1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,960 Written before the dawn of time. Every traitor belongs to me. 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,680 Their blood is my right. Right. 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:13,320 In this this novel that CS Lewis writes, justice demands Edmund's 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:17,120 death. Edmund's doom is certain. 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,200 He can't undo what he's done. He doesn't try to find a 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,640 loophole in the law. He doesn't come to Aslan asking 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,800 for mercy. He doesn't will himself to be 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,760 free. He doesn't even understand his 9 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:36,880 own guilt and the depth of it. He's helpless, completely 10 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,760 trapped in a fate he deserves but cannot escape. 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:46,160 And then Aslan steps forward. The Witch doesn't summon him. 12 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:50,560 Edmund doesn't ask for him. Aslan comes on his own 13 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,600 initiative. He walks into the Witch's camp. 14 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:58,840 He he's silent and willing, and he offers himself in the boy's 15 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,240 place. He's bound, he's mocked, he's 16 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:07,120 killed on the stone table, the innocent dying for the guilty. 17 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,040 And that night all seems lost for Narnia. 18 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,400 Their king is dead. The witch rejoices as she thinks 19 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:23,000 that she has won. Hope itself dies with Aslan. 20 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,960 But then the next morning, the stone table cracks. 21 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,520 Lewis calls it this deeper magic from before the dawn of time, 22 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:40,080 that when a willing, sinless victim dies in the place of a 23 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,840 traitor, death itself begins to work backward. 24 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,200 That's the gospel. And that's what we're going to 25 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,080 talk about this morning is what Aslan did for Edmund is what 26 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,160 Christ has done for us, only in a far greater way. 27 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,360 You see, we were the traitors. We were the guilty ones. 28 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,720 Our sin had placed us under judgement, and the law of God 29 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,960 demanded death. And like Edmund, we didn't ask 30 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,880 for rescue. We didn't seek a Savior. 31 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,840 We didn't plead for grace. We didn't find a loophole. 32 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,040 We were blind, rebellious, and completely unable to change our 33 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:21,600 condition. And that is what Paul has been 34 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,160 telling us. We couldn't soften our hearts. 35 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,280 We couldn't earn God's favor. We couldn't rescue our souls. 36 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,240 We couldn't do a Danny Gokey says and tell your heart to beat 37 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,400 again, right? We couldn't do that. 38 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,680 We were sinless. We were, as Paul says in 39 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:42,360 Ephesians 2, dead in our trespasses and sins. 40 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,880 As John beautifully said it last week, we weren't weak, we 41 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:47,440 weren't struggling. We were dead. 42 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,520 And into that hopelessness the true lion of Judah steps up. 43 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,240 He took our place. He bore A punishment. 44 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:02,880 He was bound, mocked, and slain. And on the third day he rose in 45 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,000 victory. That is the gospel, that we 46 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,200 could do nothing. And God did everything. 47 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,720 When we brought only sin, He brought salvation. 48 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,320 When we were enemies, He made us sons and daughters. 49 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:22,120 Paul captures it in one sentence and one sentence that has 50 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:26,600 changed the whole world. If you're not there in Ephesians 51 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:32,960 2 yet, he says in Ephesians 28, For by grace you have been saved 52 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,720 through faith, and this is not your own doing. 53 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:43,040 It is the gift of God. Salvation is not our idea. 54 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,160 It's not our initiative. It is not our effort. 55 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,000 It is grace. Pure, unearned, undeserved 56 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,360 grace. But before we can unpack the 57 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,880 next couple verses, we have to understand where Paul has taken 58 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,760 us. Because what comes before this 59 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,080 makes today's passage all the more beautiful. 60 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,640 You see, if you were here last week, you heard John walk us 61 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,760 through one of the most breathtaking sections in all of 62 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,280 Scripture. And if you missed it, I would 63 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,040 really encourage you to go back and watch it. 64 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,160 He did an incredible job of helping us see the depth of our 65 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:23,720 sin and the glory of God's mercy. 66 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,360 And so Paul begins chapter 2 with three words that describe 67 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,280 every one of us apart from Christ. 68 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:35,760 You were dead, spiritually lifeless, completely unable to 69 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,720 move toward God. And that is what makes verse 4 70 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,640 so stunning. Everything turns on 2 words but 71 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,000 God. While we were dead, God made us 72 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,320 alive together with Christ. As we read in Ezekiel. 73 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,320 He took our heart of stone and replaced you with a heart of 74 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,520 flesh. He made us alive. 75 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,760 He raised us up. He seated us with Christ all by 76 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,400 his mercy and love. And Paul tells us why in verse 77 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,520 7, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable 78 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,400 riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 79 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:14,680 So that is where we pick up today. 80 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,040 Because now in verses 8 through 10, Paul's going to answer the 81 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:22,760 question of how does that kind of salvation happen? 82 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:25,600 If we were dead, how are we made alive? 83 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,840 If it's all grace, where do our works fit in? 84 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,600 And that is where Paul's going to give us one of the clearest, 85 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,960 most hope filled summaries of the gospel and all of Scripture. 86 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:41,600 So read with me starting in verse 8. 87 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,800 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not 88 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,480 your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a 89 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,960 result of work, so that no one may boast. 90 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,800 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good 91 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,680 works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk 92 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,000 in them. Paul's going to give us 3 truths 93 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,720 this morning that summarize the entire Christian life. 94 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,960 We are saved by grace, we are humbled by grace, and we are 95 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:19,000 recreated for good works. And so Paul begins with one of 96 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,360 the most freeing, most hope filled sentences in all of 97 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,360 scripture. For by grace you have been saved 98 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,080 through faith. This is this further explanation 99 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,320 of that kind of weird interjection that he had in 100 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,720 verse 5 where he kind of threw it in there and then he's going 101 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:39,520 to come back and explain it. As Thielman notes in his 102 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,040 commentary, this is the foundation for the saved status 103 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:48,000 of Paul's readers. They are made alive in Christ. 104 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,560 They are raised up in him. They are enthroned with him as a 105 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:57,480 product of grace. Now, so often we make this so 106 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,760 much harder than it needs to be. We take something beautifully 107 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,520 simple in Scripture, which is grace, and we turn it into a 108 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,720 system, right? We start adding rules. 109 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,680 We start adding formulas. We start adding steps to it. 110 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,400 We think we need to prove something to God, or we quietly 111 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,600 believe that he's grading us on a spiritual curve. 112 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,760 Why do we do that? Why do we try to earn what's 113 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:30,080 already been given? Why do we make grace harder than 114 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,520 it is? Yeah, Paul is going to bring us 115 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,600 right back to center. He says don't complicate this. 116 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:41,600 Salvation is not a puzzle to solve. 117 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,840 It's a gift to receive. Think of the thief on the cross. 118 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,720 He had no time to earn his salvation. 119 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,080 He had no chance to make things right. 120 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,120 He had no record to Polish. All he could do was to look at 121 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,040 Jesus and say, Remember Me in paradise? 122 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:01,360 And the Savior said, you will be with me today. 123 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,280 That's what it means to be saved by grace. 124 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,440 Paul is telling us it's not through what you do, but it's 125 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,040 through what Christ has done for by grace. 126 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,760 That's it. That's all that you need for by 127 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:19,160 grace you have been saved. That is the foundation. 128 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,480 That is the whole message of Christianity in one line. 129 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:29,120 Because if Paul saying, if you understand this one sentence, 130 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,679 you understand what it means to be a Christian, Paul doesn't 131 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,039 save you. You were saved because you tried 132 00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:38,600 hard. Paul doesn't say that you were 133 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,400 saved because you cleaned yourself up. 134 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:44,280 And he doesn't even say you were saved because you made a good 135 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,000 decision. He says it's by grace. 136 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,160 And that word grace is everything. 137 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,920 It's it's the Greek word karis, which means undeserved favor, 138 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,520 unearned kindness. Grace isn't something we earn. 139 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,840 It's not something that that we can buy. 140 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:06,760 It's something that we're given. You can only receive it. 141 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,800 And here is the part that we forget. 142 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,920 Grace didn't find us when we were trying our best. 143 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:18,000 It found us when we were dead. It found us when we had no hope, 144 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,760 no life, no heartbeat. We weren't reaching up to God. 145 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:27,440 We were running away from him. And do you remember what that 146 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,520 was like when Grace finally caught up to you? 147 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,400 Right when you realize God wasn't chasing you to punish 148 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,720 you, He was chasing you to save you. 149 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:42,280 And some of you know this first hand. 150 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:45,560 You weren't searching for God. He found you. 151 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:50,120 Maybe he was in a hospital room. Maybe he was in the middle of a 152 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:53,320 failure. Maybe through a friend's quiet 153 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,640 kindness, Grace showed up uninvited and it changed 154 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,720 everything. I know for me, that is how it 155 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,560 happened. I didn't just wake up the day 156 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,680 that I got saved and said, you know what, I, I think I might 157 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:08,560 get saved today. That sounds like a good idea. 158 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,360 That sounds great. I'm going to do that today. 159 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:17,480 Now, I was in Sunday school just like normal, but for some reason 160 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,560 that day God made the story come to life to me like I had never 161 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:24,560 heard it before. And my story is I grew up in the 162 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:26,120 church. My my mom just dropped us off to 163 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,360 the church. We were always there. 164 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,600 So it was a normal day for me. But I began hearing it in a new 165 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,560 way because what happened is God opened my ears and my eyes for 166 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:41,880 the first time. And this was no new story I was 167 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,560 listening to, but I remember that morning looking at Miss 168 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:47,880 Sepulveda and I was like, this all makes sense. 169 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,440 I need Jesus. And it was as simple as that. 170 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,400 So if you were alive today in Christ, it's not because 171 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,520 something you did. It's all because God did 172 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:02,480 everything. And that's what makes grace so 173 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:06,160 amazing, because it's not God meeting us halfway. 174 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,240 It's God coming all the way to us when we were lifeless and 175 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:14,080 lost. As the Puritan Thomas and Watson 176 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:18,720 says, grace is free. It's an act of God, not of the 177 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,240 creature. If God should show mercy because 178 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,360 we deserve it, it would not be grace. 179 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,680 And as Jonathan Edwards writes, you contribute nothing to your 180 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,640 salvation except the sin that made it necessary. 181 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,520 And that is the posture that we must have as we did not add 182 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,240 anything to our salvation other than the sin that made it 183 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,560 necessary for Jesus to die. And that is what Paul is saying 184 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:50,760 to us right now. As he's saying, stop 185 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:55,560 overcomplicating salvation. You were dead and God made you 186 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:57,440 alive. That's grace. 187 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:06,400 And then Paul adds through faith and listen, faith is not a work 188 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:08,400 you perform to make grace happen. 189 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:13,760 There have been many that have debated what Paul meant by this. 190 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,800 He says you have been saved through faith and this is not 191 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,040 your own doing. It is the gift of God. 192 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:23,840 Many people smarter than me have debated this. 193 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:29,840 Is he saying that faith isn't? Is faith the gift itself or is 194 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:36,760 it salvation as a whole? Yes, it's both in a sense. 195 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,000 Both, but mainly the whole package. 196 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:44,440 In the Greek, both faith and grace are in the feminine, while 197 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,680 the phrase and this is not your own has a neuter pronoun. 198 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:52,560 So grammatically, it most naturally refers not to faith 199 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:58,000 alone, but to the whole concept of salvation by grace through 200 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,120 faith. What Paul is doing here is his 201 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,920 goal is to remove all boasting and reinforce that none of 202 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:07,880 salvation originates from human merit. 203 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,600 Grace is God's initiative, faith is God's enablement, and 204 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,440 salvation is God's accomplishment. 205 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:22,560 Every part of it is his part. Even the faith that reaches out 206 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,320 to Christ is only possible because grace first opened your 207 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,800 eyes to do so. As Calvin said, faith brings a 208 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:35,520 man empty to God that he may be feel filled with Christ. 209 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,400 So whether you emphasize grace, whether whether you emphasize 210 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:44,040 faith, whether you emphasize all of it as a whole, it all leads 211 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,240 to that same conclusion. It is not your doing, it is the 212 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,480 gift of God. You didn't work your way to Him. 213 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:57,480 But what does that mean for you? It means you can stop trying to 214 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:03,000 prove yourself. It means you can finally rest. 215 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,360 I When is when is the last time you rested in grace? 216 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,000 Like actually rested in the fact that you did nothing for your 217 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,560 salvation? Faith is simply the empty hand 218 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:18,400 that receives what grace freely gave. 219 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,360 When you come to Christ in faith, you're not adding 220 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:27,200 something to the equation. You're admitting that you bring 221 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,800 nothing. Faith says I can't save myself, 222 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,800 but I believe that Jesus can. And even that, Paul says it's 223 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,240 not your own doing, it's a gift of God. 224 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,080 That means even your ability to believe is grace at work in you. 225 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,960 God doesn't just offer the gift, He enables you to receive it. 226 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,080 And that is why we say salvation is monogistic. 227 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,920 It's one work. God alone, He doesn't look down 228 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,080 through time and see who might choose him. 229 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,280 He looks down and sees death and it is mercy. 230 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,760 He says live. That is the work of salvation. 231 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,040 Salvation is not complicated. It is not grace plus effort. 232 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,760 It's faith. It's grace alone, through faith 233 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:22,680 alone in Christ alone. And because it's all grace, it 234 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:27,320 means that it's all secure. If grace saved you, grace will 235 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,760 sustain you. If grace began the Word, grace 236 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,640 will finish it. You don't have to fear that 237 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,600 you'll mess up because the one who called you is the one who 238 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,120 keeps you. So when the enemy whispers 239 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,960 you're not enough, you can say you are absolutely right. 240 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:48,480 I'm not enough, but Jesus is. That's right, Grace means it 241 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:53,120 doesn't depend on how tightly I grip Him, it depends on how 242 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:58,120 faithfully He grips me. Salvation is the work of the 243 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:02,680 triune God the Father. God planned it, the Son 244 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,920 accomplished it, and the Spirit applies it. 245 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:11,280 So from beginning to end, salvation is the overflow of 246 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:15,720 God's triune love. Grace is not just what God 247 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,000 gives, it's it's who He is. He is grace. 248 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,760 But if grace truly saves us, it also shatters every hint of 249 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,520 pride. And that's where Paul gets at 250 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,640 next. He says we're humbled by grace. 251 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,120 Paul could have stopped at verse 8. 252 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,040 That says everything. That would have been enough. 253 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,640 But Paul knows our hearts. He knows how quickly we twist 254 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,160 grace into something we think we've earned. 255 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,920 And so he adds verse 9 almost like a guardrail, he says not a 256 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,560 result of works so that no one may boast. 257 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,560 You see, Paul here is stripping away every illusion of self 258 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,520 salvation. He's saying, don't you dare 259 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:10,760 think that you helped because the human heart left to itself 260 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,119 always wants a piece of the credit. 261 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,839 We want to say, hey, yeah, sure, God saved me. 262 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:22,480 But I prayed the prayer. I walked down the aisle at Falls 263 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,800 Creek five times. I cleaned myself up. 264 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,160 So God, yeah, he might have saved me, but I did something. 265 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,960 I had a part in that. And Paul says, no, you didn't. 266 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,520 You were dead. You were dead in your sins. 267 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,800 And the truth is, is pride is the oldest sin in the book, 268 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:46,560 right? That's what made Satan fall. 269 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,440 That's what made Adam and Eve be deceived in the garden. 270 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,440 And it is what still whispers to our hearts today. 271 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,400 You don't need help. You can fix it on your own. 272 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:00,560 Fix you. Think about you. 273 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,840 What Paul says here is grace destroys that lie. 274 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,480 Grace humbles us. Grace says hey you bring 275 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,680 nothing, you offer nothing and you earn nothing. 276 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,960 Salvation is a gift from God from first to last. 277 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,720 It is all of God so that when we stand before him, no one can 278 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:25,520 boast, only we do his worship. She boasting isn't just pride in 279 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:30,040 words, it's confidence and self. It's thinking, hey, we can earn, 280 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,720 we can deserve, or we can secure what God has already given. 281 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,040 Our culture celebrates this, right? 282 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:38,520 I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. 283 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,600 I made something of my life, right? 284 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,200 We love these stories because what happens, it makes us the 285 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,200 hero. It makes us look good. 286 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:50,560 Why? Because we don't want to look 287 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:52,440 bad. We want people to look at us and 288 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,760 be like, man, that guy's awesome, that girl's awesome. 289 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,360 But Paul says there are no self-made Christians. 290 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,280 We didn't do anything. No one pulls himself out of the 291 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,320 grave of sin. No one reforms themself into new 292 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,640 life. You can't climb your way into 293 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:10,880 heaven. You have to be carried there by 294 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:15,720 the cross. You see salvation doesn't put a 295 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,480 metal on your chest, it puts a cross on your back. 296 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:24,200 It kills self-reliance and it replaces it with dependence on 297 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,160 Christ. When Judah was really little we 298 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:28,640 we read the little pilgrims progress. 299 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:34,400 And if you have not gotten a chance to read that, bring a box 300 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,120 of tissues and get ready. But in that, this is what it 301 00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:41,080 reminds me of little Christian, right? 302 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,080 He's staggering his way down the road. 303 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,360 He's carrying all this guilt and all this shame and he's, he's, 304 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:53,640 he's feeling the burden and he tries everything to shake it 305 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:55,520 off. He, he goes to good advice. 306 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:00,640 He tries moral effort. He tries religious effort. 307 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:05,880 But none of that works. It's not until he makes his way 308 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:08,400 up the up the hill and he sees the cross. 309 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:11,680 There's this beautiful moment that he starts saying, man, I 310 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:16,920 felt the the bands on my back start to loosen and all of a 311 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:21,240 sudden I could stand tall and I felt the weight lifted. 312 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,120 And as I turned back, I noticed it was gone. 313 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:30,680 Completely gone. The load stayed right where it 314 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,000 was until he met the hill of Calvary. 315 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:37,680 And for the first time, he stands tall. 316 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,840 Not because he's worked harder, but because the cross bore what 317 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:46,800 he couldn't. In that story, he stays looking 318 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:51,000 at the cross with his heart full of joy and tears streaming from 319 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,200 his face. You see, that's Ephesians 29 in 320 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,400 story form. But listen, when grace humbles 321 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,400 us, it doesn't humiliate us and it frees us. 322 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,600 When you realize you have nothing to do with your 323 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:07,600 salvation, there's nothing left to prove. 324 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,440 You don't have to compare your story to someone else's. 325 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:14,160 You don't have to look and be like, man, that person's got a 326 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,080 perfect life. Or like me. 327 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,840 I looked at these people that had crazy salvation stories and 328 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,200 I was like, I got to add to mine. 329 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,080 I got to add some sin to make God's work in me better. 330 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,800 But when I started to realize that salvation was not my own, 331 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,840 doing it it, it gave me confidence. 332 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,520 It meant I didn't have to hide behind spiritual performance, 333 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:37,640 right? Perfect attendance at church, 334 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,480 knowing all the Bible verses. Grace allows you to stop 335 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,920 striving and start resting because like we just saying, the 336 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:52,920 work is finished, it's done. Grace takes the pressure off of 337 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,600 us. It reminds us that your worth 338 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,520 isn't found in what you do, but it's in what Christ has done. 339 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,360 Paul says this grace leaves no room for boasting. 340 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:10,160 None. Because boasting belongs to the 341 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,040 one who earned it, and the only person who earns salvation is 342 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,360 Jesus. And so, as one writer put it, 343 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:23,520 even our best works are colored by sin and can never approach 344 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:28,200 the radical righteousness that God demands, right. 345 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,160 If salvation were by works and heaven would sound like a locker 346 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,120 room or a business meeting or a network meeting, we'd be walking 347 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:40,000 around throwing out stats, being like, yeah, I saved 20 people. 348 00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:43,520 What'd you do over there, Paul? Trying to be this whole, like, 349 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:45,760 jiving at each other and being like, hey, what, What have you 350 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,080 done? What'd you do for the gospel? 351 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,960 And it would turn into this boasting of self. 352 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:57,760 But instead, heaven will sound like a worship service with 353 00:22:57,760 --> 00:22:59,960 every voice, every tribe, every nation crying. 354 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:02,640 Worthy is the Lamb who is to be slain. 355 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:09,880 And that is our anthem pulses. God designed it this way so that 356 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,080 no one could ever stand before him and say, hey, look what I 357 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:17,200 did, because we didn't do it. Christ did it. 358 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,880 That's why Paul says in First Corinthians 131, Let the one who 359 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:28,280 boasts boast in the Lord. Every bit of praise belongs to 360 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,280 him. Every ounce of credit belongs to 361 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,640 him, because grace should leave us speechless. 362 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,720 And then it teaches us to speak one word, Hallelujah. 363 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,720 And this is where that line from the hymn All Sufficient Mary 364 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:48,320 just hits so deeply. All sufficient merit shining 365 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,160 like the sun. A fortune I inherit by no work I 366 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,560 have done. I lay down my garments and empty 367 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,800 boast good works now corrupted by the sinful host. 368 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:08,560 I'm dressed in my Lord Jesus. This is the heart of verse 9. 369 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:10,760 It's the heart of little Christian. 370 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,360 As he goes to the cross, he meets the angelic beings and 371 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:17,160 they give them a new clothing because they're saying your 372 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,160 clothing is not enough, it's not worthy, it's tainted. 373 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,440 You have to be dressed in the righteousness of Christ. 374 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,880 And so we stand clothed, not in our accomplishments, but in 375 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:35,280 Christ's righteousness. That truth doesn't just humble 376 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:40,760 us, it frees us, and it also liberates us. 377 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,840 It sets us free to rest in what has already been finished. 378 00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,720 No more striving, no more boasting, just gratitude. 379 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,920 And this right here is the miracle of grace, not a result 380 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,680 of work so that no one may boast. 381 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,440 And church, this is the part of the gospel that we must never 382 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,520 get over. And maybe that's why stories 383 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,160 like The Little Little Pilgrims Progress still grip our hearts. 384 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,080 That's why it's not just some children's tale. 385 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,200 It echoes our own story. Because deep down we know we 386 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:21,720 were little Christian bent over under a burden we could never 387 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,520 remove. But then the cross appeared. 388 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:27,320 And in that moment, everything changed. 389 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,400 That's what happened to you. And that's what happened to me 390 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,560 when I was buried beneath guilt and shame, when I had no words 391 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,800 left to pray, when my heart was cold and heavy, Christ stepped 392 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,120 in. He took my sin, my record, my 393 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:45,160 failure, and he carried it to the cross. 394 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,120 And he didn't wait for me to move toward Him. 395 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,520 He moved toward me. He didn't help me shoulder the 396 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:53,840 load. He said, I'm going to completely 397 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,920 take it off of you. Because that's mercy, that's 398 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:01,040 grace. Not that we tried and God met us 399 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,480 halfway, but that we were dead and God made us alive. 400 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,800 So Paul says, not a result of works, not by effort, not by 401 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,920 achievement, only by grace. That's why I'll never get over 402 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,040 it. That's why you shouldn't get 403 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:16,920 over it. That's why we shouldn't get over 404 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:22,400 it, because we can't. How could we ever move on from a 405 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,640 grace that rescued us out of the grave? 406 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:31,040 And when that sinks in, it leaves us like a little 407 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:36,120 Christian at the foot of the cross, tears of relief streaming 408 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:39,760 down his face, whispering he did it, He really did it. 409 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,560 He took my pain, my suffering, and he released me from my 410 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:50,320 guilt. And in that moment when your 411 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:54,160 pride is gone and your boasting is silence, that's when worship 412 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,080 happens. It's not forced, it's not 413 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,760 formal. It's genuine, humble, 414 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:05,040 overflowing gratitude because once you've seen the weight of 415 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,880 sin fall off of you, you can never look at Jesus the same. 416 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:14,680 And you shouldn't. As Boyce says in his commentary, 417 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:20,200 nothing that you or I can do, however great or small, can get 418 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:24,280 us into salvation. If we think there is, we are 419 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:28,400 still trusting ourselves and our own ability rather than Christ, 420 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:35,120 and we cannot be saved. Salvation is by grace alone. 421 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:40,160 All we can do and must do is take the picture God puts in our 422 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,560 hands and thank Him, because it's a lot better than anything 423 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,560 we had ever before. It's, as the hymn says, nothing 424 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,760 in the hand. In my hands I bring simply to 425 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:56,200 the cross I cling naked. Come to thee with dress 426 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,720 helpless. Look to thee for grace, Phalli 427 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,920 to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. 428 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:11,160 Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in Thee. 429 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:18,040 So Paul tells us that we are saved by grace, that we are 430 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:23,680 humbled by grace, and then he closes this section to show us 431 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,800 that we're recreated for good works. 432 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,880 He closes this section with one of the most beautiful summaries 433 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,280 of what grace does for us. Says we are his workmanship 434 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,600 created, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God 435 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,760 prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 436 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:48,720 After telling us that salvation is not by works, Paul now 437 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,440 explains that salvation produces works. 438 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:55,720 Now he isn't reversing himself here. 439 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,520 What he's doing is he's completing the thought. 440 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,360 Grace doesn't just rescue us, it remakes us. 441 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,280 We aren't saved by good works, but for them. 442 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,560 So when Paul says we are his workmanship, he's using a word 443 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,440 that deserves our attention. In the Greek, it's poema. 444 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:21,200 It's where we get our word poem. It means something carefully 445 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,520 made, a piece of art, a masterpiece. 446 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,880 Paul is saying that every believer is the creative work of 447 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:36,440 God, shaped by his hands, designed with his purpose. 448 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,320 A poem doesn't write itself. Trust me, ask my English 449 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:45,320 teacher. Every word, every rhythm, every 450 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:48,520 line carries the imprint of its author. 451 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,200 And that's what you are in the hands of God, His deliberate 452 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,880 composition. You're not a random act of 453 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,360 mercy. You're a personal masterpiece of 454 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,000 grace. The same God who spoke light 455 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:07,040 Into Darkness has written grace into the story of your life. 456 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:10,920 He didn't make you better, He made you new. 457 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:16,560 You are his poem of his art, His story, His evidence that grace 458 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,600 doesn't just forgive, it creates beauty out of brokenness. 459 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,280 And the beauty of this poem isn't just how it begins. 460 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,120 It's in how it continues. Every act of obedience, every 461 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,880 word of kindness, every work of faith is another line of God's 462 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:34,880 grace being written through your life. 463 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,560 And we're not just individual masterpieces, as we're going to 464 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,560 see in the next section. We are part of God's collective 465 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:46,800 poem, the church. And Ephesians 2 doesn't stop 466 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,640 with verse 10. It moves into verses 11 through 467 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,920 22 where Paul's going to show how grace tears down this 468 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,520 dividing wall. That means a grace shaped church 469 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:03,720 is a place of humility, reconciliation, service where no 470 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,840 one boasts because everyone has been rescued. 471 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,640 So when you serve the church, you, when you forgive a brother, 472 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,360 when you welcome the outsider, what you're doing is you're 473 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:15,560 adding another stanza to the poem of grace. 474 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:22,400 Then Paul says we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. 475 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,960 Notice again, created, not improved, not upgraded, not 476 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,480 recreated. You were created. 477 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:36,160 This is Genesis language. The old you has been crucified 478 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,440 with Christ. The new has been raised in him, 479 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:40,800 right? Second Corinthians 517, right? 480 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,400 If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. 481 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,960 The Christian life isn't about trying to prove something to 482 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,600 God. It's about living out what God 483 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,200 has already done in you. Jesus said I am the vine, you 484 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,840 are the branches. Apart from me, you can do 485 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,200 nothing, right? The branch doesn't strain to 486 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,120 bear fruit. All it does is simply abide. 487 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:05,160 It abides in the life of the vine. 488 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,720 And in the same way God works. Good works flow naturally from 489 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,280 our union with Christ. They're not the cause of grace, 490 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:17,400 they're the consequence of it. And Paul continues, which God 491 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,720 prepared beforehand. That means that the life you now 492 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,120 live in obedience isn't random. It's planned. 493 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,040 Before you ever took your first breath, before you ever sinned, 494 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,280 before you ever believed God had already designed the path of 495 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,600 grace your life would walk. That means nothing in your week 496 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,080 is wasted. That means the emails you write, 497 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,520 the prayers you whisper, the suffering you endure, all of it 498 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:46,680 can become part of God's workmanship. 499 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,880 The masterpiece of grace isn't a paint, isn't painted in grand 500 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:55,440 strokes, but in small, faithful ones. 501 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,480 This is the same word Paul uses only one more time in the New 502 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:04,200 Testament, which is in Romans 923, in order to make him not 503 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,840 make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which 504 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,440 he has prepared beforehand for glory. 505 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:15,560 In Romans, God prepared His people for glory, and in 506 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,400 Ephesians He's prepared their path for obedience. 507 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,320 Ephesians 1/4 says He chose us before the foundation of the 508 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,920 world. Philippians 213 right? 509 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:31,160 It's it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His 510 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,760 good pleasure. That means even your desire to 511 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:38,440 follow Him is the gift of grace. Every step of obedience is 512 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,680 something He planned for you to take. 513 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:45,600 The same God who planned your salvation before time began also 514 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,640 prepared your sanctification before time began. 515 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:54,240 Finally, Paul says that all of this is so we should walk in 516 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,480 them. That word walk connects us right 517 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:02,160 back to verse 2 where he said you once walked in sin. 518 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:07,680 This was once who you were, but now grace has changed our 519 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,800 direction. The same God who raised us from 520 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,360 death has also reoriented our steps. 521 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,960 Grace doesn't just change your status, it changes your stride. 522 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,120 Where he says, hey, you once walked in this, now walk in this 523 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,560 walk in the good works that God prepared for you. 524 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,159 Daryl Bach captures it perfectly when he writes, we are able to 525 00:34:30,159 --> 00:34:34,679 live out how God designed us. That's what grace does. 526 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:39,679 It allows us to live out how God actually designed us in freedom. 527 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,000 And this will become the point in Ephesians 4 through 6 of how 528 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,280 do you walk this out? How do you do what Paul just 529 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:51,320 said of walking in them? And it's rooted in what was 530 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:53,880 extolled about God in verse 4 of chapter 1. 531 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:59,240 And we're also still in the shadow of the prayer of 119. 532 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,800 God designed a path and now He equips us to follow it. 533 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,600 In other words, God doesn't just call you to walk, He gives you 534 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:14,000 the legs to move. Romans 64 echoes this truth. 535 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,760 Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the 536 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,560 Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 537 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,520 And this walk shows up in ordinary places. 538 00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:30,520 At home, it looks like patience when your kids test your limits 539 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,640 because you remember how patient God has been with you. 540 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:39,960 Right At work, it looks like honesty when compromise would be 541 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:45,240 easier because you serve a higher master in your 542 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:47,240 relationships. It looks like forgiveness that 543 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:51,200 in the makes no sense to the world because you've been 544 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:56,080 forgiven infinitely more. And in your marriage. 545 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,920 And remember, it means remembering that the same grace 546 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:02,440 that saved you is the grace that sustains you together. 547 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:09,000 It's seeing your spouse not as a project to fix, but as God's 548 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:14,200 workmanship to someone in whom he is also creating something 549 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,200 beautiful. So grace shows up on how you 550 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:20,680 speak to one another, how you forgive one another, and how you 551 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:26,640 serve one another. And in the church it looks like 552 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:31,640 joyful service and quiet faithfulness because the one who 553 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:36,520 served you 1st is still shaping you to be like Him. 554 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:39,760 And that is the miracle of grace. 555 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:41,440 It doesn't call you out of death. 556 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,400 It doesn't just do that. It sends you into life. 557 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,160 It doesn't just simply cleanse you, it commissions you. 558 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,360 You are His workmanship, His poema saved by grace, joined to 559 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:58,520 Christ and empowered by His Spirit so that your life might 560 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:02,320 tell the story. And that is the song of 561 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,760 eternity. From Eden's promise to Calvary's 562 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:09,200 cross to the glory yet to come, one refrain resounds. 563 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,800 All of it is grace. Grace saves. 564 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,040 Grace humbles. Grace transforms. 565 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:21,640 Paul's message in Ephesians 2, eight through 10 is beautifully 566 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:26,400 simple and endlessly deep. We were dead, but God made us 567 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,200 alive. We brought nothing but He gave 568 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:33,240 everything we are not saved by works but for them. 569 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,880 That's the gospel. Paul once ringing in our ears as 570 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:43,000 we leave this passage. You didn't earn this. 571 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:46,560 You can't lose this and you weren't saved to sit still. 572 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:53,360 You were saved to walk. So how do we respond as I invite 573 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:57,440 Jeff up and and the band friend. If you've never come to Christ, 574 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:04,360 if you've, if you've never felt the burden, lift it off. 575 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,560 Hear the good news. Salvation is not something you 576 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:12,120 achieve, it's something you receive. 577 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,400 You don't clean yourself up before coming to God. 578 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:18,320 You come because you can't clean yourself up. 579 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,280 You bring your sin, your guilt, your exhaustion, and you lay 580 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,040 them at the feet of the One who already paid for them. 581 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,920 Grace is offered right now to all who believe. 582 00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:33,040 So what's holding you back from grace? 583 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:37,920 What more are you waiting for God to prove? 584 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:43,320 But for some of you, maybe grace has become an old song. 585 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:50,160 It it used to move you. It used to bring you to tears 586 00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:54,120 and and service, but now it's just become background noise. 587 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,680 Frank, come back to the wonder of God. 588 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:03,400 Ask God to reawaken your heart to the miracle that you were 589 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:09,440 dead and now you're alive. Don't settle for surviving on 590 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:13,440 stale grace when God offers fresh mercy every morning. 591 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,240 And for those of you that are true believers, keep walking in 592 00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:21,600 grace. Keep trusting that the same God 593 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:26,520 who saved you will sustain you. You're his masterpiece. 594 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,120 Let your life be the evidence of His power. 595 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:33,000 Live thankfully, serve joyfully, love freely. 596 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:37,320 And when you fall short and you will remember. 597 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,960 Grace doesn't fail. The God who began a good work in 598 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:45,800 you will bring it to completion. So what story of grace is your 599 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:49,560 life telling? Who needs to hear this grace 600 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,880 this week? That's the gospel of Ephesians 601 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:56,360 2. Grace saves the Sinner, awakens 602 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,640 the slumbering, and strengthens the faithful. 603 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:03,520 And one day, when grace has finished it, we'll stand before 604 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,360 our Savior and see the author of this poem face to face. 605 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:11,040 And every line of our lives will declare the same truth by grace 606 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,880 through faith in Christ alone. Let's pray. 607 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:23,440 Heavenly Father, I am grateful. For the salvation that is freely 608 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:32,400 given, God, you know my own heart, God, of how I feel like I 609 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:39,800 I need to add something to it. God, I'm grateful for the words 610 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,520 of Paul that were ultimately your words of reminding us that 611 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:48,440 salvation is not complicated. It's simple. 612 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,360 It's all because of you. It's all because of grace. 613 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,600 Just kind of pray for our hearts this morning as we respond to 614 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,720 the word being preached and into the grace that you have given. 615 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,480 I pray that you would awaken that you would bring to life the 616 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:13,440 dead hearts in this room that you would show up unexpected and 617 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:17,920 change their life completely and show them the beauty of grace. 618 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,640 God, I pray for the one that is struggling that that they've 619 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:27,120 forgotten the beauty of your mercy and grace that whether 620 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,600 life has bogged them down, the pressures of this world have 621 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:35,200 have have silenced the the beauty in trusting in you. 622 00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:41,640 I pray that they would turn back and God, for the ones that are 623 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:46,320 faithful, I pray that they heard the challenge to continue to 624 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,440 live in that, to let their life be a testimony of grace. 625 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,720 That they would see that they were created to do good works 626 00:41:55,720 --> 00:41:58,120 and that they would live in them. 627 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:03,280 That the world would see you because of how they live. 628 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:09,360 God, we are so unworthy of your salvation and grace. 629 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:20,480 Thank you for extending it to us and we love you and we thank you 630 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:22,120 shame. We pray. 631 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,720 Amen. Thanks for listening. 632 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,440 To learn more about Heritage Church or if you'd like to 633 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,880 respond to this sermon, visit our website at 634 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,520 www.heritageshawnee.org.