Ephesians part 3 Grace
Sun, 16th Mar 2014
Dave Urwin
Ephesians chapter 2 v 1-10
Summary:
Paul becomes practical and personal in chapter 2. There is a feeling of awe and astonishment and amazement.
verses 1-3 are about people. What are people like? The people Paul writes to are dead in transgression and sin. The people allowed themselves to be guided by the world and the devil. Because of their sin the people are the living dead. They followed the desires of this world that leave God out of the picture. Pauls analysis is that the people were lost, sinful and dead. Even fallen people, made in Gods image can be kind people. If you live life without God you are spiritually dead.
The battlegrounds we experience are here in living in the world as it is. These first 3 verses say that we are hopeless but....
verses 4-7 .... God made us alive in Christ because of his great love for us. People are a mess but then God acts even when we were dead in our transgressions. Left to ourselves we wouldn't get any better but God acted. The contrast is that death becomes life and wrath becomes mercy.
v 8-10 What is grace? God sent his Son to die for us whilst we were still sinners. Even the faith to grasp this is a gift of grace. The reason for this grace is the nature of God, he is rich in mercy and kind.
Human nature fights against Gods plan. Grace is a gift that we cannot ever earn. The best that a human can ever be this side of heaven is a sinner saved by grace. Even if you have been a Christian for a long time you are still able to sin. The difference is that the unsaved do not know their sin, if you are saved then you do know your sin.
Everyday we need the cross. God knows what we are like. We need grace to live every single day. We didn't earn grace. Sometimes we can want to |"prove" that we deserve grace and mercy. We must be careful to avoid trying to earn grace and mercy.
Gods works are prepared for us to do by God. To do the will of the one who sent him.
We must seek the Lord and ask him what he wants us to do instead of trying to "earn" our grace. Grace is amazing, rejoice in it, live in it. Without this grace we are dead
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Sun, 21st Oct 2018
