"Rescued by Grace" - Ephesian 2:4-5

Good morning. It is our privilege and joy here at Dillingham Moravian Church to

be able to lead you in the study of God's Word.

My name is Pastor Simon, and here at Dillingham Moravian Church,

our mission is to make disciples of Christ as we shine the light of God's Word

throughout Bristol Bay, southwest Alaska, and beyond.

One year, a friend and I were out fishing on the Wood River,

and we came upon a boat that was just ahead of us on the other side of the river.

As I watched them, a young man who had a fish on his rod leaned forward with

the fishnet to scoop up the fish on the end of his line.

However, the young man leaned over too far, and he began to fall frontwards into the water.

Just before the man was fully submerged in the river, the other fellow leaned

over and grabbed the falling man by his bibs and pulled him back into the skiff.

I remember as I watched the scene unfold that from our position on the other

side of the river, we were powerless to save that man from drowning.

Praise God that the other man rescued that young man at the last moment.

I'm sharing this story with you to illustrate that while we were powerless to

save ourselves and anyone else from the furious wrath of God due to our sins,

God invaded human existence and rescued his people from eternal death and brought

us into the glorious new life of God.

Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for your word, for your very truth to us.

Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, the living word, but also thank you for

your word, which is the written word that your Holy Spirit, that you, Lord God,

breathe onto us so that we could have life in you, that we get knowledge of you,

We can know how much you love us, that your living word actively works in and

through us as we read and study and hear your word.

May you teach us from your word today, Lord.

Thank you for the privilege to be able to hear from you.

In your precious son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, we have been teaching through a preaching

series in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, which teaches us about the unifying

love of God in the Holy Trinity, in God's church,

and how God's church can live out the unity of God.

In Ephesians 2, verses 1-3, the Apostle Paul taught the Ephesian Christ believers,

Ephesians 2:1–3

and subsequently us as well, that they were once dead in their

trespasses and sins and enslaved in the world system that Satan controls.

But due to Christ's intervention, the Ephesian disciples and all believers no

longer were dead in their trespasses and sins.

Paul emphasized that they, himself included, were all once children deserving of God's wrath,

targets of the divine fury of Almighty God, along with all the rest of the world

who indulged in the desires of their bodies and minds.

Paul strongly emphasized that the Ephesians and us were no longer to indulge

in the evil desires of the Satan-controlled world that we once belonged to.

And today we're going to continue in our study in Ephesians chapter 2,

Ephesians 2:1–5

verse 1 through 5, where Paul taught,

and you were dead in your trespasses and sins 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.

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. And here's what we're studying today.

Verse four, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which

he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved.

As we study Ephesians 2, verses 4-5, the first principle I'd like to show you

Ephesians 2:4–5

from this passage is that God intervened into human history with His merciful love.

Throughout my time as a pastor here in Bush, Alaska, I've been called to people's

houses or to the hospital by the family of a patient who is asking for an intervention

into the life of a family member.

Usually when I get to the meeting place, whether it's a hospital room or a house,

the patient's doctor is there, as well as members of the family,

and sometimes good friends are present as well.

The purpose of these meetings have been to convince the patient that they need

to change their ways, specifically in the cases regarding drugs or alcohol or both.

I am usually called to start the meeting off with prayer, and then the doctor

takes over and explains to the patient that if they continue to do alcohol or

drugs, then they will die.

My role was to share the scripture that had to do with

the love that God has for that person, the wrongness of what the person was

doing in the light of God's word, and the hope that they have in Christ through the gospel.

Family and friends that were present would also plead for the patient to change

their ways because they loved that person and that they wanted that person to

be around for a lot longer.

I'm sharing this illustration to you because this concept of intervening into

the life of someone, which would then lead to a changed life,

is similar to what Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 is getting at.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Except that God wasn't just changing the heart and behaviors of a person.

He was to bring life into people who were once dead so that they could be alive in the Spirit of God.

Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 wrote, but God being rich in mercy because

Ephesians 2:4

of his great love with which he loved us.

I want you to see that what Paul was teaching in this passage is not just another

principle of how to live as a Christian.

This is a complete intervention into human history where God invaded the lives

of human beings and nothing, I mean nothing, would ever be the same again.

When Christ came to earth as God made flesh and dwelt among us and was sacrificed

on the cross for all of humanity and then rose from the dead,

this was more than just a crossroads where a person has to choose which way to go next.

History would be so impacted by the advent of Christ that history was divided

between before Christ and after Christ.

The crucially important truth that I want you to see is that Paul began this verse with, but God.

I often like to joke that this is the biggest but in history,

to which my little boys laugh hysterically.

The word but meant that it is the beginning of something entirely new or that

the author was introducing something new.

And that was exactly what was going on in this verse.

The question is, what was this entirely new event that happened which changed

not only human history, but all of creation everywhere and for all time?

I want you to see that in the New Testament, Theos, or God, generally answers

to the Old Testament plural name Elohim.

It's a Hebrew word for God, which denotes God, the Trinity, meaning that God in all

three persons of the Holy Trinity was involved in this historic intervention.

However, Paul inserted in the Greek the word "the" before God.

Many instances when the the is before the word God, then "the particular reference

is made to God the Father, making the distinction in the persons of the Trinity evident."

I bring this up to emphasize that all persons of the Holy Trinity had a role

in this miraculous intervention of God.

Yet the main leader in organizing and spearheading the event of Christ's first

coming was God the Father.

This is important because over the 2,000 plus years after Christ,

there have been traditions that have taught that God the Father is the angry God, full of wrath.

And Christ Jesus is the merciful, loving God that appeases the Father with His blood in intercession.

Yet the intervention of Christ Jesus was always the plan of God the Father.

Yes, God the Father has just wrath for sin. But before the creation of the world,

God the Father, in His overwhelmingly great and marvelous mercy,

foreordained to send His only begotten Son to save His chosen people.

Jesus in John 3, verse 16-17 taught Nicodemus, For God so loved the world,

John 3:16–17

that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,

but that the world might be saved through him.

We must understand that the motivation for God the Father sending his only Son,

who is the only one like himself to the cross was because he loves humanity,

especially his chosen people.

Let's go back to Ephesians chapter two, verse four.

But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us.

The word that Paul used for mercy meant "leniency and compassion shown towards

offenders by a person or agency of authority, often penal-related."

Love meant the agape love or God's love,

which meant to have a strong non-sexual affection and love for a person and

their good as understood by God's moral character,

especially characterized by a willing forfeiture of rights or privileges in

another person's behalf.

I want you to also notice that Paul further emphasized God's mercy and love

for us by adding rich in mercy and his great love with which he loved us.

Paul wasn't satisfied with just telling the Ephesians that God loved them.

No, Paul wanted the Ephesians and all people to know God's mercy and love is

completely unlimited and is overwhelming and is overwhelming.

How can we, as Christians, apply the truth of verse 4 to our lives?

There are at least two ways I see from this verse.

First off, it is so essential for us as Christians to deeply understand the

truth that God loves us so very much.

Why is it so important that we understand to the very depths of our being the

love of God in Jesus Christ?

Simply because without knowing and trusting and resting in the love of Christ

and the love that the Father has for us, We cannot obey God's word,

and if we cannot obey God, we cannot abide or stay in the love of God.

And abiding in Christ is what the Christian life is all about.

Here's what I mean by this. Jesus commanded in John chapter 15,

John 15:9–10

verse 9 through 10, Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you.

Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,

just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

Please pay attention to this. This is essential for us to see.

In order for us as disciples of Christ to abide or remain in the love of Christ,

we must knowingly be convinced in God's love for us in Christ.

How can we truly trust someone unless we know that they love us?

How does a husband and wife trust each other? Because they know that their spouse loves them.

They just know it, not just mentally, but emotionally in their will as well.

And the more spouses know that their spouse loves them, the more they love in return.

You see, to trust Christ enough to obey him so that we can abide in Christ's

love, we, you and I, must be convinced of just how much Christ and the Father,

subsequently the Holy Spirit, loves us.

And secondly, we must also trust that God is still liberating people from sin today.

If you feel trapped in your sin or circumstances, know that God is more powerful than

your sin and greater than your circumstances. If you're here today and

you've never put your trust in Christ as your only Lord or Savior,

I challenge you today to pray to God to open up the eyes of your mind and heart

to the wondrous truth that God loves you.

May He open up your understanding to the truth that God sent His only,

most precious Son, Jesus Christ, to die on that cross to free you from the blood

debt of sin that will send you to hell.

I urge you to pray that God would make you convinced that Christ died and rose

again to make you, as a prospective child of God, as if you've never,

ever sinned before in the sight of God the Father.

I strongly encourage you to pray that God would make you believe and trust the

truth that you desperately need His salvation.

I encourage you to take the bold step of faith to trust in Christ as your only Lord, even right now.

And the promise is, is that God will apply the forgiveness, redemption,

and freedom purchased through Jesus on the cross to be placed in your personal

account and you will be saved from the wrath of God.

If you here or are listening and you are a believer in Christ and Christ has made

you positionally right before God the Father.

Know that in practical daily life in your bodies, you have sinned and you will

continue to sin in the future.

My point is that you and I can deeply trust that Christ is still delivering you from sin.

I do not mean eternal salvation, rather deliverance in the sense of the cleaning

process of making you and I more like Christ.

You also may feel trapped and ashamed in your sin, or that you have done so

many wrongs that you cannot be forgiven.

Know that God can and will forgive you because God's forgiveness is not dependent

on your effort to stay without sin.

God's forgiveness is dependent only on the sacrifice blood of Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God.

What God does require of us is faith-filled repentance, trust,

and love for Christ in response to His marvelous grace.

The foundation of loving faith in Christ is a humble luring ourselves before

God in our own perspective so that we can joyfully obey Him.

And if you've sinned, trust in Christ's loving sacrifice on your behalf.

Trust in Christ's love for you.

Then get up, lower yourself in your own eyes, surrender to Christ,

being your first and only treasure again.

Humbly repent of your sins and then step out in faith to joyfully obey his word.

So far, we've learned that Paul was explaining to the Ephesians and to us as

well that God intervened into human history and human existence by demonstrating

his unlimited mercy and overwhelming love.

God demonstrated his beyond abundant merciful love in Jesus Christ's sacrificial

death on the cross and in his resurrection.

The next essential truth that God through Paul was teaching is that in Christ,

as Christ Misbelievers, we who were once dead, are now alive together in Christ.

One of the scariest times of Abigail's and my life together was when Paul was born.

His little body was blue and unable to breathe.

Our precious little boy was then immediately whisked into the NICU by the doctor

and nurses, where they worked tirelessly at clearing Paul's airways and keeping him alive.

During his time in the NICU, Paul stopped breathing.

His heart stopped altogether three times.

Miraculously, the staff brought him back from the brink of death each time.

Oh, the dread and fear and worry we had at that time for our little boy.

But look at him now, as wild and full in life as can be.

We are so blessed that God, in his mercy, using the medical staff,

deemed to bring little Paul back to us.

I share this testimony with you because the concept of being dead and then brought

to life is very similar to what Paul,

the Apostle Paul, was explaining to the Ephesian congregation,

except for two very vital differences.

We will look at those differences in a moment.

Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 continued, Even when we were dead in our transgressions

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.

I want to point out three fundamental truths that God, through Paul,

proclaimed in this verse.

First off, we were all once dead in our trespasses and sins,

but we are now alive in Christ.

I want to remind you of the differences between my boy Paul's experience with

death and life and what happened and does happen with those who have been saved

from the wrath of God and brought from death to life.

The main difference is that as a result of the disobedience of Adam and Eve,

all human beings were not physically dead, but spiritually dead or without life

in Christ until Christ invaded human existence and was sacrificed on the cross in our stead.

When a person responds to the love of God through Jesus Christ and God's forgiveness

is applied to his or her account, then that person is forgiven or absolved from

all eternal responsibility for their sins.

And God breathes or infuses the very life of God, which is the Spirit of God,

into that person to make them alive before God.

Paul in Romans 6, verse 4 proclaimed, Therefore, we have been buried with him

Romans 6:4

through baptism in the death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through

the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in.

And here it is, newness of life.

The second reality from verse 5 that I want to bring to your attention is that

Paul taught the Ephesians that God does not give individual Christians his life

by ourselves, but in connection to his entire body.

Let me show you where I'm getting this from.

Ephesians 2, verse 5. Paul wrote, even when we were dead in our transgressions,

Ephesians 2:5

made us alive, look at this, together with or in Christ.

God raised us up out of our spiritual deadness and breathed his new life into us.

That is the Holy Spirit, or the very breath of God. That's what the Spirit means, the breath of God.

But God's infusing us with his breath was in the context of the words us and

together, meaning Christ's church as it is in connection with and in Christ.

For example, what happens when there is an accident in a person's body part?

Say a leg or a finger or a hand gets cut off or ripped off. What happens to

that appendage or a body part if it's not attached back on? It dies. Why?

Because it has no life on its own.

Moreover, the body and all its parts has to be connected and operated from the

brain because without the brain, there is no life in that body.

This is what Paul was getting at. Each believer who is part of Christ's body

has to be connected together to our head, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We are saved and given life in Christ as we are part of Christ's church.

Now there's a whole lot more we can study about this new life in Chris,t

together with the body of Christ and what that means.

But let's go to the third critical truth for faith in Christ that Paul communicated.

And that is that it is only by the grace of God, that anyone can be saved.

The word for grace that Paul used meant "a favor done without expectation of return,

the only absolutely free expression of the loving kindness of God to men,

finding its only motive in the bounty and benevolence of the giver,

unearned and unmerited favor."

Meaning that regarding our salvation from the furious wrath of Almighty God,

that salvation was not earned at all. God gave us his salvation freely without

the expectation of people having to work to receive it.

Now, we must realize that grace, although completely unmerited and free,

was not without brutal and dire cost.

The cost just wasn't paid by us, but by the most beloved Son of God himself.

I say this because we must understand that God's free gift to us in Christ was not cheap.

It cost Christ His life.

How can we apply these three truths to us as disciples of Christ?

The first application I wish to point out to you is that we were all spiritually

dead, and it was only from God Almighty that we were given life in and with Christ.

I've often heard people say that they are spiritual, meaning that they either

think about or believe in possibilities that are beyond the normal human existence,

or that they enact certain rituals or attend services or do actions in line with those beliefs.

But this is not what the Bible refers to as spiritual.

To be spiritual means to have life in and given from the Holy Spirit of God.

And then our life takes on the characteristics and the power of the life of God in us.

It is only through responding in faith to the love-filled grace of God in the

death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can be saved from the wrath of

God and be given the Spirit of God to have the life of God in us.

We were once dead to God spiritually, and we could not be in his presence.

But now we are alive by the Holy Spirit in Christ, and God is able to dwell with us and we with him.

The second application that is so essential is that we, you and I,

can apply to our lives is that we are alive with Christ in connection with his

whole body, the Church of Christ.

The individualistic teachings of our culture have a lot to answer for.

We, you and I, have never been alone. It is critical that we as believers in

Christ realize that God does not see His church just as individual Christians, but one body, one bride.

We, you and I, are one being with Christ, but also with each other in the eyes of the Almighty.

This is why we at Dillingham Raven Church are so committed to working with and

fellowshipping with other Bible-believing Christians, with biblical congregations and ministries.

Because without our unity in the love of God, we are not fully experiencing

the life that we were designed to be a part of.

And lastly, we have never been able to earn or deserve the love and salvation of God.

Thus, you and I, we must stop trying to earn it.

In everything we do, we are tempted to operate ourselves and be good for God

by ourselves. to be good for ourselves, for others, under our own strength and our power.

Yet God has given each of us, in connection with Christ's church,

the merciful, free gift of salvation in Christ.

And I want to encourage each of us to trust Christ, to live in His love as we

obey God and love others as He has loved us.

What is it that God has been teaching us in this passage? Never in the history

of the universe, let alone the world, has there ever been an event such as God

Almighty in the flesh invading humanity in the God-man of Jesus Christ.

When Christ came to earth as God made flesh and dwelt among us and was sacrificed

on that cross for all of humanity and then rose from the dead,

God demonstrated his unlimited mercy and totally undeserved love for the whole

world, especially for his people.

We have also learned that due to Christ's intervention, we as disciples of Christ

are no longer dead in our trespasses and sins. We are alive in Christ together,

along with the entire church.

I wanna encourage you today that if you are here or you are listening and you've

never trusted Christ as your savior, you have never experienced the undeserved

love of God in Jesus Christ.

And you do not yet have the life of God in you.

But do not worry. You can have that life in you.

But I want to leave you with a question. What do you have to lose when you have eternal life to gain?

Let's pray. Father, we're thankful

for you. We are so grateful for your merciful love in Jesus Christ.

And that you, O Lord, intervened, that you invaded our existence as puny humans

and you gave us life in Jesus Christ. You gave us hope.

You gave us yourself in him.

And we are so, so grateful. May you work in us, Lord.

May be you that is working in us as we go out of wherever we are,

as we go into our villages, as we go into our communities, we go into our homes with our families.

May it be you that is working in and through us as we trust you and obey you

and that we trust in the love that you have so overwhelmingly lavished us with.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit, we pray, amen.

Let me leave you with this blessing from Romans 8, verse 38-39.

Romans 8:38–39

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,

nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from

the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you.