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
True story... A 12 year old girl in rural Ethiopia was kidnaped from her family . Her captors yelled at her, beat her, and almost raped her during her 7 day ordeal. They wanted to force her into marriage by selling her to the highest bidder Who knows what kind of situation she would have ended up in if that would have happened. But before here captors could sell her, 3 lions miraculously showed up from out of the jungle, chased her captors away, and guarded her until help showed up. When her family and the police showed up, the lions disappeared back into the jungle, never to be seen again TRUE STORY Now you can’t tell me that God wasn’t looking out for that little girl But He did Why? She was so valuable to him that He set her free from captivity in a miraculous way
That’s exactly what redemption means in the Bible It means to purchase a slave’s freedom Look at what Romans 3: 23-24 says... The ONLY thing that can free us from enslavement to sin, is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross God gave His One and Only Begotten Son in order to do so That’s how much He loves you He paid the highest price JUST FOR YOU He did it because you’re so valuable to Him The world might overlook you It may not think you worth anything You may feel rejected by it But God doesn’t feel that way towards you He purchased your freedom by paying the ultimate price That’s what God’s redeeming grace does It’s why it’s so amazing
Lastly, It’s amazing because it’s a Recognizing Grace... When you make Jesus Christ, the Lord, Master, and Savior of your life, you’re adopted into the eternal family of God He actually takes you in as one of His own He sees you as His beloved child With that particular recognition, you are made an heir of God’s Kingdom All that Heaven encompasses is yours Can you believe that? All that it is All that it has All that it contains IT IS YOURS AND MINE We’ll share it with Christ for all eternity one day That’s hard to fathom, isn’t it? But it’s true All because God recognizes us as His children when we become Christians
A little over 3 months ago, little Matthew (well, not exactly little) came into our family. My niece left him with my elderly parents to care for since she could not. When I heard what had happened, I traveled back to Oklahoma to assess the situation Seeing my 80 year old parents care for this BIG & rambunctious toddler was too much It was not a safe situation for either one of them. So I brought Matthew back to Oregon to live with us Honestly, it has not always been a smooth transition for either one of us It’s been hard at times But when Matthew came, he became a member of our family We took him in as one of our own He’s one of our children now With each day that passes, our love grows for each other So it is with God
As a Christian, God recognizes you as one of His own children And with that designation, you become an heir of His Kingdom. What does 1 Peter 5: 10 say? As His child, God has called us to eternal glory with all its glory, magnificence, and splendor We’ll be living with, serving, and worshiping with Him there for all of eternity What a time that will be We’ll join with all the angels in doing so We’ll join with all the saints of old We’ll join with all those loved one who have gone on before us All because God has a recognizing grace That’s what makes it so amazing
A long time ago, a man truly experienced God’s grace His name was John Newton. Though he was brought up in the church as a child, he became a calloused man full of anger, pain, and uncertainty. Because of that, He experienced many troubles. At one time, he was a commander of a slave ship. He would anchor his ship off the coast of Africa and pack it with slaves They were ruthlessly chained side by side, row after row, one after another just like a can of sardines Many slaves died on the long voyages and were thrown overboard for the fish to eat. During a raging storm at sea, John Newton finally gave his life to Jesus Christ. Over the next few years, God brought people across his life in order to disciple him. He later became one of Brittan’s most powerful evangelists Feeling guilty about his past slavery involvement, He triumphantly fought against the slave trade. He wrote many hymns during his ministry years but one has become his most famous one. Maybe you’ve heard of it, iIt’s entitled - Amazing Grace. If there ever was a man who experienced God’s Amazing Grace, it was John Newton, Listen again to the words of this song as interpreted by Chris Tomlin in this contemporary version of this beloved hymn... (accompaniment track #5)
{Prayer thanking God for His amazing grace since it Rescues, Redeems, and Recognizes...}
