Saved By Grace

Go ahead and open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2 this morning, Ephesians chapter 2. We will be in verses 4-10 finishing what we started last week. Last week was called “The Walking Dead” and today is “Saved by Grace.” If you put them together it’s the walking dead saved by grace. Let me just first share with you a thought of thanksgiving. I was thinking of you as the church at Gospel City this week, just very thankful for the congregation that’s here. Many of you have shared notes of encouragement with me or texts or emails just letting me know how the book of Ephesians is impacting your life. And it’s so encouraging to me that God’s Word led by the Spirit of God is impacting us together, is growing us together.

And our elders a couple of Wednesdays ago stopped; we prayed through every member on the list. That’s a lot of paper. That’s a lot of names. And so your name was spoken as we prayed. And we want you to know that we care for you and we love you. And I’m just so encouraged to see just people coming eagerly every week expectant to open their Bible and hear what God says. This surely will lead us on into righteousness as we seek to follow Christ together.

But last week we saw the reality of those who are outside of Christ. And we said that they are dead and they are disobedient and they are doomed. Because Paul is reminding those in Ephesus how hopelessly lost they were apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we said it’s necessary for us to grasp the depths of our wickedness, the depths of our sin apart from Jesus.

Ephesians chapter 2 is painting a bleak and grim picture of our hopelessness outside of Christ so that the grace of God can shimmer and shine for all that it is in Christ. And when we looked at the word “redemption” in chapter 1 verse 7 it said, “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. I told you that the word redemption really could sum up the entirety of the Bible. All of creation, all of life, is moving toward a redemption. And our text for today shows us the marvelous and miraculous grace of God that gives us that redemption.

Ephesians chapter 2 helps us see the glory of salvation in the lives of those who believe and live by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. So understand that this is the story of the Bible. God created us to live in relationship with Him, but man chose to live without God. And so it caused an alienation, a separation, between God and man. And in that separation goes two ways. Us to God because of our sin, God to us because of His wrath toward sin.

And yet the magnitude of grace or the mystery of His grace is not that Jesus came to teach us how to live. It’s not that Jesus came to teach us how to be Christians or how to be happy or how not to be sick. That would be man’s diagnosis of ourselves that we’re just unhappy. We just need a physician to make us better.

The magnitude of God’s grace is that it reconciles sinners to the God of glory how it always was intended to be. God’s grace makes dead people alive that we may no longer walk in our trespasses and sins but that we might walk in Christ Jesus and the good works that God prepared for us.

The word “walk” is going to end cap this section of Scripture that we’ll look at today. You noticed in 2 verse 1 that we once walked dead in our trespasses and sins. And in verse 10 we’ll see that Christ creates us to walk in good works. You’re either walking dead in your trespasses and sins or you are walking in the works that God has given us.

So the big idea this morning is this. Grace is a gift of God to the walking dead, to live eternally through faith and walk in good works instead. Yes I know it rhymes. I’m a poet and I don’t even know it. Let’s look at verses 1-10 together today.

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— 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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the 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, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; 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, that
we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Praise be to God. And this is God’s Word for us today. Point number one this morning is this: because of grace I once was dead but now I’m alive. Because of grace I once was dead but now I’m alive. Verse 4 begins with two of the most hope-filled words in all of the Bible. We looked at it last week briefly. But the words that Paul writes after painting for us the grim and bleak picture of who we are outside of Christ, Paul says, “But God.” Wonderful words. Amazing words.

I want to encourage every believer that this phrase or this prayer is something that you should speak over your life in every situation that you face in this life here and now. It is most simply a phrase that proclaims that what is impossible with man is possible with God. While no reality that we face in this life is as serious or as hopeless as our deadness outside of Christ, undoubtedly we as human beings face trial; we face hardship. But God is still in control.

And so to say or to pray, “But God,” over our situations and circumstances is to continue to have faith in the power of God. And so you might say, “My marriage is falling apart.” And the believer can say, “But God, who has the power to reconcile your marriage.”

You might say, “My relationship with my son or my daughter is crumbling.” And the believer can pray, “But God,” knowing that God has the power to restore.

You might say, “I messed up again. I failed again. I can’t seem to live in victory.” And the believer continues to pray, “But God.”

The world is ruled by godless tyrants. And the believer understands that God has set His Son above every ruler that would ever be named. And so we proclaim in confidence, “But God.” And we can have this confidence that God defies the impossible in every trial that we face because believers are a testimony of the impossible. Dead and doomed people made alive to the praise of His glorious grace.

And verse 4 goes on. Paul writes, “But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our tresspasses, made us alive in Christ.”

Paul’s proclaiming of “But God” is not that you can somehow earn your way out of a deadness that he just described. It’s not that you’ve somehow become appeasable to God or that you’ve restored the alienation that is brought on by your sin. Paul proclaims “But God” because when you were dead in your trespasses and sins, God met you with mercy. God was rich and wealthy with mercy. And it was abounding from His never-ending ocean of His steadfast love.

And having His heart set on you from before the foundation of the world, He has come to track you down. But instead of giving you what you deserve, He offers mercy where there should be justice. God offers love where He could very willingly hand you His wrath. And from the fountain of God’s love flows His mercy to set the captives free and to cause the blind to see and to bring the dead to life. God is rich in mercy toward you, even when you’re dead, because His love for you is beyond what you can fathom.

His love is so incomprehensible that we often don’t even live as if it exists. I think often we try to view the love of God through our earthly experiences when it comes to love. Perhaps you think of God’s love through the lens of the lack of love that you’ve felt here on this earth. Maybe you had a father or a mother who weren’t great to you, who weren’t present, who weren’t in your life. And so you tend to think that God is this angry God in the sky waiting to smite you at any chance that He could get.

Perhaps you’ve had a great father or a great mother. You’ve had great relationships here on earth and so you think about God through that lens. But the love of God goes so much further than any experience with love and any relationship with love that you could ever have had on this earth. The love of God is deeper than any ocean. Think about that. The love of God is wider than any canyon. It’s longer than any distance.

And Paul even prays in chapter 3 verse 18 and 19 of Ephesians that we would be able to comprehend the length and the height and the depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. And it’s because of that great love that verse 5 proclaims, “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.”

It’s an act of unconditional love. And out of the abundance of His mercy toward His enemy, God resurrects the sinner from death to life. And Paul prayed in chapter 1 verses 19 and 20 (Brent read it this morning) that we would know the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe who worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God.

The same power that rose Jesus from the dead has been extended to the believer. And just as Jesus’ lifeless dead corpse came to life breathing in the tomb, God raises the dead, the disobedient and the doomed from their spiritual graves to not only live reconciled to God but to be raised with Christ and to be seated with Christ and to be shown the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness for all of eternity.

Look at what it says in verses 6 and 7. 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 coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward Christ.

I quickly want to point out the benefits of grace in the life of the believer. Have you noticed so far in Ephesians that Paul dedicates far more attention to God and all that He does in saving and redeeming and rescuing the sinner? As it should be. Paul’s attention is on God and His love for you. Many of us just assume that God is unloving or that God is angry. And yet God is so full of love. He’s abounding in love, rich in mercy.

Every verse just seems to get better and better. Blessings stacked upon blessing. Because it’s every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer is being poured out on the believer who is undeserving of it.

Paul gives us as human beings three verses, and they weren’t great. In fact they were condemning, weren’t they? So as you think about your salvation and the grace of God in your life, it should cause you to give thanks. It should cause you to worship. It should cause you to tremble. It should cause you to exalt Christ in His rightful place because of all that He has given you the sinner, and it’s undeserved.

Five benefits of grace. They’re on the screen. God’s grace makes us alive with Christ, brings dead people back to life. It raises us up with Christ. If God would just make you alive that would be a testimony of His mercy. But He raises you up with Christ. Jesus walked out of the grave. Jesus ascended to heaven. Look at this. It seats us in the heavenly places with Christ. The mercy of God pardons the traitor, but the love of God raises the traitor up to seat him on a throne beside Christ.

God’ds grace will pour out riches and kindness on us forever. God’s kindness leads me to repentance. God’s kindness moves me to repent and to follow Him not as judgment, not as wrath. His kindness. And his kindness is immeasurable because it flows from His never-ending ocean of His love.

And lastly, God’s grace gives us positional perfection in Christ. Your position in life, born into this world dead in the trespasses and sins. But because of Christ, because of grace, your position has been transferred. Positional perfection in Christ Jesus. And it is by grace that you have been saved.

We see it in verse 5. Even when you were dead in your trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Again in verse 8, which we’ll look at shortly. For by grace you have been saved.

Let me give you a definition for grace. Grace is an undeserved gift and it is the unmerited favor of God. you can’t go shop for this gift. You don’t go find this gift on the shelves. You don’t get a deal on this gift on Cyber Monday on Amazon so it shows up at your doorstep. This is a gift from God.

The only thing that the sinner can do is receive the gift of grace. It’s undeserved. And only the one who is offended can offer grace and forgiveness for reconciliation. And the perfect, holy God has made a way unto salvation for all who believe and it is given through the gift of grace.

It’s most simply said in John 3:16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.

What grace. What love. What mercy upon those who have rebelled against God. My belief in the Son of God’s death and resurrection must always be tethered to grace. For as the song says, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.”

But it moves us to point number two this morning in the text. Because of grace I once walked in disobedience, but now I walk by faith. Because of grace I once walked in disobedience following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. But now I walk by faith.

Paul gives us glimpses of human responsibility throughout chapter 1 and chapter 2. We saw that believers were faithful in Christ in chapter 1 verse 2. We saw that they hoped in Christ. We saw that they heard the gospel, the truth, the gospel of their salvation. And they didn’t reject it but they received it, they believed it, and it transformed their lives. And Paul prayed and we should pray for more knowledge of God, more wisdom and revelation of God.

But look at verse 8 and 9. Popular verse. Something you may have memorized in church growing up. For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

You have a responsibility to exercise faith. I’ll just say that you have an ability to exercise faith. Everyone exercises faith every single day. It would be impossible for a human being to go through their day without having or exercising some sort of faith. You exercise faith when you drive over a bridge. You exercise faith when you get on an airplane. You exercised faith this morning when you sat down in that chair trusting that that chair would hold you up and it wouldn’t cause you to fall down on the ground and embarrass yourself in front of everyone. You exercise faith when you go to a restaurant.

Likewise, all religion, even non-religions, are exercising faith. Those who were in Ephesus had faith that the rock that fell from the sky was the sacred stone of their god Artemis. And so they’d go worship the rock that fell from the sky, the meteor.

The Buddhist who denies her bodily appetites has faith that it will help her enter Nirvana. Even the atheist who believes all of creation exists by chance and without a creator is exercising massive amounts of faith. All this came into existence just by a big bang and it was a coincidence that it got this way. That’s faith.

But faith in the finished work of Christ is not merely of their own power and resources. Saving faith is also a gift of God’s grace. And it’s not the act of faith that saves you. It is by grace through the faith that you have in Christ.

Hebrews chapter 11 gives us a definition for faith. I love this Hebrews 11 says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.” Other versions say the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But how do we get assurance of the hope of heaven? How do we get assurance of this hope that we have as believers? The Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God gives us assurance of our hope in Christ alone.

How do we get conviction that the triune God saves us? How do we get conviction for God and His law? How do we get conviction that the grace of God can save us? The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God gives us assurance and produces conviction in my walk and my life, and these are defined in the word “faith.”

But the point of verses 8 and 9 this morning are this: You don’t get to boast about any of that. You don’t get to boast about your salvation. God did that, not you. And so the believer’s testimony should always be one big story of you reflecting the glory back to where it belongs. This isn’t of yourself. You can’t even boast in your faith in the finished work of Christ or in the faith in which you live your Christian life because this is not of your own doing. Your faith is by God’s grace. Your grace is a gift from God that you’ve received. Your salvation is a gift from the almighty God.

And so if I were to ask you, “Hey Gospel City Church, what must I do to be saved?” Or actually if I asked you, “Do you believe that salvation comes by works?”

You would say, “No sir. It doesn’t come by works.”

“Well then what must I do to be saved?”

And you might say, “Well you have to have faith.”

And I might say, “Well then, it does come by works. The works of faith.”

And because you’re such theologians, you would say something like this. “No! By God’s grace you have heard the truth that is able to make you alive through grace. And now because Christ has taken hold of you through faith, you take hold of Christ and walk in righteousness.”

And I think that this is often the intersection that causes many to run further into rebellion in this life. If it’s that simple, just have faith, just believe, then why aren’t more people saved? Why aren’t more people going to heaven? Because it’s this intersection that causes people to continue to follow the course of this world and run headlong into rebellion. Because many want the benefits of grace but they don’t want to walk by faith in the finished work of Christ at the cross.

Who doesn’t want the benefits that we see in Ephesians chapter 1 and Ephesians chapter 2? Everyone wants the blessings until they hear they need to die to their old ways and walk by faith in Christ alone instead.

So perhaps you don’t want to be told how to live. I’ve heard this many times from young people. “I don’t want to be told how to live. I don’t need the Bible to tell me how to live my life.” Many don’t want to die to the world. So rather than walking by faith, many choose to continue to walk in disobedience.

Perhaps some won’t walk in faith alone because you don’t believe it’s enough for God to love you. So most people don’t see God as a loving, compassionate Father who is abounding in steadfast love and rich beyond measure with mercy. They see God as angry. Many see God as a dictator in the sky who’s simply keeping things running. He’s not personal and kind. And that could not be further from the truth of what we see in God’s Word. Shame on us. Shame on Chrsitians for ever giving a different appearance of God. He is a loving God. He is slow to anger. He is pouring out mercy on the sinner. (25:06)

SPLIT HERE

You know I was reading Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son this week. In Luke chapter 15 Jesus tells a parable of a son who asked his father for his inheritance in advance. So the son goes to his father, takes his share of his father’s land and he goes off on his own and spends it all in reckless living. Every dime of it down the drain partying, drinking, trying to find hope in this life through fun and through the avenues the world tells you you should find it.

He spent everything he had until he had nothing left. And then a famine came, because things just get worse and worse when you do things your way rather than God’s way. And then in desperation in order to stay alive he hires him out to feed pigs in a field. And starving and wasting away he longed to eat the very food that he was feeding the pigs.

And then finally one day he came to his senses and that day was not when he realized he was a sinner and he needed to repent and believe. That day was when he came to his senses that he was not worthy to be his father’s son or worthy of his father’s love. In that pigsty he realized that he was dead and he was disobedient and he was doomed. His faith in himself had run out. His faith in his share of the land had run out. His faith that he could make it on his own ran out.

And so he would ashamedly go back to his father and he would beg to be his father’s servant. And this is where we see the immense love of God for all of those who turn to Him. Because when that rebel son stepped foot on his father’s property, the father ran. The father ran to him and threw his arms around him and kissed him.

And as the young man confessed in utter hopelessness that he had sinned and he was unworthy to be his son, the father had his servants throw a party for the rebel son and raised him up to a place of honor. What did the son do to deserve any of this? Absolutely nothing.

And after trying everything there was to try, he realized he was unworthy and worthless. And even in going back to his father he was expecting rejection and he went expecting justice from his father, being condemned to the role of a servant. And his father, when he put his faith in his father alone in resurrecting his situation, he was met with grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.

And the truth is this morning we are like the prodigal son. Many of us are like the prodigal son choosing to walk in rebellion against God. Some of you are here today, but you know that you’re living in a spiritual pigsty. You walk out of this place, you hear this truth, only to go right back into the fields where the pigs are fed. And I pray that by faith you would come to see the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness in Christ.

His kindness wants to lead you to repentance. His kindness wants to draw you back to Himself. And in repentance I confess that I am poor and needy as God’s grace shows me that Jesus has paid it all. And grace puts breath in my lungs and faith is the believer breathing in that grace only to go and breathe out the praise of God on the earth.

The son was walking in disobedience, but now by grace he would walk in faith as his father’s son. And so saving faith must always be in Christ alone. Even the demons believe and tremble at God. But the demon’s belief in God does not move them to action. The demon’s belief in God continues to cause them to tremble at His presence but then run toward the darkness, to press the darkness forward.

And so you can say that you believe. You can say you have faith. And you can recite the right words. But true saving faith stops trying to do things their own way. True saving faith stops trying to earn God’s love. True saving faith gives it all up, realizes that they’re worthless and that they have nothing. And so they hang their head low and come crawling back to God expecting His wrath, expecting His judgment, and they are met with kindness and mercy and love and grace.

It’s not faith plus works. It’s not mustering up enough goodness or knowledge. Saving faith is recognizing there is nothing you can do but believe in what Christ has already done. And this comes by hearing. And hearing comes through the Word of God. And you believe in your heart that Jesus is God and God raised Him from the dead, which leads you to repentance, turning from your sin, leaving the old behind to walk in the finished work of Christ alone, no longer a son of disobedience but someone who walks in faith rather than sight.

And all of this is a gift from God that if you’re honest about you have to step back and the only thing you can do is give glory to the most high God. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see. That leads to point number three this morning and it’s this. Because of grace, I once was a child of wrath but now I’m the handiwork of His glory. I once was a child of wrath, but now I’m the handiwork of his glory.

Look at verse 10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The word “workmanship” in the Greek translates to our word for poem. I think that’s pretty cool. And the emphasis in this text originally is on “his.” So believers are the handiwork of God. Believers are God’s works of art. Believers are masterpieces who have been created in Christ Jesus for a purpose. This is God’s kindness toward you and it’s immeasurable.

You may not think very highly of yourself. You may not like who you are created to be. You may think that God is an angry Father. But His Word shows us the opposite! You are His design and you are His creation and you are His poetry. And the believer ebbs and flows in the rhythm, in the rhyme of God’s great grace. And you have been recreated and made a masterpiece for a purpose. And that purpose is that you would no longer walk dead in your trespasses and sins, that you would no longer walk following the course of this world or the prince of the power of the air, that you would stop doing things your way.

God’s purpose in making you His masterpiece is so you will take hold of your positional perfection in Christ and walk in good works that have been created and prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

And so you might say this morning, “I thought good works didn’t matter. I thought works didn’t play a role.” They absolutely matter. They’re how God always intended humanity to live in relationships with Him. But man chose to do life without God. And man chose disobedience instead of good works. And man chose to be their own god rather than to walk in harmony with God. And sin sent man on a spiral of chasing down things that would never heal the severed relationship. But God.

Romans 5:8: But God demonstrated his love for us in this that while we were still sinners Chrsit came and died for us.

And through the grace of God believers are new creations who display the glory of God as they walk on earth. And you were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God. And it’s by grace alone through faith alone that you have been made new to walk in those good works prepared beforehand, which identify you as His holy and blameless here this side of heaven.

So I’m a firm believer that once Christ has radically changed your life that everything should change. Everything for the believer should change. You start talking differently. You find new friends. You are entertained by different things. You see lost people as people who desperately need the love of God in their lives. You worship. You begin to express gratitude to the Lord. You start to read your Bible and it’s no longer just words on a page, but the Spirit begins to illuminate to your soul so that you could be transformed and renewed in your mind. You start to pray and believe that you are talking to the almighty God. you start to feel convicted about your sin and like you should stop sinning.

One of my favorite things is when someone who was running headlong toward destruction comes to know the Lord and they try to do the things that they were doing before they knew Jesus. And the Spirit of God comes upon them and they’re like, “I used to do that thing all the time. Why do I feel so guilty all of a sudden?”

Brother, that is conviction in your life. That is the Spirit of God working in your life. That is the Spirit of God moving you toward repentance, toward righteousness, toward purity, toward holiness because you are God’s chosen and holy and blameless here on the earth.

Does all of it happen at once? Absolutely not because we are stubborn people. And sin’s nature is so ingrained in us that it opposes the Spirit that makes us alive. But the believer spends his days fighting to be holy and blameless on the earth. And when you do things you don’t want to do, you give glory to God that He doesn’t give you what you deserve. And you repent and confess your sins to Him who is faithful and just to forgive them. And you walk in righteousness. You soften your heart and you seek repentance and help that you might walk in a way that honors God.

The way the believer lives should reflect the glory of the artist. God is the artist and He has remade you and He has recreated you and you are His poetry on the earth, displaying His glory and His grace and His wealth of mercy everywhere you go. And if anyone sees a different you by the way that you live, it is a testimony of His grace.

And people should see the believer and wonder what they have. And if you’re walking in good works that were prepared for you, people will undoubtedly wonder what you have. And you’ll have joy in your trials and you’ll have love for your enemies and you’ll do lots of things that the world tries to do in order to look good in the face of God. Only you won’t be doing them anymore to be good. You’ll do them because God has been good to you.

Grace is a gift of God to the walking dead to live eternally through faith and walk in good works instead. And Ephesias chapter 1 ties so well to all of this. That was Paul’s prayer back in 1 verse 15 that these believers, those people who were faithful in Christ…remember he praised them for their faith. But then he prayed that they would know more. And my prayer for us as Gospel City Church is that we know more, that we would come to more understanding, more knowledge and revelation of the glory of God that has changed our lives.

This is not one small piece of our life. This is everything. You’ve been remade. You’ve been recreated. You’ve been renewed so that you might reflect the glory of the artist. And you are a product of His handiwork. And so we pray, “God give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge. Enlighten our eyes. Open the eyes of our hearts to know the hope to which we have been called and the riches of His glorious inheritance and the immeasurable greatness of power toward us who believe.”

And that power was displayed most perfectly at the cross of Jesus Christ when the suffering servant died in our place for our sins. And He was raised to life. What’s so powerful about a physical death and a physical resurrection? The fact that it benefits those who would call upon the name of the Lord by His grace. As well call upon the grace of God, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, His grace radically changes us, renews us, and causes us to walk in His ways.

I’m going to invite the team out. And as we close this morning, you’ve heard me reference the hymn “Amazing Grace” all throughout our time together today. John Newton was an English slave trader in the 1700’s. So he admitted to doing horrendous things to African Americans. He also mocked religion. Not a man of God.

And in 1748 Newton found himself on a ship in a massive storm crying out to God, crying out to the God he didn’t believe in. And it was through those storms and that trial that he was led to see that God does exist, that God is merciful. God did spare them, and John Newton gave his life to Christ. John Newton received the grace of God and his eyes were opened to see the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.

And so he threw himself into studying theology. For ten years he became a minister in 1764. And to accompany his New Year’s Day sermon in 1773 John Newton penned the words to “Amazing Grace” along with his friend William Cowper. They wrote several hymns together.

And for years following the words had no form or melody. And even on that first day when he brought those lyrics to his congregation they would chant the words or sing the words with a familiar tune that they knew from around town. And it stayed that way for a long time, and it wasn’t until 1847 that it was placed to the tune of a melody known as “New Britain,” which is the familiar melody that we have today and that has been changed and that has been added to and that goes all over the world.

But this simple song “Amazing Grace” is something that has become iconic around the world. Even in our secular western world you can watch tv shows and movies and soundtracks and you hear the song “Amazing Grace” sung by artists all over America.

But while many know its tune and its lyrics, only believers know that the simplicity within it is their story of new birth. Only the believer can sing such a song having tasted the wondrous, miraculous glory of the grace of God.

And so if God has radically changed your life through His grace, if you have received this gift of salvation that comes by grace alone through faith alone, it should move you to worship. It should cause you to tremble. It should cause you to give thanks. It should stoke the fire of faith in your heart to continue to live in the assurance of your salvation, to continue to live in the conviction that only comes by the Spirit of God.

Let’s stand to our feet together. Bow your heads. I’ll pray. We’re going to go out proclaiming those great words.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your grace. It is certainly undeserved. And Lord we could spend days upon days, a lifetime, serving the depths of Your grace and we would fail to scratch the surface of all that it is. And yet God we thank You that You don’t invite us to come with our strengths. You don’t invite us to come with our intellect. You call us to have faith like a child, to give up our will, to give up our understanding.

And Lord we thank You for how grace shows us that we can come as we are and that You can change us and remake us and recreate us into masterpieces for Your glory. So Holy Spirit, by your power if anyone’s here today and searching and has yet to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, Spirit would you open their minds and their hearts right now to repent and believe? Would you draw them close that they might see Your love and Your mercy that is rich?

And for those of us who have walked with You for some time now, would it stoke our hearts to worship and praise? In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, amen.