1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,420 So if you have your Bibles will be in Ephesians chapter 2. 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:11,640 When we began our study on Ephesians 2 last week, we saw that Paul painted a 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:18,680 very realistic and yet very disheartening picture of what our lives were like before Christ. 4 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:26,600 Paul made it very clear that we need a Savior because without one we are dead in our trespasses and sins. 5 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:34,640 We were dominated by the world, dominated by Satan and our flesh and we were doomed to face the wrath of God. 6 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,000 But fortunately Paul doesn't leave us there. 7 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:44,480 He makes it quite clear that God had an answer to all the problems that we have apart from Christ. 8 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:50,000 And so let's look together what Paul writes about God's answer in verses 4 and 5. 9 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:57,800 But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us, 10 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:02,280 even when we are dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. 11 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,280 By grace you have been saved. 12 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:16,040 Amen. There is a sense in these verses in which those two words at the very beginning may very well be the most 13 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:27,040 important two words in the Bible because they show how God enters into our lives and how he works in our lives 14 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:33,040 with those he created to do a work in us that no man could ever do, that we could never do. 15 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:43,040 But God, those have to be two of the most exciting, encouraging, hopeful words in all of God's word. 16 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:48,040 So it's no wonder that Paul chooses to use them at this point in his letter. 17 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:53,040 He has just finished writing about the total hopelessness of man apart from God. 18 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:01,040 But with these two simple words, Paul immediately restores a sense of hope. 19 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,040 Things looked really bad for all of us. 20 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,040 We were dead. We were dominated and we were doomed. 21 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:15,040 Think about the sense of hope that can come with those two words. 22 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:23,040 Time and time again I hear people telling me their story, telling me about how bad their life was. 23 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,040 And then it's like it comes out of nowhere. 24 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:33,040 I was heading down the wrong path, but God got my attention. 25 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:41,040 I was struggling with infertility, but God provided a child for me. 26 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:48,040 I was struggled with addiction, but God helped me overcome it. 27 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:53,040 But God, I mean those words, there's hope. 28 00:02:53,040 --> 00:03:01,040 Paul is about to reveal to us how God entered into our lives to deal with the death and domination and doom 29 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,040 that we all experienced at one time. 30 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,040 Next week we're going to come back to this passage. 31 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:12,040 And we're going to see how Paul addresses each of these problems that we faced. 32 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:19,040 But what I'd like to do this morning is to focus briefly on why God did all of this for us. 33 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:28,040 Why did God choose to enter into our lives to redeem us from the kind of life that we looked at last week? 34 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:33,040 Why did God save us? 35 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,040 We can answer that very question in very simple terms. 36 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,040 God saved us because of his nature. 37 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,040 We learned about that in chapter one. 38 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:49,040 It is God's nature to choose us, to redeem us, to secure our future, and to pour his power into our lives. 39 00:03:49,040 --> 00:04:00,040 But in this passage, Paul describes three particular attributes of God's nature that bear particular relevance to God's work in saving us. 40 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:06,040 The first one is he responded to our lostness with his love. 41 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:14,040 Paul says, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses. 42 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:19,040 I'm really amazed how God responds to our lost condition. 43 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:21,040 What we deserve is his justice. 44 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:27,040 What we deserve is his wrath and his anger and maybe even his disgust. 45 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,040 But instead, God responds to us with his love. 46 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:40,040 I think one of the reasons that we have such a hard time understanding how God could do that is we don't really understand that kind of love. 47 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:49,040 When we think about love, we tend to think of an emotion, we tend to think of a feeling, but the kind of love that God demonstrates towards us, 48 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:55,040 and which, by the way, he commands us to show to others is an act of the will. 49 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,040 It's not an emotion. 50 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:03,040 As we'll see here in just a moment, God is moved with compassion towards us. 51 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:08,040 But that is not the primary expression of his love for us. 52 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:14,040 In fact, in this passage, Paul has a particular expression of God's love for us in mind. 53 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,040 So let's take a closer look at what Paul writes here. 54 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:22,040 The first thing we notice is the greatness of God's love. 55 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:32,040 Paul uses both the verb and the noun forms of the word love, and God's love is described to us as his great love. 56 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:43,040 As we've already seen several times, Paul likes to use this kind of grammatical structure whenever he wants to emphasize the greatness of something. 57 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:52,040 For instance, we saw that several times back in chapter one when Paul wrote about God's incomparable great power. 58 00:05:52,040 --> 00:06:03,040 As we'll see in much more detail in just a moment, the love Paul is describing here is without a doubt the greatest love the world has ever known. 59 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:08,040 But there is something about what Paul writes here that really catches my attention. 60 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:19,040 When he writes about his great love with which he loved us, you'll notice that he uses the past tense of that word, God loved us. 61 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:27,040 My first reaction to reading that was to wonder, did Paul mean to use the present tense? 62 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,040 God loves us. 63 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:35,040 I mean, after all, I know that God still loves me. I know that God still loves you. 64 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:42,040 But after further reflection, it appears to me that Paul really uses the exact words he wants to use. 65 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:53,040 And he uses the past tense because he's writing about one particular action that God took in the past to demonstrate his great love for us. 66 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:57,040 This is even clearer if we go to Romans. 67 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:58,040 And I'll just read it to you. 68 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:08,040 Romans chapter five says in verse eight, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 69 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:19,040 So there's no doubt in my mind here in Ephesians chapter two that Paul is referring to Christ's death on the cross as God's greatest demonstration of love for us. 70 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:26,040 God didn't just say he loves us. He demonstrated his love for us by his actions. 71 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:34,040 Too many people believe and sometimes teach that love is a feeling or love is an emotion. 72 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:44,040 Now, yes, feelings and emotions are involved in love, but the greatest part of love is action oriented. 73 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,040 I learned this when I was growing up in church. 74 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,040 I was asked a question. 75 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:57,040 Are you down with the DC talk? 76 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,040 Down with the DC talk. 77 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,040 For some of you that goes right over your head. 78 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,040 But I learned that love is a verb. 79 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:09,040 Love is a verb. 80 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:14,040 It's what you do more than a noun, what you feel. 81 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:22,040 Now, many marriages, even amongst Christians are failing because they value feelings over actions. 82 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:30,040 I've counseled many couples over the years who say they just don't feel the love that they once did for their spouse. 83 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:38,040 They fell out of love, but there is really no falling out of or falling into love. 84 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,040 We can fall out of bed. 85 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:49,040 We can fall up the stairs, but we grow to love someone over time. 86 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:56,040 This love for one another grows from what we see them do for us and for others. 87 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:00,040 Now imagine Christ just before he went to the cross. 88 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:06,040 He's in the garden and he thought, I hate this feeling. 89 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,040 I don't feel like doing this. 90 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:13,040 I'm going to base this decision on how I feel. 91 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:19,040 If that had happened, if that had been his response, we'd all be hopelessly doomed to hell. 92 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:24,040 But the good news is, of course, is that Jesus resisted that feeling. 93 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:30,040 He fought back against those feelings, even though he prayed for them to God three different times. 94 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,040 God removed this cup for me. 95 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:39,040 He was more interested in doing the work of the Father than what he felt like doing. 96 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:51,040 Thankfully, Jesus displayed his love for us by willingly going to the cross and dying for sinners and those who were still his enemies. 97 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,040 Those who were still desperately wicked. 98 00:09:54,040 --> 00:10:00,040 So we must preach that love is not dependent upon feelings and emotions. 99 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:08,040 Because feelings are one of the most shallowest and most unreliable human emotions of all. 100 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:19,040 Instead, we must emphasize that love is a choice more than a feeling because feelings are subjective while love is objectively displayed in actions. 101 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:24,040 Now, this is partly why there are so many lost people around us. 102 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:29,040 We tend to put our feelings in front of our actions. 103 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,040 I don't feel like loving them. 104 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,040 I don't feel like sharing my story. 105 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,040 I don't feel like sharing the gospel. 106 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:43,040 What if they reject me? 107 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,040 What if they think I'm an idiot? 108 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:51,040 What if they ask me a question that I don't know the answer to and I appear inadequate? 109 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:58,040 Now, those are feelings and we cannot let our feelings keep us from action. 110 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:08,040 The reality is that as I fight through my feelings and put my love into action, those feelings are not as strong. 111 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:14,040 It is easier to love my wife today than it was on the day that I married her. 112 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:22,040 I had to fight through a lot of feelings at times because I knew that my responsibility was to love her. 113 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:31,040 The bottom line is that love is what a person chooses to do, not what a person chooses to feel. 114 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:37,040 God so loved the world because he felt like it. 115 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:47,040 Yes, he does love us, but that love required action and included the supreme sacrifice of his only son's life. 116 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:50,040 That was the ultimate love in action. 117 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:59,040 But not only does God respond to us with love, there are two other closely related aspects of his nature that Paul writes about in this passage. 118 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:06,040 The second one being that he responded to our misery with his mercy. 119 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:10,040 Paul says, by being rich in mercy. 120 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:17,040 Now, once again, Paul uses a superlative to describe the magnitude of God's mercy. 121 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:22,040 God is not just merciful, he's rich in mercy. 122 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:35,040 So mercy is one of those terms that as believers we tend to use a lot and we'll often use it interchangeably with the next attribute of God that we'll discuss here in a second, his grace. 123 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:42,040 And while those two terms are similar in many ways, they are not the same thing. 124 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:51,040 So let's take a few minutes this morning to see if we can't arrive at a better understanding of God's mercy and his grace. 125 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:56,040 Mercy is God's attitude towards those in distress. 126 00:12:56,040 --> 00:13:03,040 When God looked down from heaven, when he was looking at us and saw us the way that we were without Christ, 127 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:12,040 he saw that we were miserable, that we're incomplete, a life that is characterized by death and domination and doom. 128 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,040 And it could result in nothing else. 129 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:23,040 Now, all of us who are parents can certainly relate to God's mercy, right? 130 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:35,040 One of my most vivid pictures of mercy towards my kids is a day that Sina called me at work and said, hey, the dog got out. 131 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:39,040 Now, this dog was new to our family. 132 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:46,040 So for me, there was no emotional attachment whatsoever. 133 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,040 He was a rescue. 134 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:57,040 So he had this tendency to escape our yard, which I am assuming is what caused him to be a rescue in the first place. 135 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:01,040 Now, we lived on a busy road, so there's a lot of traffic in front of our house. 136 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:08,040 And I get home and I realize that Oreo, our dog, is on the other side of the busy road. 137 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:15,040 Now, my kids are standing on my front porch watching all of this go down. 138 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,040 And so I'm across the street. I've tried to block him out. 139 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:24,040 I put my truck in an angle. I'm trying to block him in to keep him from going into the street behind me. 140 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,040 But that dude is quick and he gets past me. 141 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:34,040 And a couple seconds later, he gets smacked by a car going 40 miles an hour. 142 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:43,040 Now, in that instant, I can hear the cries and screams from my kids over the sounds of the cars that are wishing by me. 143 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:47,040 I can hear Oreo whimpering and crying in pain. 144 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:49,040 And my heart broke, right? 145 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:57,040 Then not because I was attached to the dog, but because I could hear my children crying. 146 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:04,040 And I know that if they didn't witness that, I would have just put Oreo down. 147 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:15,040 But I knew in that moment that I would bankrupt us to make sure that that dog was okay so that my kids would not have to deal with losing their dog. 148 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:25,040 So in an instant, our $100 rescue dog turned into a several thousand dollar dog. 149 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:35,040 I saw my kids in misery and distress and I heard deep inside as I watched them experience that and go through that. 150 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:42,040 And that's what God's mercy towards us is like, but with one big difference. 151 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:48,040 God has the power to do something about my misery that doesn't bankrupt him. 152 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:55,040 And as we've already seen, God has done that for me with one tremendous act of love. 153 00:15:55,040 --> 00:16:01,040 The third thing we see here is he responded to our guilt with his grace. 154 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:06,040 Paul says, by grace you have been saved. 155 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:18,040 So if God's mercy is his attitude towards those in distress, then grace is God's attitude towards lawbreakers and rebels. 156 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:28,040 Even though we deserve it, God does not want to leave us to suffer from the guilt that comes from being dead in our trespasses and sins. 157 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:40,040 So in his grace, he reaches out to set aside the demands of the law and to relieve us from the pure due punishment of our guilt and set us free. 158 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:45,040 It is the grace of God which has dealt with our guilt. 159 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:56,040 The grace of God also involves God's power and his enabling for us to be able to do what he calls us to do. 160 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:03,040 I want us to look at a story from the Old Testament because I believe it's a perfect picture of God's grace. 161 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:08,040 Luke tells us an ax though right before Acts chapter 13, it says, 162 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:15,040 Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. 163 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:20,040 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, 164 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:28,040 I have found in David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will. 165 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:38,040 So we know that from Scripture, when David finally becomes king over all of Israel, that he began to ask some questions. 166 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,040 He began to inquire were there any left of Saul's house? 167 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,040 Was anyone left in Saul's family? 168 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,040 It tells us in 2 Samuel chapter 9. 169 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:56,040 And David said, Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? 170 00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:01,040 Now normally this would be horrible news for the former king's family. 171 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:08,040 Because the new king would come in and he would have killed all remaining relatives, all remaining servants, 172 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:17,040 to remove the threat of any of his heirs from causing an uprising and retaking the throne or stirring up trouble in the kingdom. 173 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,040 But David didn't operate that way. 174 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:22,040 He continues in verse 5. 175 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:30,040 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Mccur, the son of Amiel at Lodobar. 176 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:36,040 And Mephysiabeth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. 177 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:41,040 And David said, Mephysiabeth, and he answered, Behold, I am your servant. 178 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:47,040 And David said to him, Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. 179 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:53,040 And I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always. 180 00:18:53,040 --> 00:19:02,040 And he paid homage and said, What is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? 181 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,040 Notice the humility, Mephysiabeth. 182 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:08,040 It's one of the kindest acts in all of history. 183 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,040 Because how David responds to his humility. 184 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:12,040 Verse 9. 185 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:22,040 This is then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, All that's belong to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. 186 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:30,040 And you and your sons and your servant shall tell the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. 187 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:35,040 But Mephysiabeth, your master's grandson shall always eat at my table. 188 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,040 Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. 189 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,040 That is a picture of God's love. 190 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:47,040 That we are helplessly crippled by sin. 191 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:53,040 We must humble ourselves before our king as Mephysiabeth did before David. 192 00:19:53,040 --> 00:20:03,040 Mephysiabeth saw his grandson who for 40 years relentlessly pursued and tried to kill David was provided for. 193 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,040 And he was placed at the king's table. 194 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:11,040 As David graciously said, You will always be able to eat at my table. 195 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:15,040 Mephysiabeth was treated like the king's son. 196 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,040 He was accepted graciously at the king's table. 197 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:25,040 He was allowed to be in the king's presence and he was able to be provided with all that he needed for the rest of his life. 198 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:29,040 Even though he was helpless to do any of that on his own. 199 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:34,040 Mephysiabeth couldn't even provide for his own living. 200 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:38,040 Wasn't that all of us before we were saved? 201 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:41,040 But now, right, we can dine at the Lord's table. 202 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:48,040 Someday there's going to be a great wedding feast of the king of kings and he will forever abide with him. 203 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,040 Even though we're helpless. 204 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,040 Even though we're crippled by sin. 205 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,040 Who could never survive by our own strength or our own means. 206 00:20:56,040 --> 00:21:00,040 We are invited into the king's presence. 207 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:06,040 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, My grace is sufficient for you. 208 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:10,040 For my power is made perfect in weakness. 209 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:16,040 Now, although Paul is writing here with particular reference to his thorn in the flesh. 210 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,040 The general principle is pretty clear. 211 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:26,040 It is God's grace who gives us the power and ability to do what God calls us to do. 212 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:30,040 This is especially true when it comes to our salvation. 213 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,040 When Paul writes that it is by grace you have been saved. 214 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:39,040 He is saying that it is God who provides the ability for us to be saved. 215 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:45,040 And it's completely independent of anything that we are capable of doing on our own. 216 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:52,040 Paul is going to drive that point home even more forcefully in the next few weeks. 217 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:59,040 But before we close, let me share with you a summary of the difference between God's mercy and grace. 218 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:04,040 His mercy is God's solution to man's misery. 219 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,040 Whereas grace is his solution to man's sin. 220 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:12,040 Mercy relieves the pain. 221 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:16,040 Grace covers your sin. 222 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:21,040 Mercy restores his grace and forgives. 223 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:25,040 Mercy withholds what we deserve. 224 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:29,040 And grace gives us what we don't deserve. 225 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:37,040 Now, although mercy and grace are similar, but they're not the same, they both have one thing in common. 226 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,040 We don't deserve either one of them. 227 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:45,040 All of us were once dead in our trespasses and sins. 228 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:51,040 All of us were once dominated by this world, dominated by Satan, dominated in our own flesh. 229 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:57,040 And all of us were once doomed to face the wrath of God for eternity. 230 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:05,040 But God responded to our lostness with his love. 231 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:11,040 But God responded to our misery with his mercy. 232 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:18,040 But God responded to our guilt with his grace. 233 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:22,040 I believe there is one way to respond to God's grace. 234 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:27,040 And that is to live a life of grateful holiness. 235 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:34,040 What the law required has been fulfilled in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. 236 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:39,040 And because of that, we don't find our righteousness in obeying a set of rules. 237 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,040 We don't find our righteousness by following the law. 238 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:47,040 We find our righteousness in Christ alone. 239 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,040 Period. 240 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:59,040 I came across this story by an author named Timothy Paul Jones that I think captures God's grace in a perfect way. 241 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,040 He says, quote, 242 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,040 I never dreamed that taking a child to Disney World could be so difficult. 243 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:11,040 Or that such a trip could teach me so much about God's grace. 244 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:16,040 Our middle daughter had previously been adopted by another family. 245 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:20,040 I, Timothy, am sure this couple had the best intentions, 246 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:26,040 but they never quite integrated the adopted child into their family of biological children. 247 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:30,040 After a couple of rough years, they dissolved the adoption. 248 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:35,040 And we ended up welcoming an eight-year-old little girl into our home. 249 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:42,040 For one reason or another, whenever our daughter's previous family vacationed at Disney World, 250 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:48,040 they took their biological children with them, but they left their adopted daughter with a family friend. 251 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:53,040 Usually, at least in the child's mind, this happened because she did something wrong 252 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:56,040 that precluded her presence on that trip. 253 00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:01,040 And so by the time we adopted our daughter, she had seen many pictures of Disney World 254 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:05,040 and she had heard about the rides and the characters and the parades. 255 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:09,040 But when it came to passing through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, 256 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:13,040 she had always been the one left on the outside. 257 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:17,040 Once I found out about this history, I made plans to take her to Disney World 258 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:23,040 the next time I had a speaking engagement that took our family to the southeastern United States. 259 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,040 I thought I'd mastered the Disney World drill. 260 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:31,040 I knew from previous experiences that the prospect of seeing cast members 261 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:39,040 and freakishly oversized mouse and duck costumes somehow turns children into squirming bundles of emotional instability. 262 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:44,040 What I didn't expect was that the prospect of visiting the dream world 263 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:49,040 would produce a stream of downright devilish behavior in our newest daughter. 264 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:53,040 In the month leading up to our trip to the Magic Kingdom, she stole food 265 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,040 when a simple request would have given her a snack. 266 00:25:56,040 --> 00:26:00,040 She lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth. 267 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:07,040 She whispered insults that were carefully crafted in order to hurt her sister as deeply as possible. 268 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:13,040 And as the days on the calendar moved closer to the trip, her mutinies multiplied. 269 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:21,040 A couple days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter into my lap to talk through her latest escapade. 270 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:25,040 I know what you're going to do, she said flatly. 271 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,040 You're not going to take me to Disney World, are you? 272 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:35,040 That thought hadn't actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. 273 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,040 She knew she couldn't earn her way into the Magic Kingdom. 274 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,040 She had tried and failed to test several times before. 275 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:48,040 So she was living in a way that placed her as far from possible from the most magical place on earth. 276 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:55,040 In retrospect, I'm embarrassed to admit that in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. 277 00:26:55,040 --> 00:27:00,040 The easiest response would have been, if you don't start behaving better, you're right. 278 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,040 We won't take you. 279 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,040 But by God's grace, I didn't. 280 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:10,040 I asked her, is this trip something we're doing as a family? 281 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,040 She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed. 282 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,040 Are you part of this family? 283 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,040 She nodded again. 284 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,040 Then you're going with us. 285 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:29,040 Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what's right and wrong, but you're part of our family and we're not leaving you behind. 286 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:33,040 I'd like to say that her behaviors grew better after that moment. 287 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:34,040 They didn't. 288 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:41,040 Her choice is pretty much spied out of control at every hotel and rest stop all the way to Lake Buena Vista. 289 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:48,040 Still, we headed to Disney World on the day we had promised and it was a typical Disney day. 290 00:27:48,040 --> 00:28:01,040 Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals and lots of lines mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again one day. 291 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,040 In our hotel room that evening, a very different child emerged. 292 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:14,040 She was exhausted, pensive and a little weepy at times, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. 293 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:21,040 When bedtime rolled around, I prayed with her, held her and asked her, so how was your first day at Disney World? 294 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:25,040 She closed her eyes and snuggled down into her stuffed unicorn. 295 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,040 After a few moments, she opened her eyes ever so slightly. 296 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:37,040 Daddy, she said, I finally got to go to Disney World, but it wasn't because I was good. 297 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,040 It's because I am yours. 298 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,040 It wasn't because I was good. 299 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,040 It's because I'm yours. 300 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:51,040 That's the message of grace. 301 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:55,040 Grace isn't a favor you can achieve by being good. 302 00:28:55,040 --> 00:29:00,040 It is the gift you receive by being God's. 303 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:11,040 Grace is God's goodness that comes looking for you when you have nothing but the middle finger flipped in the face of God to offer in return. 304 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:23,040 It's a farmer paying a full day's wages to a crew of deadbeat day laborers with only a single hour punched on their time cards. 305 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:34,040 It's a man marrying an abandoned woman and then refusing to forsake his covenant with her when she turns out to be a whore. 306 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:46,040 It is the insanity of a shepherd who puts 99 sheep at risk to rescue the single lamb who's too stupid to stay with the flock. 307 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:58,040 It's a love of a father who hands over his finest rings and robes to a young man who has squandered his inheritance on drunken bids with his fair weathered friends. 308 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:10,040 Grace is one way love that calls you into the kingdom, not because you've been good, but because God has chosen you and he's made you his own. 309 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:19,040 And now he is chasing you to the ends of the earth to keep you as his child and nothing in heaven or in hell can stop him. 310 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,040 But here's what's amazing about God's grace. 311 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,040 This isn't merely what God the Father would do. 312 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,040 It's what God the Father did. 313 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:33,040 God could have chosen to save anyone. 314 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,040 He could have chosen to save everyone. 315 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:41,040 Or he could have chosen to save no one after the fall. 316 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:49,040 But when God did, what he did is he chose a multitude of someone's. 317 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:57,040 And if you are a believer in Jesus, if you have surrendered your life to him, then you are one of those someone's. 318 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:05,040 God in Christ has declared over you, I could have chosen anyone in this world. 319 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,040 And I chose you. 320 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:16,040 And no matter what you say or no matter what you do, neither my love nor my choice will ever change that fact. 321 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,040 That is grace. 322 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,040 That's what he did for us. 323 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:26,040 And my question is, are you living in it? 324 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:30,040 Are you living in his grace? 325 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:35,040 It's just another religious week for you. 326 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:39,040 Let's pray. 327 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:44,040 Father, I pray. 328 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,040 I pray thanking you for Jesus. 329 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:55,040 Thanking you that he willingly put aside his feelings. 330 00:31:55,040 --> 00:32:04,040 And put his love into action. 331 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:09,040 Thank you for rescuing me. 332 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:21,040 Thank you that when you see me, you see the righteousness of Jesus. 333 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:40,040 So God, as we respond and as we sit and dwell on your love for us, I pray, God, that you will speak to our hearts. 334 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:46,040 I pray, Father, that we will humble ourselves like the fish of death. 335 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:56,040 And understand that everything we have is because of you. 336 00:32:56,040 --> 00:33:01,040 You could have chosen anybody. 337 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,040 But you chose me. 338 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,040 You chose us. 339 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:11,040 So Father, I pray right now that you'll minister to the hearts of those who are questioning. 340 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:17,040 I pray, God, that you will bring salvation into this room. 341 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:23,040 I pray, God, that you'll use this time to speak to our hearts. 342 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:27,040 That's all these things in Jesus' name. 343 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:28,040 Amen. 344 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:33,040 We're going to have time to respond this morning like we do every week. 345 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:38,040 And if there's anybody in the prayer team, if you all will come, just be available. 346 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:45,040 But I think sometimes we just need to, sometimes a hug can change the trajectory of our day, right? 347 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:50,040 So if you need a hug, if you need somebody to pray with you, then come do that. 348 00:33:50,040 --> 00:34:00,040 But help us not be a church that just follows religious platitudes, but really believes and lives out God's grace in our life. 349 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:02,040 Maybe we give Him thanks for that today. 350 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:06,040 Maybe we offer, we confess that we've taken advantage of that today. 351 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:07,040 I don't know how it looks like to you. 352 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:12,040 I'm just trusting that the Spirit will move in this place and you will humble yourselves before Him. 353 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:37,040 Amen.