But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
19 sermons cite this verse
… the saving of many lives. Two words that changed everything. But God. Paul reminds us that we are all following our sinful desires and headed to judgment. But then he writes in Ephesians 2.4, but God who is rich in mercy and He loved us so much He gave us life raising Jesus from the dead. Again the Apostle Paul was describing a situation so severe. He said we despaired even of life. but God who raises the dead delivered us. And then there is a story of Peter thrown in prison for preaching the gospel. James, one of the apostles, had already been put to death. It looked like the end. What did the church do? They prayed. And I love what Acts 12 says. But constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church and Peter was sprung from the prison cell. But God. God can intervene in your situation no matter what it is you are facing. If God could turn Joseph's setback into a setup and Peter's prison into a platform, what makes you think he can't work in your situation? But now we come to the greatest but God moment in human history. …
… This is what we're singing about today. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. Now remember the kingdom economy. We have the earthly currency to help God do what he wants to do on the earth. But we didn't have the currency of mercy to get ourselves alive from the dead. He had that currency, and he was rich in it. He was a trillionaire, a jillionaire in mercy. And he made us alive. Oh, wow. This is the gospel. He made us alive how? With Christ. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, it is hallelujah by grace, Hallelujah, that you have been saved. Hallelujah. And God raised us up above with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms in Christ in order that in the coming ages, he might show how beautiful is this, that in comparable riches, he's also a gajillionaire in grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved. …
… just as others. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love wherewith he loved us, even while we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And so friends, listen. I'm going to ask you, no, I'm going to, what am I going to do? I'm going to ask you to remain seated. I'm going to ask you to prepare your heart. I'm going to ask you to not move, not to disrupt. In Matthew chapter 10, verse 32, Jesus said, Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, people, him, her, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. My goodness, talk about the value of decision. Verse 32 is going to happen someday regarding you, regarding me. Listen, you could be here today and be not a believer at all. He'll answer that in another place. if you do not confess me before men I will not confess you before my father which is in heaven this is serious. You're in the valley of decision right now. …
… but it is all in Christ and through Christ listen to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 through 6 but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus we see similar passage in Colossians 2 verses 13 through 14 But catch this, even when we were dead in our sins, God being rich in mercy because of his great love for us made us alive together with Christ. for instance that great doctrine of the believers union with Christ that hangs all over these truths regarding our salvation we have been chosen in Christ and we have been raised to new life in Christ moreover Paul says in verse 6 that God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. …
… and following its desires and thoughts like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath but because of this great love for us god who is rich in mercy made us alive with christ even when we were dead in our transgressions it is by grace that you have been saved and god raised us up with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms of christ jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in christ jesus for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith in this not from yourselves it is the gift of god not by works so that no one can boast for we are god's handiwork created in christ jesus to do good works which god prepared in advance for us to do okay let's go back to this list is a list like this helpful to you on how to be a christian the fuller youth institute thinks that about 50 percent of youth they grow up in the church once they graduate high school about 50 percent stay with the church and about 50 percent leave and a lot of it is because they have been given a gospel that looks like this when i was in high school there was this hardcore band in my in my high school that's like the heavy metal with the screaming, and they were just super devout Christians. Their name of their band was called …
… As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. Listen, we're not people who needed slight improvement, slight alterations. We're people who needed resurrection. We're needed people who needed to go from death to life. We're needed people who needed someone to lift them up out of the water so that we could breathe again. True friends, we don't climb our way to God. We don't swim our way to God. God had to come down. He had to come down. John 3, 13 tells us, No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man. and friends this is where the Scarlet Fred gets interested this is where the Scarlet Fred becomes more than just a sign because just as that Scarlet Fred hung from Rahab's window as a visible sign for her rescue in Joshua chapter 6 Christ came down from heaven as the visible and final sign of God's rescue for you and I and all of humanity listen let's read Matthew 27 verse 27 29 grab this said the governor's soldiers took Jesus into Praetoria and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put on a scarlet robe. Could have been any color, but it was a scarlet robe on him. And then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. And they put a staff on his right hand. Then they …
… in doing so. But that's not what he did. Instead, he heard our cry, and he responded with merciful deliverance. The book of Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 7 tell us, but God who was rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Yes, thank you Lord. While we were at our worst, Christ died for us. What a gospel this is. Our third point tonight, you can note it down, what we see in verses 10 through 12, is a divine dispatching. A divine dispatching. The text goes on to say in verse 10, Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. …
that's the oh no moment of the gospel but the gospel these seven words also have a but wait moment ours is right here in the very next line by nature deserving of wrath but because of his great love for us God who is rich in mercy made us alive even when we were dead in sin it is by grace you have been saved. There's a moment in the oh no of the gospel. We talked about it at 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him who knew no sin, Jesus, to be sin for us. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. There's a but wait moment in the gospel. Oh no, the wrecking ball is coming. all sin is going to be judged. But wait, there's good news. There's a gospel in the middle of the story. In the gospel in the middle of the story, we looked at it in Isaiah 53 last week. I love this. I know we can't, but I'd like to preach on the gospel every single Sunday for the rest of my life until Jesus comes. Because most revivals began in history when people in church got saved. That's how revivals began. When people who are sitting in the seats actually come alive to transforming new life in Christ. And the church explodes and the gospel moves out into the streets. Surely, this is a prophecy of Jesus from hundreds of years before in Isaiah. …
… you didn't say amen 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 sin. It is by grace you have been saved. so the operative agent in salvation is the love of God who is rich in mercy the operative agent in salvation is the love of God who is rich in mercy the operative agent in salvation is not the effort of man who is rich in works. It is the love of God who is rich in mercy. Jesus said in the most famous verse in the Bible and the two verses after it, who need to become the second and third most famous verses in the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believed in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That's the verse everyone knows. We all need to learn this verse. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. …
… saving grace. We've looked in this text so many different times at Passion, and even recently, It says in Ephesians 2, but because of his great love for us, reading in verse 4, God who is rich in mercy, in other words, he's got all the mercy in the world. He made us alive with Christ even when we were dead and transgressions. And so that's where we get the idea that God did it because dead people can't do anything. So he made us alive. We didn't make us alive. And he made us alive when we were dead. So that's grace. That is God at work. We were dead in transgressions. It is by grace. Can you say this with me? It is what? By grace, you have been saved. So that's saving grace. That's God at work. I didn't do it. He did it. I didn't die for my sins. He died for my sins. I didn't come to earth, a perfect son of God. He did that. I wasn't buried in my tomb. …
… world what the holy city looks like because we already have seen it and our citizenship is there. he says in Ephesians 2, 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. That's why you'll hear us saying around Passion City Church, we went from death to life. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. In order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. In the revelation, we see the throne of thrones and the one seated on it. And Paul is saying, when you went from death to life by putting your faith in Jesus, he raised you up right then and there spiritually and seated you. with him. Where? In the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. So spiritually, where he is, you are. What he has, you have. And so when he says all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth, now I'm sending you. He's saying, I'm sending you with all the authority that's been given to me. And if there's any one thing that should happen to you and me, reading something as profound as this, we ought to start taking authority over our lives, over our minds, over our thoughts, over our bodies, over our families, over our neighborhood, …
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 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, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ten verses that describe the dramatic, permanent, eternal, comprehensive transformation that salvation makes in a person's life. Over in the fifth chapter, we have another section that looks at this transformation. Chapter 5, verse 5, For this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. …
… which is a chapter we've been looking at for a while. And I'm going to read to you the latter section of this section of chapter 2. Ephesians 2, verse 4 to 10, it's printed in your bullet. 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. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This is God's word. We've said that chapter two is actually a before and after picture of the Christian. It shows us what our lives are like before we encounter the living Christ and after. …
… been seeing. So if you don't mind, I'm going to do a little bit of that as well as push forward our progress a bit. Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 10, is a before and after picture of a Christian. Ephesians 2, 1 to 10, is trying to show us the momentous change that Jesus makes when you have an encounter with him as a living person. I'm glad how many people are surprised and stunned and changed and helped by looking at this passage. Many of you see Christianity as being a kind of round of duties or a process, and you don't realize, until you look at this, that Paul expects that meeting Christ makes this momentous change, a watershed, a continental divide. Becoming a Christian, meeting Christ is sort of like Pike's Peak, because one inch to the west of Pike's Peak, little raindrop goes all the way to the Pacific Ocean. That's what they tell me when I go there. And one inch on the other side, that little drop of water goes all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. …
… Let's look at this passage. 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. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. that's God's Word. Well, let's see what we can do. We said Ephesians chapter 2 is actually a before and after picture. It's a before and after an encounter of an individual with Christ. In verses 1, 2, and 3, which we didn't read tonight, but which we've looked at for a couple of weeks, you have the before picture. In verses 4 to 10, you have the after picture. …
… as well. You've got before pictures and you've got after pictures. Being a Christian is a monumental change. What you have here in Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 5 is you've got a BC and an AD. You've got a before and an after picture. We've been looking at the before and starting last week and continuing this week, we're looking at the after picture. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of the great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. …
… Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 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. It is by grace that you have been saved. Now, we've been looking for a couple weeks at the first part of this passage, which is verses 1, 2, and 3. You were dead in transgressions and sins. Verse 3 last week, all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful flesh and following its desires and thoughts. And we've been looking at this. There's no reason to try to continue on that. Last week, we talked about the word flesh. What does the word sinful flesh mean? And we learned in the Bible, a very important thing. In fact, at least I want to repeat this from last week because it's so absolutely critical. Whenever the Bible says the flesh wars against the Spirit, do not do the works of the flesh, but do the works of the Spirit. The works of the flesh are gossip and malice and violence and sexual licentiousness, but the works of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, gentleness, self-control. …
… Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath, 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. It is by grace that you have been saved. Now we're looking at a classic text on sin, classic. I'm not going to be able to spend as many weeks on it as I like because I'm getting bored with spending so much time on the same verses all the time, and I hope I want to be tedious to you. But I want you to know that these first three verses has got almost everything you need to know about the biblical doctrine of sin. It's all in there. We won't even get into it, but in here you learn about the nature of God's wrath. You learn about original sin, which we will mention tonight. You learn about the nature of sin. You learn about total depravity, which is a theological term for the results of sin, which is spiritual death. …
… Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 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 and sins. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast, for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. A treasure chest? Let's take a look. I'd like to just look at the first three verses. For you who were dead in transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient, all of us lived also among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. My, what a downer. That's the way Paul starts talking about salvation. …