that to you?
• We need to show grace to people and extend love to them even when it is hard to do so!
• GAP ISSUE IF TIME.
CONCLUSION
• If you are a Christian, how were you saved? BY GRACE! Did you deserve it? NO!
• When we remember that we should be excited by the prospect of being able to show others the same GRACE God showed you.
• Let me tell you, at first it may seem impossible, but once you start doing it, your life will take on a new flavor, one you will love!
