All IN
Ephesians 4:2-10
Intro: This being Easter our leadership met and decided, "You know, we want to get a really special speaker. Why don’t we call the best preacher in the world and ask him to speak."
And they did and he said "No".
So they said, "Well if we can’t have the best speaker, as least we can get the smartest one."
So they called him and he said "No".
And then they said, "Well, if we can’t get the best or the smartest, at least we can get the best looking."
And they called him and he said "No".
And finally one of them said, "Well, we can always ask our preacher." And so they did. And what could I say, I’d already told them "no" three times.
. Joseph of Arimathea was a very wealthy Pharisee, a member of the council, and a secret follower of Jesus. It was Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. And it was Joseph who supplied the tomb for Jesus’ burial.
Well, it seems that someone pulled him aside and said, "Joseph, that was such beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why on earth did you give it to someone else to be buried in?"
Joseph just smiled. "Why not? He only needed it for the weekend."
. That’s what we celebrate today, that empty borrowed tomb.
. Easter is my favorite day of the year.
. It’s the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
. Most preachers look forward to Easter also because Easter Sunday is usually the largest crowd of the year and we get to share with you what God did for you that day over 2000 years ago.
. Jesus had been crucified like a common criminal
. He had been buried in the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had provided.
. Three days later He arose from the grave.
. Conquering death scripture tells us so that we might live.
. So that we might have eternal life.
. Praise God for the empty tomb
. Without this, there would be no Christianity.
. Without Easter, Jesus would have been just a good man.
. There’s a country song I heard one time that went like this; If it wasn’t for the whiskey, daddy would have been a good man.
. Well if it wasn’t for the empty tomb, Jesus would have been a good man.
. A prophet, healer, preacher
. A good teacher but that would be it. He would still have been dead.
. After He died, there would have been nothing He could have done for us.
. Our scripture this morning tells us that God loved us so much that He gives us life through the risen Lord.
. As I prayed and meditated on today’s sermon, God made it clear to me that I would have three distinct audiences this morning.
. There would be those who are lost
. There would be those who are saved but are struggling in their faith.
. There would be those who are saved and want to hear a reassuring word this morning from God.
. They want to worship the risen Lord today.
. As these thoughts ran through my mind, God brought this scripture to mind because it really addresses all who are here this morning.
. let’s read our scripture. Eph. 2:4-10
. 4But God is so rich in imercy, and he loved us so much,5that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s jgrace that you have been saved!)6For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.7So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8God ksaved you by his agrace when you bbelieved. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
. Verse four here says that even though we deserve death because of our sins, God still loves us and wants to provide a way to be reconciled or back into a relationship with Him.
. God desires a relationship with all of His creation.
. He provides that with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
. What I really want to concentrate on this morning are what verses 8-10 say to us.
. Lets look at them again
. 8God ksaved you by his agrace when you bbelieved. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
. God saves you by His GRACE
. Grace is a word that we hear bandied about a lot in Christendom and we assume that everybody understands what it means.
. After all doesn’t everybody know, “amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me”
. From the pulpits we thunder that grace is Gods unmerited favor on mankind.
. Something we can’t earn.
.I was trying to come up with a good illustration that could explain grace to those who may not quite understand it.
. As some of you know I am back in seminary trying to get more training in what God has called me to do.
. Last week my professor came into class and announced that we were having a pop test. He instructed us to put everything away but a pencil or pen and then he proceeded to hand out a three page test.
. As I looked at the test I saw that I didn’t have a chance of passing it.
. He had questions on there that didn’t even relate to the class nor had we studied these items.
. As I looked at the test and was panicking I looked around and saw that the rest of the class was reacting the same way.
. Nobody had a clue and we all knew that we were going to fail.
. The professor came back into the classroom and we all started complaining about the test.
. He finally said that he could either give us mercy or show us grace. Which one did we want?
. One student said give me mercy, so the professor gave him mercy.
. He said that he would allow him to take the test again the next day but his grade would be whatever he scored the next day.
. To the rest of us he gave grace.
. He told us to write Grace across the top of our papers and that we would receive a 100 for that test.
. The guy that wanted mercy started to complain but the professor told him that he had gotten what he had asked for; You see mercy is something you can ask for and receive.
. Grace is something that is given freely even though you don’t deserve it.
. Paul writes here in Ephesians that we are saved by something we can’t work for nor deserve.
. God’s grace.
. Out of His love He saves us.
. Gods grace is given to us when we believe as this translation says.
. The New King James says that we are saved by grace through faith.
. Faith and believing are the same thing
. We are saved by Grace through Faith.
. Faith in what. The Easter bunny? No
. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
. I hear people say well I believe in God. I have faith in God but I don’t know about this Jesus stuff.
. Guess what, even the Devil believes in God.
. He knows God first hand but he is not a Christian.
. He is not a follower of Jesus Christ.
. Allow me to define for you this morning what a saving faith in Jesus Christ is.
. A saving faith in Jesus Christ means that you believe that Jesus is one part of the triune God.
. That He came to earth to sacrifice Himself for mans sin.
.That he died on a cross taking your place for the penalty of your sins.
. That through His blood you are placed back into a personal relationship with God just as man was created to be.
. That after He died that He rose from the Dead giving you assurance of eternal life.
. That He is in a place we call Heaven and that He is coming back one day to raise those who have died that believe in Him and that those who are alive will meet Him in the air and we will spend eternity with Him in this place we call Heaven.
. Folks that is the Faith or believing that Paul is writing about here.
. The saving faith of Jesus Christ.
. To put it another way, faith is something you stake your life on.
. It’s who you are .
. Why do you think that God decided to save us just through His grace by that saving faith that I just described.
. Our scripture tells us that He did it so that we can realize that we are all sinners in God’s eyes and that there’s nothing we can do to earn it.
. Verse 9 says this: 9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
. If we could earn it, mine could be better than yours.
. My sin could be not as bad as yours .
. I can get more of God than you can because I work harder than you do.
. You see God knows how we are doesn’t He.
. He knows that we will make a competition out of it .
. God says NO. You can’t work for it.
. You can only be saved by the Grace of God through a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
. We love this verse don’t we.
. I don’t have to do anything.
. Pray a prayer I am saved.
. My Bible says that and I believe it.
. Romans 10:9-10 says this:
. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your bheart that God raised him from the dead, you will be csaved.10For it is by believing in your heart that you are made dright with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved
. This is the basic tenet of Baptists.
. We need to look at verses 8&9. We also need to look at verse 10.
. Verse ten says this: 10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
. The NKJ reads like this: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
. We are not saved by good works or anything else we can do but we are saved for good works.
. We are saved to do something. Not just pray a prayer and have no life change.
. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says this: This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
. Again the NKJ says: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
. we are studying Titus on wed. night and this past wed we looked at this very same thing.
. Titus 2:14 makes it very plain it says: 14He gave his life to bfree us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
. We are a new creation when we accept Jesus as Savior.
. If we just pray a prayer and there is no change, if we are the same creature then we should reexamine that experience.
. Did we really believe in our heart, our whole being that Jesus died for us.
. Scripture is very plain on this. If we did then there is a change a new creation.
. We have things to do.
We have to totally commit ourselves to Jesus.
. Have you ever seen the World series of poker. Sometimes when I have checked all 300 channels on the TV and still can’t find anything to watch I will look at ESPN and sometimes they have this world series of poker. These people sit there and bluff and fold and do all these things trying to win.
. What caught my attention is what they call all-in. When they think that they can win with the hand they have or can bluff and scare the other person into folding they push everything they have into the pot and say all-in. They are betting everything on that hand or those cards.
. As I watched that I realized that Jesus has given us the winning hand. He has given us eternal life through His resurrection.
. We have the winning hand and we are should be going all in.
. Everything we have should be bet on Jesus.
. When we do that, we can’t lose.
. I thing the best hand in poker is called a royal flush.
. Jesus is our royal flush. We can’t lose.
. We gotta go All in.
. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus , created for good works.
. I want to close with a short story this morning about this change that Jesus brings to those who truly trust and accept Him.
. There was a young illerate couple named Dave and Carol. Dave and Carol had recently confessed faith in Jesus Christ and were baptized. And wanting to be more involved in the activities of the church, they regularly attended the Sunday school class for young married couples. And they learned that in this particular Sunday school class, the men all had the same shirts which they would often wear during certain group activities. Wanting to be part of the group, Dave was eager to get HIS matching shirt, so Carol made one for her husband. But after the next meeting, Dave came home with a look of disappointment on his face. He had his shirt, but at the meeting he noticed that all the men had little emblems on their shirts--Dave’s was plain. So Carol, undaunted by her inability to read, sewed three words which she copied from a sign in a store window across the street. Dave wore it at the next meeting. But this time he came home bubbling with joy. He said all the men really liked the inscription that Carol had put on his shirt. They said it so aptly described the wonderful change they had seen in his life. It turned out that his wife had written, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT."
. Folks when Jesus gets in your heart, you will be under new management.
. If you’re here this day and have never gone all in for Jesus, today is your opportunity.
. Christian, are you like the see that Jesus talks about in the parable of the sower. Have you accepted Jesus but the pursuit of other things kept you from being under new management.
. Have you gone all in for Jesus.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
Under New Management, Brian Archer
Sermon Central Illustrations
