God's Amazing Grace

God’s Amazing Grace

Ephesians 1: 3-10

When you hear the word “grace” what comes to mind?

A cute little girl?

The prayer you say before meals?

Someone who moves effortlessly when dancing?

According to some dictionaries, it’s:

a special favor

Good will towards others

Temporary immunity

But that’s not the definition that I want to use today. The definition I want to use today comes from the Bible. In the Bible, grace is

God’s unmerited favor

Getting from Him what you don’t deserve

God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense

His forgiving, redeeming, and restoring love toward that which is unworthy

The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 1: 3-10...

If you want to talk about God’s grace, you can use 1 word - Amazing God has Amazing Grace Why is it so amazing? That’s what I want to talk about this morning. I want to give 3 reasons as to why we can say God has Amazing Grace You see, God has amazing grace because it’s a:

Rescuing Grace - We all know that we do things that don’t please God at times We grieve God with our sin. Over time, our offenses can build up If we’re not careful, it’ll developed into a large, humongous, and massive collection of sin God’s anger fumes over it all He’s right in bringing judgement against us for all that we’ve done against Him Will He do so? Not if you obtain His saving grace God knows we’re sinful He knows that we can’t DO anything our own power to take all of our sin away How many times do you got to pray? How many times do you need to go to church? How many good deeds do you have to do? In reality, you can’t DO enough things in your own power to take away all your sin God knows that That’s why He’s DONE everything for us He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross Since Jesus lived a sinless life, His sacrifice on the cross FULLY SATISFIED sin’s death penalty against us He gave His perfect life in place of our imperfect one We are saved from sin’s death penalty when we believe that Christ took our sin upon Himself on that cross

Think of it this way... A father & son were walking thru the grasslands of an open prairie. In the distance, they noticed a wildfire headed their way which would eventually engulf them in flames Quickly, the father acted in the only way that would save them He took some matches and lit a fire right where they were When a section had been burned, they quickly stepped into it. When the raging fire approached them, the boy became terrified. The father looked into his sons’s eyes and said, “Son, we’ll be alright. The fire can’t get us. We’re standing where the fire has already been.” Sure enough, the raging fire came but they were not engulfed in flames because the grass had already been burned there

That’s exactly what Christ did for us on the cross God’s fiery judgement was headed straight for us for our sins against Him. But God had Christ step in and take it for us He was burned for our sins As long as we stand on Christ in faith, we can’t be burned by God’s fiery judgement again That’s what Ephesians 1: 7 tells us... ALL of our sins, each and everyone of them, no matter how despicable they were are forgiven by what Christ did on the cross Our slate has been wiped clean Our lives are as white as snow How is that possible? It’s made possible by God’s saving grace He knew we couldn’t DO anything about our sins by ourselves so He’s DONE everything for us through Jesus Christ. That’s God’s rescuing grace It’s one of the reasons why it’s so Amazing

It’s also amazing because it’s a Redeeming Grace... You may not believe it but you’re highly valuable to God Yea, the world might over look you It may not think you worth anything You may feel rejected by it But you know what? God doesn’t feel that way towards you You’re precious to Him He sees you as important You’re one of His most prized possessions Because of that, He paid the ultimate price in order to free you from sin At one time, you were enslaved to sin It put you into shackles It had you in it’s clutches and would not let you go But God saw you It grieved Him to see you there So God took the ultimate step to free you He had His One & Only Begotten Son give His life for you He purchased your freedom by allowing Jesus Christ to die for you on an old rugged cross You are no longer enslaved to sin because of what He did You’re free All because God sees you as highly valuable