"Unearned, Undeserved, Unstoppable: The Gospel of Grace"
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· 4 viewsWhy we should be in love with the gospel
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Intro- Story of being woken up by a man in our .
Intro- Story of being woken up by a man in our .
today, I am going to share with you, something that i hope all of you know Quite well, But it is something that I am very passionate about and it is something that drives my heart and my ministry as a pastor!
One night A long time ago, When my kids where still in diapers, I went up and prayed with my son and
apparently I was so tired that when I laid down with Linden to read the story I fell asleep in his little bed.
I was crazy asleep in my own world, so much so that when Amy came upstairs to go to bed I didn't even wake up when she talked to me ad told me what he was doing.
That is until about 2 in the morning when all of the sudden I was made alive-
I heard the voice of someone I Had never heard before.
I opened my eyes jumped out of that bed and was standing looking up to some guy I had never met in the middle of my house.
When I fell asleep on that bed, I was dead to everything. I was in my own little dream world where everything seemed just fine.
But when someone from the outside stepped into my reality It shook my dream world and wake me up!
And believe me I was woken up!! - I was ALIVE AWAKE AND ALERT!!!
just so you all dont think about this story for the entire sermon, I ll tell you how it ended.
He ran and I chased him down the stairs and then I realized that me being equipped with just my boxer was probably not going to end in a good way of I caught him. So i turned around ran back up the stairs grabbed the two kids and barricaded the family in my bedroom and called the police. They came out with dogs and trailed the guy to the next acreage over , but he got away.
But my point is this- In that moment When I was woken up from my sleep I was radically and completely made alive
But there's another kind of awakening mentioned in the Bible that's even more profound – the spiritual awakening that comes when God brings Dead men to life through the gospel.
And that is the gospel message that God is still in the business of saving undeserving sinners!
Turn in your Bibles to Eph. 2
Young People I have one Question for you this morning
How much do you really love the gospel?”
I love this passage because it reveals the stark reality of our condition before God’s gospel penetrated our lives.
This morning I want to remind you why this gospel should still captivate your hearts and transform your lives and drive your ministries as His church!
Look with me at the first 3 verses in our text
Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Friends the first thing we as Christians should never forget when it comes to the gospel is …
The Deadness of Our Past
The Deadness of Our Past
Before Christ, we were spiritually dead.
Young People do you know what the only thing a dead corpse can do?
STINK!!!!! Expand on this a little (dead mouse…. )
Just as a corpse decays and gives off a foul odor, our lives reeked of sin and rebellion against God.
Remember the truths we see in Romans 3:10-12
Romans 3:10–12 (ESV)
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
in verses 2-3 Paul mentions 4 characteristics of a dead soul
he begins by reminding the church that ,
1. “dead men follow the course of this world.”
Now I want you to know I dont like Zombie movies in fact I will avoid them at all cost, but understand there is no better illustration of this verse then zombies
Think about it….
what do zombies do? they follow other dead zombies wondering around looking for anything that could bring them hope.
Friends, Before Christ We were spiritual zombies, We were once walking dead people, mindlessly shuffling after the world's values and priorities, and yet this left us dead in our sins and still without any hope.
But not only that
that Paul goes on in verse 2 to say
2.‘dead men follow Satan
‘look at what he says “ following the prince of the power of the air, the sprits that is now at work in te sons of disobedneicne ,
Before the gospel we werent just dead in your sins we were breathing in the putrid air of Satan's rebellious kingdom, serving as his puppets to rob God of His glory.
But thats not all…look at how verse 3 describes our deadness…
Ephesians 2:3 (ESV)
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind
In our dead state before the gospel even Our own hearts were factories of sin, producing nothing but more rotten decay.
again Romans 3: there is no one who does good not even one.
‘Before the gospel there was literally no good in you at all. Every thought every word. Every action was in full rebellion against God! You were completely dead in your sins.
But Worst of all, look at the end of verse 3
Ephesians 2:3 (ESV)
…and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Young People Before the gospel you stood condemned before a holy God dead in your sins incapable of ever being able to do anything Other than tpmproduce an even greater foul smell of your rotting sinful heart!
This is what total depravity looks like – We weren't just big sinners needing to get clean up, We were completely full of sin because sin is who we were by nature.-
Young people understand that before the Gospel, The stench of your sin made you repulsive to God, and we were destined for His wrath. you were utterly hopeless, with no way to escape this judgment on your own.
understand church, there is nothing more hopeless than a dead sinner without the gospel!
And Thats who we all were beforeJesus stepped into our lives.
To truly love the gospel means that you never forget who you once were before Christ!
The second thing we need to never forget about the gospel message is that in our deadness we were in desperate need for Divine Intervention
The Divine Intervention of Our Present
The Divine Intervention of Our Present
Look at verse 4
Ephesians 2:4–5 (ESV)
4 But God…, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
"But God." Young people These two words change everything.
When we were at our worst, The God of the Universe, the one we were in great rebellion against, still looked at us with eyes of love and a heart full of mercy and Grace.
and compelled by His great love for us said “there is not anything that I am not willing to do to bring you to life!!!”
Why would a perfect God do this for such imperfect sinners?
Because that's who God is at His very core – He is rich in mercy and completely loving in all He does, And out of that love comes His overwhelming grace into our lives!
Friends ,this is the gospel- God loved you despite your sins, he loved you because he is love!
and the beauty of the gospel is that God didn't just mask the smell of death in your life, He didn't just cover up your sins, and clean you up; He eradicated it completely through the death burial and resurrect of His son Jesus Christ!
Can I get an Amen for Jesus!
Listen to me carefully …Christianity isn't about becoming a better person; it's about God making you brand new.
As 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
you are not that old decaying corpse any More- God through Christ has made you brand new!
But God didn't stop there.
Look at verses 6
Ephesians 2:6 (ESV)
Ephesians 2:6 (ESV)
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Not only did God make us alive in Christ
verse 6 tells us that He raised us up with Christ,
This means that when Christ Rose from that grave He brought victory over our sins with hIm. .
We're no longer face-down in the grave of our transgressions; we've been lifted up from that Grave with Christ!
And Even more astounding, our verse goes on to say that “He has seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.
meaning We've gone from the gutter to the throne room, from the graveyard to the heights of heaven!
We are no longer the enemy of God and the subjects of His wrath but our now His friends and the recipients of his eternal love.
And why did God do all this for such a rebellious person like me?
Look at verse 7
Ephesians 2:7 (ESV)
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Point # 3
The Display of God’s Grace in the Future
The Display of God’s Grace in the Future
God didn't just save us from His wrath; He adopted us into His family, He elevated us to a place of honor, and He gave us an eternal inheritance forever and ever and ever!
All So that He could pour out His grace upon our lives for all existence.
Friends this is the gospel Message and Verses 8-9 Sum it all up
Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Share the gospel….. Young people I dont know if you can tell, but I get kind of passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ - because I know How much I desperately need Gods love and Mercy and grace and eternal security in my life!!!!
And the more I fall in love with this gospel and what it has done in my life, the more it empowers me to want to go and share it with the world who is still dead in their sins!!
Let me tell you a story…
4 years ago God laid it upon my heart to leave a ministry that I loved at Iowa Regular Baptist camp and become the pastor of the local church in Clear Lake. A church that had only 35 people left , who were hurting and struggling to survive.
And over the past 4 years We as a church have fallen in love with the gospel of Grace, and as a result God has used us as a little to reach many people for Christ!
God has grown this church through the power of the gospel, and to His glory alone we are now a church of 150 people, Who know the gospel, who are falling more in love with the gospel, and who are being compelled by the gospel to go into all the world and Make and Equip More disciples of Jesus. Amen
In fact, right now our church has outgrown our current facility because too many people are falling in love with this gospel, and so we are in the process of trying to buy a bigger building because we believe that God is not done using us In his gospel mission of saving sinners in Clear lake Iowa and around the world!
Young People, When God’s Church truly falls in love with the gospel it is Unstoppable- and The gates of Hell shall not prevail!
Bring it Home
Bring it Home
The gospel is not not just the diving board into the pool of faith; it's the water we swim in every day.
Meaning, the gospel is not just what saved you Its what should compell every part of your life.
When we grasp the depths of our sin and the heights of God's love, and the lengths to which God went to save us, we can't help but to fall in love with the gospel.
And when someone truly falls in love with this gospel message It will compel them to share it with the World.
Simply I would argue that if your not sharing it your not fully in love with it!
and if your not fully in love with it how can you say that you are fully in love with Jesus- The one who gave His life to bring you the gospel.
You are here in a Bible College Learning how to be pastors, and missionaries, and teachers, Your learning how to be christian leaders in your churches. All of which are wonderful ministries to be part of -but they are Just the platforms for you to do what God has called you to do and that is share the gospel message with the world.
Remember Jesus’s final words to his followers in Mark 16
Mark 16:15 (ESV)
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
He didn’t say go be great preachers, He didn’t say go build bigger churches,He didn't say go be really smart in your theology, He said Go into the world and proclaim the gospel!!
Why? Because there is no greater way to bring God glory in your life than to fall in love with Jesus and to proclaim His gospel grace through your life!!!!
Let me leave you with the words of the greatest missionary of all times -The apostle Paul- A man who fell in love with the gospel and let it pour out from His life!
Romans 1:16 (ESV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
May we never lose sight of who we were before God stepped into our lives.
May we never cease to be amazed by His grace that he continually pours out upon our lives .
And may this amazing gospel penetrate every part of our lives and compel us to live every moment for the glory of the One who gave Himself for our eternal lives!
Lets Pray
