THEOLOGY – GRACE – LIVING WHAT WE BELIEVE

Ephesians 2:1-10 

by Pastor Eldon Reich

LIVING WHAT WE BELIEVE --A WORKING THEOLOGY

We began with sermon on original sin.

How many of you discovered that this past week confirmed for each of you

The theory that we are born sinful by nature?

If you don’t think it did, could I talk to your spouse or children?

We are all sinners in the eyes of God.

A Pastor was giving a children's sermon on the story of Jonah.

He quoted the scriptures from Jonah 1 and 2: " And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, and the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land" (Jonah 1:17 2:2, 10). The pastor asked thoughtfully, " What does the fish vomiting Jonah out on dry land indicate to us today?" One of the youngsters said:

" It proves that even a fish can't stomach a bad preacher!"

We have all inherited a sinful nature from Adam and Eve

A sinful nature that left us utterly helpless

without hope for salvation.

But do you think God was happy about that?

No

God wanted us to experience Grace in the midst of our sinfulness.

Today we want to look at Grace

What do we know about grace?

How will it affect the way we live?

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRACE WE HAVE IS

CALLED

I.  PREVENIENT GRACE

God intervene for us when we could not help ourselves.

Ephesians 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions (while we were yet sinner) ---it is by grace you have been saved.

Prevenient Grace-- simply means “To come before”.

God acted while we were still sinner.

Prevenient grace is

A. God Initiated: God comes to us first.

Seeks us when we were lost, and sinful

Dead in transgression

The BIBLE IS clear in the fact that God seeks us first.

As Francis Thompson would say:

“God is the Hound of heaven, who relentlessly pursues us.”

That is the story over and over in the Bible.

A searching God, who takes the initiative in human life.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.

they experienced guilt.

They did not want to see God or for God to see them,

Instead of realizing they were in desperate straits, needing help.

They hid.

Who came looking first?

God came looking for them,

Calling them by name.

Adam, Eve, where are you?

Moses had hid from God in Midian for 40 years..

He didn’t want God to find him because he knew what God was going to ask him to do.

Elijah tried hiding in a cave.

Peter hid his Galilean accent around the fire in the courtyard where Jesus was on trial.

God seeks us first.

He is the rooster’s crow that reminds us of our sinful nature.

Jesus underscored it with three parables.

The lost coin,

The lost sheep

The lost son.

To show God was searching for us.

knocking at your door.

Most of us think it was the other way around don’t we.

We think the Bible is the story about people seeking for God.

That really isn’t so.

God is seeking us.

B. Secondly prevenient grace is universal.

John Wesley said it is “free for all and free in all.”

Not limited.

“Free for All “means it is available to everyone (as opposed to doctrine of predestination.)

We do not have to ask for it,

Or even desire it. 

God is simply there reaching out to us.

It is like the air we breath, or the wind that blows in our faces.

It is for everyone who dwells upon the face of the earth. The Theology of J W 93

II Peter 3:9b “Not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”

One of our Bible Study men reminded me of  a cartoon that expresses God’s grace.

He said Dennis the Menace and his friend had done something that wasn’t nice.

And as they were getting cookies from Mrs. Wilson the other kids

Said to Dennis, we don’t deserve these cookies because we have not been good.

Dennis said: “We don’t get the cookies because we were good,

but because Mrs. Wilson is good.”

Prevenient Grace comes to us not because we are good,

But because God is good.

He is good to all.

Prevenient grace Third:

C. Sin revealing.

It makes us aware of our lost condition.

What made us different from the animals was our self-awareness.

But Original Sin destroyed this self awareness and left us

Unaware of our lost condition.

We run from God but we didn’t know why.

Prevenient grace exposes our sinful nature.

It gives us that twinge of conscience to know we have done something wrong.

And we are not where we ought to be.

John Wesley said: “Prevenient grace helps us feel more or less uneasy

When we act contrary to the Light of our own conscience.”

We can become very pessimistic about human nature.

But we can become absolutely optimistic about the Grace of God..

John Wesley and the Apostle Paul believe that prevenient grace

reveals our sin to every person and gives them the freedom to respond to God.

They have no excuse.

Romans 1: 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Prevenient grace is probably the most elemental form of grace found.

And it flows to everyone who dwells upon the face of the earth.  “The theology of JW p93

Prevenient grace is God A. Initiated, B. Universal and C. Self- revealing.

Prevenient grace leads us to the cross before the Cross was ever there.

That leads us to

II.    SAVING GRACE.

SAVING GRACE IS GOD’S GIFT TO US.

Eph2: 8-9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

While PREVENIENT GRACE reveals our nature to us in self awareness.

That we are sinner in need of a savior.

Then SAVING GRACE moves into place that which is needed to redeem us.

We have two thrust in saving grace.

A.  Divine action.

B.  Human response.

IN DIVINE ACTION

Saving Grace does more then just get us aware of our sinful nature.

It saves us from our sin.

I Corinthians 15:22 As in Adam all die so in Christ are all made alive.

Saving Grace set us free from the law of sin and death.

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Saving Grace no only stirs us to repentance,

But redeems us through the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 1:7 In him (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. .

Jesus obedient death on the cross saved us from Adam’s disobedient act in the garden.

It restored our relationship with God.

It redeemed us from our fallen state.

But saving grace needs one other thing.

B. HUMAN RESPONSE

We must act to receive it.

To activate it.

John 1:12  Yet to all who receive him who believe in his name he gave the power to become children of God—RSV   

What is amazing about this verse is that God not only reaches out to us.

But he sends his Christ to the cross for us.

To pay off the debt of our sin,

As we receive it.

We must receive it

Acts 16:31 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and You will be saved, you and your household.

Alexander, the Russian Czar, used to love to disguise himself and mingle with his people to hear what they have to say. One night he visited the army camp he passed a tent where he saw a young soldier sitting at a table with his head on his arm, sound asleep. The Czar tiptoed to the back of the chair and looked over his shoulder. There on the table before him he saw a loaded revolver.

Beside the revolver was a sheet of paper with a long list of gambling debts.
After seeing the total amount, Alexander noted a sentence below the figures saying, “who can pay so much?”

Suddenly Alexander understood the situation.

The young officer had gambled away all he had and

was about to take his own life for not being able to meet his debts.
Then Alexander took up the pen and below the young soldier’s question “who can pay so much?” wrote “I, Alexander, Czar of Russia”.

The next morning the young officer woke up and immediately took hold of the revolver when suddenly he saw new writing on his letter.

He read the words of the Czar and he had a choice—

He could shoot himself or

He could believe what the Czar would do what he said.

He dropped the revolver.

At that moment a messenger came to his tent with a bag of money.

The young soldier’s debt was paid and his life was spared.

 

Prevenient grace makes us aware of our debt.

Saving Grace says God has provided all that is necessary to pay that debt.

And Justifying Grace clears the debt once accepted.

I. PREVENIENT GRACE MAKES US AWARE OF SIN.

II. SAVING GRACE COMPENSATES FOR ALL OUR SIN.

III. JUSTIFYING GRACE REDEEMS US FROM SIN.

Justify is the Greek word to treat, to reckon, or to account someone as something.

The point is that when we appear before God

we are anything but innocent.

We are utterly guilty.

Yet God treats us, reckons us, accounts us as if we were

innocent in His eyes because of Christ..

That is what Justification means

“Just- as- if- I”    died Christ died for me!

Justifying Grace treats us as if we were Godly people.

This is what shocked the Jews.

To treat a bad man as if he were good was the sign of a wicked judge.

“He that Justified the wicked, and he that condemned the just, even they both are abomination to the lord. Prov. 17:15

Ex. 23:7 I will not justify the wicked.

But Paul says that is precisely what God does.

Justification is a law term,

We must see sin in God’s economy not only

as a crime against the law,

but as a crime against love.

In sin we break God’s law,

But far more important is that we break God’s heart of love.

If you have lied or committed adultery,

Or stolen something, or lust after your neighbor wife,

Or swore in God’s name,

You have broken the Ten commandments.

But you have also broken the heart of God.

We may atone for a broken law, make compensation,

May say we’re sorry, even do time,

but how do we atone for a broken heart of God?

  An young woman and her three daughters were walking home from the grocery store. She was carrying the baby and the other little blonde girls were walking ahead of her on the sidewalk. An elderly man backed out of a parking place bumped another car, panicked and hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.

The car jumped the curb, crashed into one of the little girls

and threw her through the guardrail and into a ravine below.

She was dead before her mother’s eyes.

I don’t know what happened to that driver.

Usually they are arrested, tried, found guilty fined,

sometimes imprisoned, their driver’s license suspended.

But after such persons have paid their fines or served their sentences,

the law has no further claim upon them.

As far as the law is concerned, justice has been served. The matter is over.

But that doesn’t restore the dead child.

Or cure the grieving heart of the parent.

The driver could never make that loss up to her parents.

He could never put things right by serving a sentence or paying a fine.

It ends in a heartbreak for all,

and only the forgiveness of the little girls’ parents

can mend the relationship between them and the driver.

That is the way it is in our relationship with God.

We have broken God’s law.

But the terrible tragedy is that we’ve broken god’s heart.

But Justifying grace of the cross is all about Gods forgiveness

And bringing us back into relationship with God.

“Just-as-if” we were sinless and holy.

Rom 3:24-25 Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.

Benjamin West tells how he became a painter.

One day his mother went out, leaving him in charge of his little sister Sally.

He discovered some bottles of colored ink and began to paint Sally’s portrait.

He really made a mess of things.

Ink blots were all over.

On her return, the mother saw the mess, was angry,

But grace prevailed.

She said nothing picked up one piece of paper, and saw the drawing.

And said excitedly , “It’s Sally”,

And then gave Benjamin a kiss.

Years Latter Benjamin West the great painter said:

“It was my mother’s kiss that made me a painter.”

God’s kiss of grace makes us a Christian.

An extravagant saving grace

That when we respond.

Works from the cross outside us,

To the Holy Spirit within us.

And we become a new creation.

And discover the gift of Amazing Grace.

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Savior’s blood!

Died he for me? Who caused his pain!

For me?  who him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be

That thou, my God, should die for me?

Believe it today.

Receive it today.

Gods grace is AMAZING.