What Grace Can Do Series

What Grace Can Do

Ephesians 2:1-10

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The Book of Ephesians

McClendon Baptist Church - July 26, 2009

(Revised March 19, 2024)

MESSAGE:

*What's so special about Christianity? -- Years ago, some religious experts in England were debating this question, and they couldn't agree on an answer.

*The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis walked into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard that they were debating what makes Christianity unique. C. S. Lewis immediately answered, "Oh, that's easy. -- It's grace." (1)

*Then they all agreed: The thing that makes Christianity unique is God's amazing grace! -- But what is this thing called grace?

-Grace is God's unmerited favor.

-Grace is getting good things from God that we could never deserve.

-Grace is the acronym G.R.A.C.E. -- God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

*La Juana Morris tells us that:

-"Grace is our source of power when problems are perplexing.

-Grace is the spring of our tenacity when trials trip us up.

-Grace is the element of hope when we feel harassed and helpless.

-Grace is the fortifier of our faith when we are frustrated.

-Grace allows us in times of trouble to look up instead of falling out.

*God's grace is not dependent upon our actions. The Lord doesn't give it because we were obedient, or because we had tithed, or because we attended church. The grace of God is given unto us because He loves us, and He is the God of another chance!

*Our past is not relevant to receiving his Grace. Our transgressions will not prohibit us from receiving his Grace. His Grace is the result of his outpouring love for us. And His grace permits us to be in the presence of God." (2)

*That's why Brian Bill said, "When we get to heaven, there will be no contest to see who was the most deserving of God's grace, because no one deserves it. There will only be one contest in Heaven. When we look back and see what we were before. When we see the pit from which He rescued us. When we recall how confused we were. When we remember how God reached out and took us into His family. And when we see Jesus who loved us and gave Himself for us, the only contest will be to see which of us can sing the loudest: 'Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. . .'" (3)

*Let's look into today's Scripture and see the impact of God's amazing grace.

1. FIRST: GOD'S GRACE GIVES LIFE TO THE LOST.

*In vs. 1-3, Paul was speaking to Christians, to saved people, to people who had trusted in Jesus Christ. Here Paul said:

1. And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

2. in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

3. among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

*In these verses Paul clearly explained what it means to be lost. In vs. 1 he said, "We were dead in trespasses and sins." In vs. 2, we were "sons of disobedience." And in vs. 3, we deserved God's wrath.

*Paul told those believers: "We were dead." That's because we were all born with the terminal spiritual illness called sin. And in a very real sense, we were all born dead, not physically dead, but spiritually dead, cut-off from God, and deserving to spend all eternity separated from Him. What a tragedy!

*Most of us have gone through the painful grief of a death in our family. We understand the loss that comes when someone physically dies. But if you multiplied that pain a million times, it would not begin to compare with the pain of spiritual death.

*Jerry Sillcocks was a New York firefighter and a Christian who helped search for survivors at the World Trade Center after 9-11. Jerry later wrote that he and his co-workers called ground zero "the pit." And Jerry said, "Almost everywhere I looked, mighty columns of steel were twisted into sad, pointless sculptures, towering over the tragic scene as we worked to find survivors. Gray smoke was everywhere.

*I'm no theologian -- I'm a New York firefighter -- but I can't imagine Hell being much worse than the 'pit'. I have no idea what Hell is truly like. -- But I've seen a place so bad that I want to do everything I can to make sure my friends, family, and neighbors know Jesus, and will spend eternity with Him." (4)