Trophies Of God's Grace

TROPHIES OF GOD’S GRACE

EPHESIANS 2:1-10

Years ago I attended a church service where, one by one, a dozen people walked across the stage and held up a sign indicating their greatest failures in their life. Some were about addiction, immorality, and other failures in life. Then, when all were assembled together, they turned their cards over to reveal what they are now. No longer stained by sin and failure, they were living examples (trophies) of what God can do when sinners yield their life to Him.

* This passage speaks about how we, too, are trophies of God’s grace.

Vs 1-3, Paul reminds us of what we are without Christ.

Vs 4-6, he reminds us of what Christ did for us and God changed us.

Vs 7-10, he reminds us of how Christ views us.

1. HOW CHRIST FOUND US.

Without Christ....

(1) You were Spiritually Dead.

Eph 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

Without Christ, you are dead. Spiritually separated from God and unable to experience the life that God has for you. The life He wants you to have. Sin causes this separation and death and there is nothing we ourselves can do to save ourselves.

(2) You were a Slave to Sin.

Eph 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Satan is the master of the lost person and the world is his weapon. He tempts us and controls us through sin.

3 great traps in our society....

Humanism- places man above all else. Self becomes one’s own God and the only desire is to please self. Expressed in sins of selfishness.

Materialism- places value on things, especially money. Humanism defines who is #1 and materialism seeks to keep #1 happy.

Sexual Immorality- America has never been more decadent and degenerate. We live in an age where sexual perversions are tolerated, adultery is validated, and homosexuality is celebrated.

** This is the world’s system and it is controlled by Satan.

(3) You were Condemned.

Eph 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Many people have a distorted view of God. They think of Him only as a God of Love, and that He is. They think of Him as this grandpa in the sky that overlooks sinful behavior. But They fail to realize that God is Holy and Just and that He hates sin because sin destroys everything it touches. * once were. If you still are, then you’re lost.

Rom 2:5-6 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each person according to his deeds:

you may think you’ve gotten away with something, but nothing escapes His attention and there is a record of sin and one day God will pour out His wrath on sinners, perhaps in this life...Judgement!

(4) You were Without Hope.

Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Without Christ, there is no hope for salvation. If one has not repented of his sins and been born again, he is already condemned and destined for hell. But, in Christ, we have eternal life, we have a relationship with God, and we have hope.

2. HOW GOD CHANGED US.

(1) He Gave us Life.

Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

* Notice- He gave us life in Jesus Christ. We were born again. Snatched from the Jaws of Death and given a new life. A Better life.

What motivated God to do this?

a) He is rich in mercy. Mercy- forgiving someone of a crime/debt. Our problem- The price of sin is death. That debt must be paid.

b) He has great love. Agape- unconditional love. A love so great that it is willing to forgive any/all sins and failures. This love drove Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place to pay the price for our sins.

Jn 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

If all God did for us was to forgive us and give us new life, that would be awesome, but He didn’t stop there.