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HopeLives365

Mark Finley

3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

01 Paul and the Ephesians

02 God’s Grand, Christ-Centered Plan

03 The Power of the Exalted Jesus

04 How God Rescues Us

05 Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

06 The Mystery of the Gospel

07 The Unified Body of Christ

08 Christ-Shaped Lives and Spirit-Inspired Speech

09 Living Wisely

10 Husbands and Wives: Together at the Cross

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

12 “The Call to Stand”

13 Waging Peace

14 Ephesians in the Heart


Welcome back to our study in the book of Ephesians. The author titled this lesson, How God Rescues Us. But you notice I was thinking about it, you might take the how off and just simply say God rescues us. In other words, we were dead in sin, lost without Christ. And God took the initiative through his love and mercy to rescue us.

1 of my favorite verses in the Bible is the memory verse for this week in Ephesians 2, verse 4 and 5, but God being rich in mercy. What's God rich in? Mercy. Because of the great love, which he loved us, What was the motivation of Christ's reaching out in salvation for us? It was his love for us, which when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ.

So really you have 3 things. You have God who loves us, who's rich in mercy. You have us who are dead in sin, separated from God. And you have God who loves us, reaching out to those of us who are dead in sin to make us what? Alive together.

In Sunday's lesson, it points out that when we were once dead, we were deceived by Satan, but saved by Christ. The text is Ephesians 2, verse 1 to 10. Let's take a look at it and then we'll summarize it. And you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Think about it.

What if there was a loved 1 of yours that died and Jesus were here and he miraculously resurrected that loved 1? Wouldn't that bring a thrill to your heart? But the truth of the matter is, Christ is performing resurrections on a daily basis in our world. People that were dead in sin, people that were lost without Christ, people that were doomed for eternity, coming to Jesus, they have new life, they're alive together. In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, who's the prince of the power of the air?

That's Satan, right? The spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. So it is Satan's spirit that works in us when we rebel against God. Among whom also you were once conducted yourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature, the children of wrath, just as others.

So by nature, we're children of wrath. What does it mean children of wrath? God's wrath is God's judgment. So by nature, because we're all sinners, we're under the judgment of God. But, don't you like that but?

That's a divine but. God who is rich in mercy. What's he rich in? Mercy. Because of his great love with which he loved us, even we were dead in trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved and raised, and he's raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you've been saved through faith. That's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." So what Paul is saying here is that without Christ, By nature, we are children of wrath. We're alienated from the love and grace of God. That without Christ, we are dead in trespasses and sins.

Without Christ, we're doomed to eternal loss. But because Jesus is rich in mercy and love, he has redeemed us. But the purpose of his redemption is both to save us, but in the light of the great controversy between good and evil, to reveal before the whole universe his kindness. So that angelic beings and cherubims and serapims recognize the kindness of God, the goodness of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God. And here it says we grasp that by faith.

By faith we grasp the reality of what Christ has done for us and we are saved by grace that we receive by faith. But when we receive grace by faith, that grace begins to be operative in us. It is a dynamic power within us that produces in our lives good works. It's not, accept Jesus, believe in Christ, and do whatever you want. It's accept Jesus, believe in Christ and do what he wants.

And when we make that commitment to receive his salvation by faith through grace, and we're saved by grace through faith rather. When we make that decision, his power enters into our life and it dramatically changes us. There's a wonderful statement in our quarterly under Sunday's lesson that says, these 3 sections of the passage are summarized neatly in the phrases in Ephesians 2 5. In other words, the entire passage of Ephesians 2 1 to 10 is summarized in this 1 verse. 1, we're dead in trespasses.

2, God made us alive together with Christ. 3, by grace you've been saved. If I would add number 4 in verse 10, because it says here in verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. So the grace that justifies us is also the grace that sanctifies us. We receive, by faith, his salvation.

But by faith, we also receive his power to transform our lives. Now, according to Monday's lesson, we were once deluded by our own desires. That's Ephesians 2.3. It says, all of us who lived among them, that's the disobedient at 1 time, gratified the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving wrath." The paragraph under the question for the day says, the present reality of a lost life is distressing enough, but its last day implications are more frightening still.

Human beings being by nature, the children of wrath like the rest of mankind stand under the threat of God's judgment at end time. The phrase by nature, children of wrath, points to another daunting reality as well. While still bearers of the image of God, we have come to understand that there's something deeply awry in us. So we understand that rather than going down the right path, we veered off and we're on the wrong path. We understand the truth of Jeremiah 17, 9, in where it says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

We understand Isaiah 53, everyone has turned to his own way. And Psalm 51, where David says that, "'In sin my mother did conceive me.'" So left to ourselves, There is no possibility of salvation. That's why Tuesday's lesson becomes so vital titled, Now Resurrected, Ascended and Exalted with Jesus. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love has loved us. So you notice the contrast where Paul actually pivots from the lostness of humanity, from being separated from God, being by nature, that is the inherent nature, the way we were born, children of wrath, now he pivots to God's grace, God's goodness, God's love, God's mercy.

And the author makes an interesting point. Dr. John McVeigh says, believers are 1 co-resurrected with Christ. So when we accept the grace of Christ, just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, we are resurrected from spiritual dead. We're co-resurrected.

We are co-raised up with Christ, just as Christ ascended to heaven. So by faith, we are raised up to sit in heavenly places. So we're no longer children of the evil 1. We sit in heavenly places and we're children of God. We're no longer subject to the flesh.

We are now born again in the spirit. It says, and we are co-seated with Christ in heavenly places, meaning that believers participate in Christ's seating on the throne of the cosmos. They are co-exalted with Jesus. So Paul takes us from what 1 writer says, from the gutter most to the uttermost. He takes us from the depths of despair to the delights of discipleship.

We are blessed forever, as it says in Wednesday's lesson, by grace. God's planning for salvation in Ephesians 1, verse 3 and 4, with the eternal results of that plan described in Ephesians 2, 7. What are the essential elements and goals of God's plan of salvation? Well, here they are. Ephesians 1, verse 3, verse 4, puts it this way.

"'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "'who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. There's not a spiritual blessing that we need that's not provided in Christ, just as he chose us. So he chose us when? Before the foundation of the world. So before you ever conceived in your mother's womb, God knew you and he chose you for salvation.

He had a pre-designed plan that you'd be saved, that we should be holy without blame before him in love. So Christ chose us that we should live righteous godly lives. And he, from the time we were born, began to work in our lives to transform us by his grace, to lead us totally to himself. Then, if we compare that passage with Ephesians chapter 2, verse 7. Ephesians 2, 7 puts it this way, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So we become exhibits in the entire universe of the grace, the love, the goodness of God. Ellen White makes a remarkable statement in Desire of Ages, pages 19 and 20. By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels, but not alone for this earth-born, his earth-born children was this revelation given. Our little world is the lesson book of the universe. God's wonderful purpose of grace, the mystery of redeeming love, is the theme which the angels desire to look.

And it will be their study throughout the endless ages. Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song. It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love." What did the devil charge regarding Christ and his leadership in heaven? The devil said God is unfair, God's unjust. The devil said that Jesus wants to get worship but doesn't give love.

The devil said that Christ himself was not willing to sacrifice for the good of his creatures. So the devil charged that God was a vindictive judge, a wrathful tyrant. He charged that Jesus was selfish and wanted only adoration and worship. The cross of Calvary reveals before a waiting world in a watching universe that God is love and that Jesus would do everything he could possible to save humanity. So the death of Christ on the cross is not simply as important as that is to redeem sinners, but it's to reveal God's love before the whole universe.

We see in the cross of Calvary, the science of salvation, the mystery that's been kept hidden from the ages, the mystery of God's love. And as the result of that, we are now saved by God. We come to Thursday's lesson. And what conclusion does Paul come to in verses 8 to 10? So you look at, that's in chapter 2, you look at Ephesians 2, verse 8 to 10.

For by grace you've been saved through faith and not of yourselves. The first conclusion that Paul comes to is there's no way we can save ourselves. If you think you're going to be saved by your good works, you will never have the assurance of salvation because your good works are never good enough and you'll always feel this sense of inadequacy and failure and you always have this sense of guilt. So it's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So salvation is a gift, it's the gift of God.

I remember once I was trying to explain this to a group of native children way back in the jungles of the Philippines. We had hiked back in there, we're on a dirt road, not far from the village. We set up a table and a lantern. And As we did that, children and adults came around to listen to the word of God. And as I talked about salvation, I wanted to make it plain that salvation comes by grace through faith, that it was a gift, not something we could earn.

And I had a comb in my pocket and I took it out. It was a nice comb, new comb, wasn't some dirty old comb, of course. So I took out this new comb and I held it out and I said to the children, because I knew these kids, you know, far back in the jungle, they didn't have comb. So I went to the first child and said, hey, would you like this? Here, take it, It's a gift.

And the kid got so scared, probably because I was a tall, skinny American, he jumped up and ran into the jungle. I came to the second kid. Would you like this comb? Jumps up, runs into the jungle. Third kid.

Finally, I come to the fourth kid. I said, would you like this comb? He grabs it out of my hand, ran into the jungle. All the adults began yelling, come back, come back, come back. So finally the 4 kids came back.

And as they did, I said to the 1 boy that had the comb, you can keep it. And the other boys, their mouths dropped. We can't have the comb. I said to the boys, why don't you have the comb? And 1 little boy spoke up, because we didn't take it.

Taking the comb was a gift, but every child had the choice to take it. Taking God's grace by faith is a gift. And every single 1 of us have that choice to take it. And when we receive salvation by a gift, not something that we've earned, not something that we have worked to achieve, It says, lest anyone should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before him, that we should walk in them. We are created for good works.

When we receive the gift of salvation by faith, we work. Our faith is so good it works. Faith is not a dead principle. It's not a dead letter, but it's a living dynamic experience of trust. What is faith?

Faith is trusting God as a friend well-known, knowing that he'll never do us any harm, knowing that we can place our lives in his hands and that he will work within us to accomplish his purposes. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're thankful that you are rich in mercy. We're thankful that you redeemed us by your love and grace. We're thankful that you've taken us from the gutter most to the uttermost.

You've taken us from the depths of despair, lost to the delights of discipleship, saved. We're thankful that by faith we can receive your grace to pardon our past and to empower our present. We accept your grace and your love just now to be saved in your kingdom, in Christ's name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse or if you

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Series

3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

04 How God Rescues Us

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 Paul and the Ephesians

18m

02 God’s Grand, Christ-Centered Plan

21m

03 The Power of the Exalted Jesus

18m

04 How God Rescues Us

17m

05 Horizontal Atonement: The Cross and the Church

20m

06 The Mystery of the Gospel

19m

07 The Unified Body of Christ

21m

08 Christ-Shaped Lives and Spirit-Inspired Speech

20m

09 Living Wisely

20m

10 Husbands and Wives: Together at the Cross

18m

11 Practicing Supreme Loyalty to Christ

21m

12 “The Call to Stand”

19m

13 Waging Peace

17m

14 Ephesians in the Heart

22m

Sound Doctrine