Amazing Grace
Ephesians 2:4-10
His name was John. He had deserted the Royal British Navy and was caught, flogged and demoted. After that he made up disrespectful songs about his ship’s captain and was demoted again. Furthermore, he prided himself in creative profanity and sharp-witted attacks on Christianity.
He was a truly degenerate man.
Then one day in the middle of a considerable storm at sea he thought it might be best to act as if the Good News about Jesus were true and he made a monumental decision to live for Christ.
After his conversion and naval career he became a pastor and was as deeply devoted to promoting the Good News as he had been in attacking it. To accompany his sermons he would often compose hymns to accentuate the truth of God’s Word he was going to preach.
On Sunday, January 1, 1773, John Newton first shared these words with his congregation:
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."
"I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see."
• That song, his song, Amazing Grace, has stirred the hearts of millions upon millions upon millions ever since. Although God’s grace cannot be adequately described, the word amazing seems to be about the best we can do.
• In the Bible we find the ongoing narrative of God’s amazing grace. If the Bible is THE GRACE BOOK, which it is, then the book of Ephesians is the grace book within THE GRACE BOOK. For in it, the once religious, self righteous, totally lost in sin Saul, who was gloriously saved and transformed, now writes as the apostle Paul about this grace so amazing.
• Right after Paul reminds us in verses 1-3 of our past apart from Christ and the truths about our spiritual lives at that point and the spiritual lives of those who are still living life without a relationship with Jesus, Paul speaks one word… that bridges the gap between a sinner’s doomed past and their destined future after becoming a Christian…
• Knowing all that we were apart from Christ, dead, deceived, depraved, and doomed, Paul says at the beginning of verse 4… BUT….
• With that word Paul sings Amazing Grace for the first time ever… Just in a little different way…READ VERSES 4-9… PRAY…
The well-known preacher, A. T. Pierson, once said, “However poor a preacher, I can preach the gospel better than Gabriel can, because Gabriel cannot say what I can say, “I am a sinner saved by grace.”
• I want to focus on His Grace… There is a lot of really deep discussion and teaching that you could get into with this passage but the overwhelming emphasis that God reveals to our hearts is the splendor of His amazing Grace. Let’s talk about why it is so amazing…
1) Grace came to us in the right way.
• If the basis of God’s grace coming TO us was US then we would be in trouble! In fact, if God had said, “You just be good enough and I will be gracious enough!” then we would still be dead, deceived, and depraved in and doomed by our sins!!!
• Thankfully God’s grace came to us not on the basis of anything we had done or could ever do but it came to us on the basis of two things…
• In verse 4, after Paul speaks of the very things that motivated God to give us His grace… READ…
A. HIS MERCY
• We’ve learned that grace is simply us getting something that we don’t deserve and mercy is us not getting something we do deserve.
• Paul says that God is rich in mercy. Not only does God not give us what we do deserve, He makes a habit of it. He abounds with mercy! ?
• In His mercy, not giving us what we deserve, He gives us grace, this gift that we don’t deserve.
B. HIS GREAT LOVE
• This is the true source of mercy and grace. It is because of His overwhelming love for us that He demonstrates His Grace.
• It’s not because we are good enough, not because we are deserving, not because we have great potential, not because we have great intellect, not because He feels sorry for us, NO, grace is an outpouring of the unconditional love of God for a lost sinner.
• We don’t have to try to earn it, try to find it or try to keep it GOD JUST GIVES IT BECAUSE HE LOVES US! Apostle John in 1 John 4:8… “God is love….”
• I will never fully understand this concept but will also not spend my time trying to; I will simply choose to live knowing that it’s true, that His grace is so amazing because His love for me is so amazing!
• Everybody together take a deep breath and let out a BIG “WHEW!” Doesn’t it feel good to know that His grace goes as far as His love goes and His love is unconditional, never ending, all sustaining, all powerful, and inseparable!
Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• His Grace is enough and will always be enough because He will never stop loving us. His grace is an outpouring of His love.
• His grace is so amazing because it came to us in the right way, according to His great love and mercy and nothing else. ?
2) Grace came to us at the right time.
• We know who we were, what we were, and where we were headed apart from Christ because of verses 1-3.
• It was in the midst of our death, deception, depravity, and doom that grace came down as God stepped in!
• Something had to happen in order for a sinner lost in their sins to be changed and for the conditions we were in to be changed… We needed divine intervention…and Paul says, BUT GOD… I LIKE IT WHEN GOD BUTTS IN, DON’T YOU? ?
• The Gospel begins with a God who acts, a God who intervenes… BUT GOD… God stepped in and changed it all! Grace came down and changed it all! At the right time, in the right way, grace showed up and the living dead became alive in Christ and a dark past, dark present, and even darker future became filled with light and life… VERSE 5
• When the outlook was bleak, grace came down, when we were dying physically and dead spiritually, grace came down, when we were deceived, grace came down, when we were nothing but bad and could not be better, grace came down, when we were doomed, grace came down!
• When we were blind, grace helped us see, when we were lost, grace saved us, WHEN WE DESERVED ANYTHING BUT GRACE, GRACE CAME DOWN!
• God stepped in and grace came down in just the right way at just the right time… AMAZING GRACE…
3) Grace did for us what we could never do for ourselves.
The Russian Czar, Alexander, used to love to disguise himself and mingle with his people to hear what they had to say. One night he visited the army camp and listened to some soldiers. While passing a tent he saw a young soldier sitting at a table with his head on his arm, sound asleep. The Czar tiptoed to the back of the chair and looked over his shoulder. There on the table before him he saw a loaded revolver. Beside the revolver was a sheet of paper with a long list of gambling debts.
After seeing the total the Czar noted a sentence below the figures saying, “who can pay so much?” Suddenly the czar understood the situation. The young officer had gambled away all he had and was about to take his own life for fear of not being able to meet his debts.
Then the czar took up the pen and below the young soldiers question wrote the words “I, Alexander, Czar of Russia”. Quietly he turned away and went home.
The next morning the young officer woke up and immediately took hold of the revolver when suddenly he saw writing on his letter that he had not put there. He read the words of the Czar and in amazement he dropped the revolver. At that moment a messenger came to his tent with a bag of money from the Czar. The young soldier’s debt was paid and his life was spared.
• In His love and by His grace when God saves us He does for us what we could never do for ourselves.
• What did God’s grace make possible that would otherwise be impossible?
A. Salvation
• Paul tells us this at the end of verse 5 and also says the following in verses 8-9… READ…
• “He reached down to us when He knew that we could not, and would not, reach up to Him.”
• When we could not save ourselves and without God placing the desire within us had no desire to be saved God reached down in His grace to make salvation possible through faith in Christ.
B. Newness of life
• Verse 6… “And hath raised us up together…”
• God’s grace makes it possible for us to be brought to life from death and thankfully grace doesn’t leave us in the grave of our old life but raises us into new life.
• We no longer have to live with the guilt of the past, we stand forgiven. We are no longer bound with the chains of sin and bondage, we are free. We are no longer filled with emptiness, we are filled with the Holy Spirit that brings ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment and purpose.
C. Intimacy with our Father
• Look how Paul finishes verse 6… grace gives us the privilege and promise of Heaven not only for eternity but we are able to experience the very presence of God and have intimate relationship with God in Christ while we are here! ?
4) Grace is a gift that keeps on giving.
• Paul himself calls grace the gift of God at the end of verse 8 and in verse 7 he describes the ultimate purpose of God in giving His amazing grace to us… READ VERSE 7…
• Throughout the ages to come, even eternity, God is going to continue to demonstrate the exceeding riches of His grace toward us.
• We know His saving grace here, His sustaining grace here, His strengthening grace here, His sovereign grace here, His securing grace here, and we will continue to live in its riches for all of eternity as we spend that eternity with Him.
• Do you know another way that His grace keeps on giving? Through us, through our lives being a testimony of His grace. VERSE 10…
• There is a reason He saves us by grace and leaves us here… we are here for a purpose and that purpose is to help others see what His grace has done for us so that they can experience it for themselves.
• As I said last night, we are to be testimonies of His grace for all to see, love letters from God to them, so that they may sing the same song Paul is singing here, and that we have been given the privilege of singing…
• AMAZING GRACE…
CLOSING:
I would like you to imagine for a moment that we’re standing at the gate of Nain, through which a casket is being carried with the corpse of a young man, the only son of his mother, and she a widow. A great crowd follows in observance of the Jewish precept of “attending the dead unto the grave.” Heads are bowed and faces manifest the deepest sorrow for the bereaved. Bitterly the mother weeps as she walks behind the casket, for he, her only son, had been her only support.
Then suddenly the mourners are interrupted by a man who hurries forward, “here let me deal with the dead, I can bring him back to life.” Instantly the procession halts and with mystified faces gaze upon the speaker as he elbows his way through the crowd.
“All this man needs is education,” explains the man while boldly approaching the casket. And from his books of science and philosophy he attempts to teach the young man in the coffin. But in vain he watches for the flush of life to return; there is no response. Education has failed.
Another man approaches the scene, confidently proclaiming that he can bring the young man back to life, and so he begins, “Now young man, make up your mind that you are going to live. Exert your will, and choose to live – the choice is yours. You can get up if you only will”. But there is no response as the previously confident man looks upon the lifeless face of the young man. Free choice and will-power has failed.
Then another man came toward the crowd, calmly and with a sense of peace about him. For a few moments no one moves. Then the man speaks, “My friends, do you not know that what this man needs is religion? Through the knowledge of the Torah he will be revived”. And he sat down by the coffin’s side.
Taking a scroll from under his arm he declares, “Now I will reveal to the young man the precepts of the law, for if he will keep them faithfully he will live again”. “But” inquires one of the bystanders, “how can a corpse observe the laws since he cannot even hear your words? Until he is first alive, all the Jewish precepts will avail nothing”.
Sorrowfully the rabbi walks away, religion has failed.
Then from the crowd steps the figure of One who walks with perfect confidence and composure to a scene of certain failure. A sudden hush falls on the expectant throng as he stands for a moment beside the coffin.
Then He speaks, his voice calm but authoritative. “Young man, I say unto thee, arise!”
Eagerly the people draw close. Who is this? What power is there behind his simple words? What manner of man is this? But then their questions are suddenly answered.
The eyelids quiver, the flush returns to the cheek; the heart throbs once more, and the young man rises to his feet.
What had happened? Jesus stepped in, grace came down and imparted life. The young man was dead and it was life that he needed. This is the one great essential. Education will not do; nor will free choice or human rights; not even religion, however sincere it may be, will ever make the grade. None of the things we regard as being of value is equal to the task of doing for us what God in His grace has done for us!
We were dead and deceived and depraved and doomed… BUT GOD… and when God stepped in, grace came down, a grace so amazing that it came in just the right way at just the right time, that it does for us what we could never do for ourselves, and it keeps on giving into eternity!
GRACE BRINGS THE CHRISTIAN TO GRATITUDE/PRAISE
GRACE BRINGS THE LOST TO SALVATION
