We Believe In Grace Series

This morning I want to talk to you about zombies and two steel mill works in Western Pennsylvania from the 1970s. Along the way, I want to talk about God’s grace.

I’m continuing a series of messages entitled Creed: 9 Essentials to the Christian Faith.We are exploring the beliefs that form the theological center of Christianity. It is a series devoted to the discovery of what you believe and why it matters.

We Believe in God June 17

We Believe in the Trinity June 24

We Believe in the Bible July 1

We Believe in Creation July 8

We Believe in Sin July 15

We Believe in the Cross August 5

We Believe in Grace August 12

We Believe in the Church August 19

We Believe in Christ’s Return August 26

Each of these beliefs serves as lynchpins to the Christian faith, so that if you were to remove one of them you would see the Christian faith crumble.

This morning I want to talk about something unique to Christianity – GRACE. The New Testament contains some 155 references to grace while 100 of these come from the pen of Paul himself. The word opens, closes, and dominates every letter he wrote. He mentions grace twelve times in the letter of Ephesians alone. Grace defines his letters and his teaching. This word grace was on Paul’s mind when he wrote today’s text. For you’ll notice that Paul repeats nearly the same sentence in a matter of four verses when he says, “by grace you have been saved”. Listen carefully as you’ll hear this word grace in one of the most familiar and popular verses in all of the Bible.

Today’s Scripture

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

This is a rich passage of Scripture.

Where Christians talk about being saved quite a bit, we should be sure that whatever we mean by “being saved” we should mean what is here. For this text is the quintessential passage that defines the biblical view of salvation. If you are unfamiliar with this book called Ephesians, then allow me to offer a helpful summary of the first three chapters. The first chapter describes God’s unique working of saving sinners from God’s point of view. Where the second chapter describes God’s work from our point of view, the individual’s point of view. Then in chapter three, we learn how God executes His plan by taking the sinners who are now saints and forming them together into the body of Christ, the church.

You see the horrible plight of people before Christ in contrast to their experience after Christ.

1. Sin Works Against Us

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

The first three verses tell us the life we are saved from. The first six words of verses one and five are nearly identical. Before the Bible talks about the grace of God in any depth, it first informs us of the terrible condition we are outside of Christ. So Paul has every intention of talking about the grace of God in verse one but he wants to make sure we understand our condition before God’s grace enters into the picture. Verses one to three point to a comprehensive picture of who human beings are outside of God. Notice the use of the word “once” both in verse two and in verse three. Compare the use of “once” to “But God” words beginning in verse four. Consequently, you begin to see the powerful before and after picture of what it means to follow Christ.