Alone: Sola Gratia Introduction • In 1991, Carl Lewis was in the Olympics and he broke the long jump record jumping 29.23 feet. But, Carl Lewis does not hold the world record because immediately after him, ran another American who jumped 8.95 meters or just over 29.36 feet. His name is Mike Powell and he jumped 8.95 meters, nearly 29 and a half feet. o That record has stood since 1991 and no one seems to be coming close to this record. o That is almost 10 yards. These orange cones on stage represent 29.5 feet long. Imagine jumping that in one jump. o Ever played long jump? Or tried to see if you could jump over a creek? o What if WI had a contest and the prize was 500 million dollars? The challenge: jump over Lake Michigan. Sounds pretty daunting, but could you train and try really hard—do you think you could make it? o Even if you trained really really really hard? o Never going to happen. In fact, unless there was some intervention or suspension of gravity, there is no way you could EVER jump from here to there no matter the prize. • That kind of impossibility is what we face morally. o God’s standard of perfection is 100% pure never having sinned. That represents Lake Michigan. And your ability to train really hard represents your effort to measure up to God so He would accept you. Never going to happen. o Yet, the Bible tells us that God does not expect us to jump from one side to the other. In fact, he has already made the way by sending the greatest long jumper in the world—Jesus. And because of his moral perfection, there was no sin in Him, he can put us on his back and carry us across the chasm to God. o This is what we call the gospel: the good news. Jesus did what you could not do for yourself. • Many people think that if they are good enough, then they can make it across the chasm, but they overestimate their goodness and underestimate God’s perfection. • We want to understand what the Reformers identified as the foundation to Christianity. The key 5 statements all have the word “alone” in them. o The Bible alone (and no man) is our supreme authority. Sola scriptura. o Trusting Christ alone is the way to find true forgiveness and peace with God. Sola Christus. o By way of faith alone, which we studied last week, as the only conduit for which God will forgive. Sola Fide. 1 o Through grace alone, because we can never deserve His favor, we can only receive it. Sola Gratia. o And all of this is for the glory of God alone: Sola de Gloria. o Today, we want to look closely at the concept of grace. Grace alone. Sola Gratia. • Lets Read Ephesians 2:1-­‐9 • Pray Bad News First • Paul in writing to the Ephesian church wants to remind them of the grace of God and the great salvation God has provided to them. Interestingly, he starts with the bad news first. Notice how Paul describes what life was like before they became Christ followers. They were dead spiritually. Notice who they followed before. 2 • V. 1-­‐2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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….” o Following the course of the world. That means being self absorbed and seeing your own needs more than anyone elses. It means looking at life on earth as this is all that there is and there is no spiritual reality. o Following the prince of the power of the air. That means ultimately in your self absorption that Satan is the one you are following. There is a kingdom a part from God’s Kingdom and that kingdom has a prince, a ruler who seeks to bring about his will on his followers. o Paul teaches that the Ephesian believers were once so self absorbed that unknowing they were followers of Satan because they ignored God. o This is for all people and not just the Ephesians. This is a human nature problem as we will see in a moment. o And, they follow their passion which is the flesh. • V. 3 “… among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind…” o In biblical language, the flesh is opposed to the Spirit. These people, and all humanity, were caught up living for the flesh carrying out the desires of the body and mind. • And this has the result of making it clear that these people were the enemy of God. Their practices were opposed to God’s Kingdom and were opposed to God as the King. o Said another way: I am my own King. o Illustration: we have a saying in our country: “I am the captain of my own… destiny.” In its best format, it means that people can make choices to live differently which is okay. o Application: But, if your destiny is driven by yourself, then you are your own king which means that you are in active rebellion to God as the King over all creation. 2 o And you might say: “that is kind of harsh pastor. I don’t necessarily rebel against God, I just ignore Him.” o Look at the rest of verse 3. • V. 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.” o What do you think “we were by nature children of wrath means?” o Oh, and notice “like the rest of mankind” statement. This is a universal condition. o We were by nature, children of wrath. o This means that from our natures we rebelled against God. We resisted His kingship and his authority over us. ! This gets illustrated with a child says “no” at an early age or when they pull that toy away from their sibling and say “mine!” ! We think we can jump across the lake all on our own. ! Humanity, the bible teaches, is at odds with God. Apart from His intervention, we are rebellious to His rule. Apart from his intervention, we deserve His judgment. We are rebellious, still necked, independent people. o This is what Paul calls, the “bad news.” • Summary: all mankind rebels against God because of their nature and therefore deserve God’s wrath. o Lets linger here for a moment. This message is totally foreign to our culture. o Illustration: one of my sons has a bike he loves to ride and he recently told me that his tire was flat. I happen to have a small air tank which can fill a tire in a matter of a 15 seconds. I turned the air tank on, hooked it to the nozzle, pressed, and air began to flow. The tire filled at first and then quickly deflated. I am resourceful and I have lots of air available to me, so I pressed it again and again and again. It filled and then emptied. It filled and then emptied. o What do you think the problem was? The tire had a hole in it. o Application: No matter how hard you try to blow up a tire with a hole in it, the air leaks out. Spiritually speaking, your soul has a hole in it and no manner of self help or positive thinking will fill that void. o That hole drives some people deep into themselves running away from God. It brings others to the end of themselves after a crisis of honesty. o Our culture starts at a very early age telling kids they are special and can be whomever they want to be and can do anything they want to do. We cultivate self determinism in virtually every circle of society. It is applauded and affirmed and celebrated. o Yet, our society registers more and more loneliness and depression and anxiety. We are cursed with increasing measures of self-­‐absorption in many ways. 3 o But, the bible stands in stark contrast to this. Deep down, most of us know that there is a hole in our heart. It makes us run away—rebel. o When we get quiet and slow down, often people crash. It is as if we have to be entertained so we avoid any measure of spiritual reality. o We are spiritually blind, lost, and dead. And we run away from the one who can help. You look at the requirement of jumping over Lake Michigan, and you know, I can never do this. I am done. o Illustration: There is so much noise around us keeping us distracted. Music, radio, smart phones, apps and the internet. Yet, when we quiet ourselves, there is a silence which is sometimes alarming. Disconcerting. Uneasy. • This is the bad news and it is where Paul starts. You and I have a spiritual problem which goes to the very core of who we are. Our souls have a hole. As a result of that problem, we deserve wrath and judgment. • Yet, the Bible does not leave us at this point. Two Great Words • V. 4 “BUT GOD….” o If you write in your Bibles, then you should underline those 2 words. ! But God. ! Paul pivots here in the text and it is a brilliant turn. o You are lost, in rebellion, and deserving God’s wrath of eternal condemnation. ! But, God…. o You are filled with hopelessness and despair unable to free yourself from the bondage within ! But God… o You cannot jump over the moral lake all on your own, so you are doomed. ! But God…. o This is God to the rescue. Like oxygen to the soul. o I said one time years ago and my kids thought this was funny: “aren’t you glad there are buts of the bible”. o V. 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….” ! Rich in mercy: this means we do not get what we deserve. God is abundant with mercy. He holds back the wrath we so rightly deserve. ! Why? Because of His great love. His love is what motivates the gospel. His holiness demands justice for our sin, but his love holds back the judgment giving us mercy instead. 4 o Some of you have distorted images of God thinking he is angry and looking to zap you when you mess up. That is not the God described in the bible. The God of the bible is motivated by His great love and His great mercy. • And in our deadness, our inability to settle our spiritual accounts, God made us alive with Jesus. o Just like God raised Jesus from the grave, so he raises us from the condemnation of our own sin and frees our sin stained nature to give us new life. o And now, we get to this word: grace. It appears in the text 3 times and here it is the firs time. o V. 5 “5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved….” o Here is a handy definition to help you keep this clear. o Mercy is when you do not get what you do deserve. o Grace is when you do get what you don’t deserve. o Mercy is “I deserve His wrath and judgment, but he withholds them.” o Grace is “I don’t deserve His love and forgiveness, and He freely offers them.” o See the difference? • Now, look at the word grace in the rest of this passage. o V. 5 by grace you have been saved. o V. 7 “… he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus o V. 8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” o In all 3 uses, the clear meaning is that we do not deserve God’s salvation, but He grants it freely to you and to me. • Grace Alone: o The Reformers looked at this and wanted to challenge the catholic church’s teachings that faith and good works save you. Somehow, if you were good enough, God would have to accept you. o The Reformers said no; the teaching of the Bible is that no one deserves salvation, yet he gives it freely anyway because of his great grace. o We experience salvation from God by grace through faith. o Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” o Illustration: If you had to jump over Lake Michigan in order to please God, and someone came up to you and said, climb on, I can carry you over. I have done it before, trust me, I will get you there. Then, with one leap, he soared over Lake Mi and you landed safely on the shores on the other side. ! What would your response be? ! Man, I am so glad I got that right! 5 •
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! It was a close one but in the end, my good efforts really pulled through. ! Seems silly doesn’t it? ! When you experience grace, it changes your heart. You land on the other side and you turn around and you say • “Thank you. I could have never done that myself.” • “I was doomed with no hope. I would have died there left to myself.” • This is the work of Jesus on the cross. It does for us what we could not do for ourselves. o But God, in his great grace, saved us through Christ on the cross. ! Who did the work? Jesus did. ! Who made the way? Jesus made the way. ! Who paid the penalty? Jesus paid our penalty. Grace alone is the compelling reality which must make Christians the most grateful, humble, broken people of all peoples on the planet. Application: This is why we say you cannot earn it nor deserve it, you can only receive it. o Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone through grace alone. o Sola fide, sola Christus, Sola gratia. o And if you think you can trust anything else mixed in, you do not have what the Bible offers. You have some other version which is incomplete and cannot save you. You cannot jump across the moral chasm between you and a perfect God. Whenever I review this teaching, I always land back at the point of humility and gratitude. o I cannot believe he saved me. I do not deserve this and yet he has granted it to me. o I am freshly humbled and grateful. I am reminded that the work of Jesus on the cross changes everything not just once in my life when I surrendered, but every day. Grace is daily. I must tell myself the gospel first and foremost. o What happens for you when you review this teaching? o If you ever get bored with the gospel, beware. Your heart may be getting hardened. You might be here today and have never heard Christianity explained this way. Maybe you have been one of those people trying to jump over the moral lake on your own. Or you keep trying to put air in the tire and it just leaks out faster than you can pump it in. o Deep down, you feel this emptiness. o You can change that today. You can surrender to Jesus, by faith through grace. o All you need do is repent from your self absorption and ask God to forgiven you and change you from the inside out. This is crossing over from death to life the Bible says. o Right now, you can pray: God, forgive me. Change me. Please lead my life and guide me to the life you promise. 6 o Lets be quiet now and maybe some of you need to pray that prayer right now. For the first time. o Some of you need to freshly thank God for what he has done. • Prayer 7