From Death To Life | Ephesians 2:1-7 | Pastor John Miller

as we've gone through chapter one of ephesians just a reminder we've learned that you can't enjoy what you don't know you have and so looking back in eternity past paul as describing the blessings of chapter 1 verse 3 that are ours in christ delineated them as number one that god the father has chosen us before the foundations of the world and number two god the son has redeemed us by his substitutionary death on the cross and then number three god the holy spirit has sealed us until the day of redemption that's a quick summary of the first 12 verses of chapter 1. so paul wanted us to know that we're chosen that we're redeemed that we're indwelt and sealed by the holy spirit and then he moves from our appropriating that by praying for us in verses 15 to 23 we looked at that last wednesday to tonight as we move into chapter two that we might appreciate what is ours so he wants us to know our blessings he wants us to appropriate them by faith and then he wants us to appreciate them so to do that there's a transition in chapter two verses one to seven and by the way verses one to seven or one long sentence again in the greek so basically from chapter 1 verse 3 to chapter 2 verse 7 there's only really two long of three sentences in the greek translation so what he's going to do tonight he's going to give us how christ saved us in our sin and raised us to be seated and united with christ so tonight's division is very very simple there'll be a lot of sub points but it basically is divided like this in verses 1 to 3 we see the depth of our sin in verses 4 to 7 we see the height of god's love so verses 1 to 3 the depth of our sin and then verses 4 to verse 7 the height of god's love now just a kind of a quick reminder again it's always great to take scriptures in context the main theme of the book of ephesians is that we are formed into one body of which christ is the head so what he's going to do is he's talking in chapter one about god saving us by his grace and then in chapter 2 he's going to talk about how he's raised us up united us together and made us sit with christ in the heavenlies and that we are the body of christ the church and that christ is the head the end of chapter 2 is some of the grandest most glorious clearest teaching on the body of christ in all of the new testament talking about god has made both one jew and gentile and formed the body of christ of which he's the head and we're united to him so this is preparatory for us understanding god's new humanity that is the church taking jew and gentile no longer distinguished by being jew or gentile making one new man that's the concept of one new humanity and that we're one in christ of which christ is the head so paul talks first of all in verses one to 3 about the depth of our sin so that we will appreciate the grace of god the mercy of god the love of god in reaching down to save a wretch like me so follow with me in verses 1 to 3. paul says and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins where in times past you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince and the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom we all had our conversation now that word conversation in my old or my in my king james translation literally means your manner of living in times past in which you walked in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and notice you were by nature the children of wrath even as were others now paul is painting a picture of man without god now what paul does in these verses is certainly contrary to the popular opinions popular views proper popular cultural ideas of mankind it's god's view of man what we want to do is think biblically before we can actually diagnose the prob before we can diagnose a a cure for the problem we have to properly diagnose the malady and we're going to see man's malady man's problem is sin that we are fallen and living in rebellion with god so it's so important for us to understand that so we see in verses one to three as we just read the picture of all humanity what this is describing is all human beings before salvation all mankind all humanity bc before christ paul says four things about us in our past now in this passage tonight from verse one to seven and i'll bring it out as we go through he's going to describe our past he's going to describe our present and he's going to describe our future so i'm going to give to you tonight that are believers i'm going to give you your past i'm going to describe your present and then i'm going to talk about your future now write down these four things that paul says about the depth of our sin first of all he says verse 1 that we were dead in trespasses and sins he says and you hathy quicken now that phrase happy quickened in your bible if it's included there is italicized it isn't mine and that means that it doesn't really belong there it's just putting there for continuity of thought and i do believe that it's best to take it out it doesn't appear in the text until you get to verse 5 when he talks about that he's quickened us together with christ by grace we are saved so you would read it without that statement go back to verse one and you who were dead in trespasses and sins not until it gets down to verse five does he actually say he's quick and does now in verse 1 it starts with and you that takes you back into chapter 1 verse 20 to 23 and in chapter 1 verse 20 to 23 paul the apostle is talking about in his prayer what god has done in raising us up and sitting us with christ in heavenly places go back to chapter 1 and look at it with me in verse 20 chapter 1 verse 20. he said which he wrought in christ when he raised him from the dead set him in his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and put all things under his feet and given him to be the head over all things the church there were introduced to the concept of the church the word church is the greek word ecclesia it simply means called out assembly it's the first time that word appears in the book of ephesians and he'll describe the formation of the church at the end of chapter 2 which is his body another kind of picture for the church the fullness of him that filleth all in all and then with no break no skip and you who were dead in trespasses and sins so he talks about we were dead and sins and trespasses and that actually he has caused us to be raised up and united with christ and seated in the heavenlies but first he talks about our sinful state as being dead in trespasses and sins now there's several different ways that our culture views mankind or humanity some basically teach that all human beings are intrinsically good and that basically all we need to do is have proper education proper instruction proper environment and that we have a spark of divinity even within us and that we just need to fan that flame and that we will all live good lives and they think that man isn't really dead that he just needs improvement he just needs help he needs education he needs food water clothes needs a good environment and everything will be okay now obviously that has not alleviated man's problem it's interesting to look at mankind throughout history his heart has not changed the same lust the same hatred the same sins the same violence the same wickedness has existed in the heart of man all the way back to when cain slew his brother abel nothing's changed so the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart now i'm all for education i'm all for feeding people clothing people fixing up their environment taking care of people but that will not change the heart of man that will not solve the problem of the sinful heart of man and then there's others that say well men have problems they are sick but again they just need help they need some psychology they need some understanding they need some counseling they try to improve men's status again with education or environment or these other things that man isn't good but he just needs help and he can overcome his wickedness and then thirdly the bible's view of man is that man is dead now let me make it perfectly clear as it is in the text and i'll point it out we are dead spiritually it's not talking about physical death it's using death as a metaphor of the fact that we are separated from god notice in verse 2 it says that we were dead or verse 1 excuse me we were dead in trust passes and sins and i'll talk about that in just a moment but i want to point out that the word dead and you can do your own research it's etymology literally means separate or separation so when you die physically your soul and spirit leave your body and there's a separation so when you die spiritually it only implies a separation from god so the bible teaches that every single human being born into this world is born sinful spiritually dead and separated from god uh a week ago uh we were in hawaii seeing our new grandson and what a cute little guy he is and was so blessed to hold him but i've raised four kids i have now seven grandkids so i've been a father and a grandfather i know well that those little children grow up with a natural bent toward evil right there you go you want to talk about your grandson that way well it's biblical when you grow up we never have to tell our kids look when you're in a tight spot i'm going to instruct you in this thing it's called lying okay i'll teach you how to lie i'm going to teach you how to be deceptive and i want to teach you something else everything's yours first the most important word you'll ever learn is mine say mine come on say mine we don't have to do that right it just flows naturally mine know we had our other little grandson a few weeks with us and his name is hans and i guess he's what four years old something like that i don't know how old my grandkids are but he's a picky eater and but he loves macaroni and cheese but he wanted a very specific kind of macaroni and cheese and my wife had called our daughter to find out what that kind was but he didn't she didn't really get the exact right kind so anyway she makes up the macaroni and cheese sets it befriend little hans and he looks down out takes one little nibble out and he goes nana you got the wrong kind and then he continued to say you got to get the right kind his mom was horrified and we started laughing but if we just have this natural bent like mine this is what i want and this is the way we're going to go so we have to kind of train a child in the way that he should go so that when he's old he will not depart from that but this is the key at one point in time every one of them must reach a time when they must decide to trust jesus christ as their lord and savior and be born again it doesn't matter if you're a pastor's kid doesn't have your pastor's grandkid doesn't matter if you're raised in church or you go to sunday school it doesn't matter if you've been confirmed doesn't matter if you've been baptized it doesn't matter if you've been dedicated to god one day you must open your heart and trust jesus christ as your savior and be born again so this section is describing all humanity so it's really reinforcing that truth we must be born again which we're going to read about when we get down to verse 5 being quickened or regenerated so we are not just intrinsically good we're sinners separated from god and we are dead in our trespasses and sins now what does paul mean by dead he means that we're spiritually dead and separated as a result of adam and a sin in the garden of eden so we are separated from god now be careful and this is just a little footnote for you bible students be careful of what i call an over literal in interpretation of the concept of dead to where the hyper calvinist says because you are dead in sins you literally have no ability to respond or believe in jesus christ so that's why they teach that regeneration comes before faith or belief and that god must regenerate you in order for you to believe and that god gives you the gift of faith to trust him and believe and they interpret romans 8 or romans 2 verse 8 by grace you have been saved through faith as god giving you faith as a gift to believe and to be saved i don't i don't believe that that's what the bible teaches so it doesn't teach that being dead in trespasses and sins though i do believe that men are totally depraved but it doesn't mean that you don't have the ability as the holy spirit convicts you and draws you to either resist god and exercise of your own will or surrender in faith and believe in christ so if you reject jesus christ you have no one to blame but yourself if you've accepted christ and you're born again you have all praise and all glory and all honor to go to god you say well how do you reconcile that i don't but i believe that's taught in the scriptures that we are responsible to believe and to repent and trust christ but dead in sin doesn't mean that you can't respond in grace or to the grace of god or believing in jesus christ it means that you are basically separated from god now there's an interesting thought about being dead in sin is that we are in trespasses verse 1 and sins now the word trespasses in verse 1 means that we are rebels at heart it means a willful deliberate disobedience and i believe that given time every one of us do disobey god the bible says all have what sinned and fallen short of the glory of god bible says there's no one righteous no not one at one point in life in life at our time we have disobeyed god or violated his commandments and we have become trespassers and then there's a different greek word translated sins it's greek word harmatya means to miss the mark and it has more of the concept of failing or falling it doesn't mean that you willfully deliberately disobey but in weakness you stumble or you fall and it carries the idea of missing the target are missing the mark so they would do archery they would shoot their arrows and they actually said that if you didn't hit the mark on the target you were a hamarthia you were a sinner you'd miss the mark so that word's carried over in our bibles to be used for sin all of us have transgressed we're rebels all of us have sinned we're failures we have missed the mark so sin means that we have been condemned by god for the bible says all have sinned fallen short of the glory of god the wages of sin is death but notice the second thing in our description in verse 2 we were disobedient it says there where in times past you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince and the power of the air the spirit that worketh and the children of disobedience so number one in our pre-converted state before we were born again we were dead in our trespasses and sins number two we were living in disobedience now notice we walked according to the pattern or guides of the world and according to the course of this world according to the prince and power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience so we were basically following the world now the world is the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life so apart from regeneration we follow our fleshly appetites we follow the lust to the eyes the desire to possess and then we have the pride of life it describes mankind again apart from god following the flesh living for the desires of the flesh following the passion of wanting possessions and then the pride heart of man proud heart of man being a abomination to god so we are walking according to this world now notice here we have our past in times past you walked according to the world and then you were also under the influence of the prince and the power of the air now this is the devil so we're introduced to the world all that's in the world the lust of the flesh lester the eyes the pride of life then we're introduced to the devil he's called here in verse two the prince and the power of the air there really is a devil satan is real so not only do you have the world to influence you you also have the devil to influence you as well and then notice we also have in verse three that we were depraved so number one we were dead number two we were disobedient and number three we are depraved speaks of the flesh in verse 3. he says among whom also we all had our conversation or manner of living in times past there's again our past and these things the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind stop right there so we have the world we have the flesh and we have the devil before you were converted that's where you lived the world the flesh and the devil lust of the eyes lust of the flesh the pride of life satan controlling you i remember when i got saved just right out of high school as a young man i realized i thought i was free i thought i was doing my own thing and when i came to christ i realized i was a puppet on strings and he was just pulling the strings and i was following the lust of my flesh i wasn't free christ sets us free amen jesus said if anyone be in christ the bible says if anyone in christ he is a new creation and if the son sets you free you are free indeed so that's what sets us free but i i just have this image in my mind that i'm like a marionette and i'm on strings and the devil's the one pulling the strings and he's taking me over here and taking me over there taking me over here and he was just in control and it wasn't until i came to christ that those strings were cut old things passed away all things became new and it became a new creation in jesus christ notice as i read in verse 3 the statement lust of the flesh and desires of the flesh now in context there the flesh is not talking about your physical body it's not talking about your physical skin it's talking about a sinful adamic nature now again i realize that these are theological concepts paul delineates them a lot in the book of romans but we were dead separated from god we were walking according to the course of this world we were under the influence of the prince and the power of the air and then we were following the lust of the flesh the power of our sinful adamic nature now a good way to think about the flesh is to realize that it's inherited from adam at birth and that it's a capacity and a propensity so mankind human beings left to themselves apart from god basically gravitate towards sinful behavior that's man's natural propensity because man is made in the image and likeness of god and the fall has not taken away that image and likeness even unregenerated people can be philanthropists they can be kind they can be good they can show love to others sometimes we know unbelievers that seem to be more like christ than believers so it doesn't erase the image of god that is there in man but still it's fallen and tainted and influenced by that sinful nature which paul describes as the flesh the theological term is the adamic nature because we inherited from adam so we need to understand that we're under the influence of the devil and we are depraved now you don't need the devil to sin you can sin just fine without the devil so when you sin you don't necessarily have to blame the devil remember flip wilson all you old people all the people that will be at the fellowship on tuesday the devil made me do it remember that blaming the devil for this and for that you know you don't need the devil to sin sometimes i think the devil's saying it wasn't me it wasn't me you can sin just fine without the devil how true that is i heard the girl of a story of a little girl named sally who kicked her brother and pulled his hair and her mother asked her why did the devil make you kick your brother and pull his hair she said the devil made me kick him but it was my idea to pull his hair so you can't blame the devil for all that you do because we have a sinful nature so number one we're dead number two we're living in disobedience and again this describes everyone number three we were depraved we're walking according to the lust of the flesh and the desires of the flesh and of the mind and then here's number four at the end of verse three we are doomed we were by nature the children of wrath even as others so if you stopped at verse 3 and said god bless you have a great week hope you enjoyed your time here tonight it'd be kind of depressing to leave at the end of verse 3 right is there no hope is there no hope for us apart from christ has god not rescued us by his grace and by his mercy the answer is yes we'll get there in verse 4 down to verse 7. but we were doomed and notice that we're by nature the children of wrath even as others in other words we are under the judgment of god here is a direct reference in the bible to the wrath of god now again not a popular subject not something people like to think about or preach about or talk about but it is in the bible so i'm talking about you and i before salvation and if there's anyone here tonight that's not a christian you're still living in verses 1 to 3. you are still dead you are still living in disobedience you're still depraved and you are doomed you are going to face the wrath of god you are headed for the judgment of god in john 3 36 it says he that believeth not on the son has not everlasting life but he that believe he that believeth has over last night he that believes not shall not see life but has the wrath of god abiding on him so god wrath is his holy displeasure against sin now you might say at this point john this is a really pessimistic view of man and what i've preached so far tonight i can actually already feel it even in this room some people are going this is so negative this is so pessimistic this is so depressing by the way i've never heard joel olstein do an exposition of ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3. he just avoids this passage i mean read it in different translations read it in modern versions i don't care what version or translation you want to read it this is god's description of all mankind because of the fall we felt all all humanity so the impetus and the need for evangelism the impetus and the need for people to be born again every day we get disappointed with our politicians and with our elective process and with the leaders in our country how is that we think that we're going to be saved by the politicians our hope is not in man is it our hope is not in government especially not our california government our hope is in god and you can educate him you can try to bring social justice and equity and fairness and i'm all for those things i'm all for just laws righteous laws and all those things but none of that will change the heart of man you can legislate all the laws that you want and it will not change the sinful heart of man nothing that man can do can remedy the malady of being dead in trespasses and sin so man's greatest need is for the gospel of jesus christ and what's the greatest need of the church is to preach the gospel and to evangelize and tell others about jesus christ because that's what changes men's hearts and lives so paul here says nothing about the image of god even fallen man still retains paul says nothing about the different degrees of man's sin there are degrees of sin but the death that we're in is our standing in adam there's no degrees you know it's interesting that there are no degrees of death everyone's either you're either dead or you're alive you're not kind of dead you're not sort of dead you're either dead or you're alive and the same thing is true in the spiritual realm you're either a christian or you're not you're either a saint or you ain't you're either born again or you're not born again you're the child of god or you're not a child of god but there is there is degrees of decay so we're all sinners we're all dead but some are further along in their sin and more decayed it's interesting that jesus raised three people from the dead in the gospel accounts jairus daughter the widow son of nain and lazarus all three of those are actual miracles of dead people that jesus brought back to life not in a new glorified body but in their old bodies and they would have to die again but each one of them had been dead a different length of time and they illustrate that we're dead in sins but some have fallen deeper into decay let me explain it when jesus raised jairus daughter she had literally only been dead for a few minutes she had just died he was on his way he got in the room brought peter and john and james into the room takes this little 12 year old girl and he utters to luther comey a little lamb very endearing terms and reaches out his hand and this 12-year-old girl sits up in her bed can you imagine how joy-filled her parents were this story has always touched my heart because i have three daughters and i know how precious they are to me as a dad i think a 12 year old daughter the guy lost his 12 year old daughter jesus shows up and raises her back from the dead but she had only been dead for a few moments the second raising was the widow's son of maine he'd been dead for a couple hours because in the middle east at that time when someone died they buried them within a few hours they actually had the funeral and buried them immediately because they didn't have any way to preserve the body they would decompose quickly so they would go rapidly to their burial so jesus stopped the funeral possession and actually raised the boy from the dead who had been dead for a few hours then the third is that of lazarus when lazarus died jesus was down by the jordan river got word tarried for another day so a day to get there carried another day day to get back when he gets to the grave side of bethany how long had lazarus been dead three days when jesus said roll away the stone his sister martha said lord by this time he stinketh that's the king jim king james says he stinketh and jesus said didn't i tell you that if you believe you'll see the glory of god they rolled away the stone and jesus said lazarus come forth and lazarus came out of the grave had been dead for three days so there are those that are dead in sins but maybe they don't quite stinketh yet there are those who sin just a little bit more than the other person but they're still dead and then there's those that are dead to the point where they stinketh they're really corrupt but jesus has the ability and the power to do what raise us from the dead not only physically but spiritually all three of them more picture of christ raising the dead in regeneration and salvation so now we move in verses 4 to 7 to the good part the height of god's love so we see the depth of our sin now we see the height of god's love and this is an intended contrast it takes man all the way down to the pit doomed and now christ comes and lifts us all the way up into the heavenlies verse 4. but god many bible scholars believe that this is the greatest but god in all the bible but god no matter how dark the background now how deep the sin there's always god and he is rich in mercy and he has great love wherewith he loved us now verses 4 5 and 6 are your present verses 1 to 3 are your past verses 4 5 and 6 are our present he showed mercy great love loved us verse 5. even when we were dead in sins here it is he quickened us old english concept for gave us new life made us alive so we were dead he gave us life together with christ by grace you are saved which is going to be the theme he picks up we'll get it next wednesday in verses 8 and 9 and 10. and what has he done verse 6 he hath raised us up together made us sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus that in the ages to come that by the way is now your future verse seven he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through christ jesus so you have this very dark picture of man dead depraved doomed disobedient living in rebellion against god and then you have this beautiful marvelous picture of god's mercy god's love and god's kindness and grace and saving us so the but god is an intended contrast now comes our redemption and our hope now this is the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob the god and father of our lord jesus christ this is the god of the bible there's only one true and living god and he's manifested in three persons god the father god the son and god the holy spirit so there's only one god and that's the god of the bible the god of our lord and savior jesus christ jesus is god and the holy spirit himself is god man's only hope is god so what we were by nature verses 1 to 3 verses 4 to 7 what we are by grace so god has taken the action to rescue us now i know it sounds simple and it seems simple and it might seem simplistic but i love the concept of god rescuing us god coming to save us i don't know about you but i wouldn't i don't know where i'd be right now if it wasn't for god it wasn't for christ reaching down and saving me by his grace so christians are often criticized for being morbidly preoccupied with their sin and guilt but it's only we who face the facts about ourselves that we can fully appreciate that's the point the mercy the love the grace the kindness of god toward us through christ here's one of the problems in the modern church if you don't see how sinful man is you don't see what a great savior he is john newton the man who wrote the song amazing grace when he was older and up in years he would basically just constantly repeat all i know is i'm a great sinner he's a great savior what a great perspective that is i'm a great sinner and he's a great sailor and here's the here's the issue many times if you've walked with god for many years you sometimes have a tendency to forget how sinful and lost and in darkness you were i remember when i first got saved how fresh it was and i'd just been pulled out of a life of sin and the chains have been breaking the weight had been lifted and it was so exciting so fresh and after many years of walking with christ sometimes there's a tendency to forget what a pit i was in and how he reached down and saved me and brought me up and put me on a rock and put a new heart in me and put a song in my heart when i was running from him he was running after me when i was in rebellion toward him he was reaching out in love toward me so the initiative is god's there's no one that seeketh after god god must first draw us and woo us by his spirit and convict us of our sin and our need for him and then he's called the holy spirit called the hound dog of heaven not in the bible that's just an old expression we have go wow i wonder where that is in the bible but he chases us and pursues us and i remember just before my conversion i was just miserable totally miserable because the spirit of god was convicting me a person living under conviction is the most miserable human being on planet earth and you won't be happy until you give your heart to jesus christ so stop running stop fighting and just yield to him let him save you by his grace so i love that but god and we need to remember where we came from so we'll appreciate what god has done so paul tells us what god has done and why he has done now again i don't want to carry on these points i probably have belabored it too long already and i've gone too slow but i want you to write them down there are four things that god has done in saving us first of all he loved us verse 4 his great loved he loved us but god who was rich in mercy for his great love or with he loved us now if you mark your bible you want to underline but god you wander in a line rich in mercy you want to underline great love and then the end of verse 4 loved us so even though we were sinners even though we were dead disobedient doomed and living in rebellion toward god god actually loved us the love of god how great and how marvelous the god that we offended actually loved us even in our sins that's because he is verse 4 rich in mercy and he loved us then notice in verse 5 that he gave us life number two notice verse 5 for even when we were dead and in sins here it is happy quickened us together with christ by grace you have been saved so in verse 4 loved us verse 5 quickened us now this phrase quickened and i'm reading from the king james translation basically means given new life it is the theological concept listen carefully of being born again or regenerated so he gave us new life we were dead and he quickened us he gave us life so what happens when you get saved is basically the title of my message we went from death to life we were walking dead people we were spiritually zombies walking in sins and trespasses and god regenerated us by the holy spirit gave us new life that's the moment we were saved we become the children of god we are indwelled by the spirit we are sealed by the spirit and god made us his own by adoption so he gave us new life notice it speaks of it together with christ then he refers to his soon topic by grace you are saved or literally by grace you have been saved in the greek that statement is a perfect participle which means you have been saved you are saved and you will always be saved that statement actually affirms the security of the believer here's the third thing that god did for us it's in verse six he raised us up so he loved us verse four he quickened us regenerated us verse 5 and then verse 6 he raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus notice twice he repeats the word together so the minute you were regenerated you were taken out of adam and placed in christ and together with christ you identified with him and you were raised up together you together with christ verse 5 and verse 6 in his death in his resurrection in his ascension and his exaltation this is your identification with christ so together is the key concept made us sit together in verse 6 in heavenly places in christ jesus so where are you as a believer right now you're seated with christ in heaven now here's the fourth and last it's in verse 7 and it launches us into the future he will show us so number one he loved us number two he gave us life number three he raised us up and number four verse seven he will show us and that the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through christ jesus so in verses 1 to 3 you have your past verses four to six you have your present and if you're a christian in verse seven you have your future in your future all throughout eternity god is gonna be unveiling and revealing and showing you the richness of his grace and his kindness as mercy in christ the veil will be torn away we will see clearly all things we will see him as he is we'll be like him and we'll understand his marvelous grace and his marvelous mercy so this future display will demonstrate the exceeding riches of his grace i love that concept exceeding riches and his kindness towards us all coming through jesus christ so all the blessings that ours and god come in by and through jesus christ and apart from christ none of these are true when god the father raised christ and exalted him we see his power but when god raised us with christ we see his look at it with me verse 4 his mercy verse 4 his love verse 7 his grace and verse 7 again his kindness to us i'm always touched by that thought god's grace god's mercy god's grace is god giving us what we don't deserve god's mercy is god not giving us what we do deserve but the idea of god's kindness you know that god has actually been kind to you not only merciful and gracious but kind and how he reached out to you in your rebellious state so god has brought us from death to life from bondage to freedom from the tomb to the throne no wonder in verse 3 of chapter 1 paul said praise god from whom all what blessings flow all the blessings of heaven ours in jesus christ now without skipping a beat we'll get into it next week we're only going to look at three verses by grace you have been saved through faith it's not of yourself it's a gift of god not of works lest any man should boast for we are verse 10 of chapter 2 his what his workmanship his poem his work of art so god took this sinful sinful rebellious lump of clay and showed mercy and kindness and grace and raised it up and saved us by his grace and works in our life to make us his trophy of grace his poema amen

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

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Length: 46min 45sec (2805 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021