September 27, 2023
Author: Pastor Gordon Cook
September 27, 2023
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints
who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in
him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself
as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to
the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the
Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
Ephesians 1:1
We are all familiar with that great hymn, probably the most famous
hymn ever written by human hands, that hymn by John Newton, “Amazing
Grace that saved a wretch like me.” Clearly Newton understood that
amazing grace saves a sinner, but also needs to bring a sinner safely
home. Listen to the lyrics, “It was grace that taught my heart to fear
and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour
I first believed.” Then he goes on to say this, “Through many dangers
toils and snares, this grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will
lead me home.” So he recognized that we need grace in terms of past
salvation, present salvation and also the future. The whole Christian
life begins and ends with grace and certainly one of the best places to
go in our Bibles just to remind us of grace is Ephesians chapter one.
It's a whole big sentence, there's no period here. It's sort of like an
avalanche that just comes rushing down a mountainside. It's an outburst
of praise by the apostle and the great emphasis here in Ephesians 1 is
what we have in Jesus Christ and he wants us to know that it is all
because of grace.
You could call Ephesus 1 the great grace
chapter. He picks up that word grace several times. Look at verse 2,
“Grace to you;” verse 6, he describes his grace as glorious grace; verse
7, the riches of his grace. If you turn over to the next chapter, he
repeats this grace emphasis in 2:5, “Grace you have been saved;” again
verse 8, “By grace you have been saved.” And you know the Bible
describes God, rightfully so, as a God of grace, manifold grace, copious
grace, grace upon grace.
So when you hear that word, grace,
what do you think of? I think a good equivalent would be gift. It
carries the idea of free, something we didn't earn, something we didn't
deserve, but from beginning to end it's always of grace. Even though
we're actively engaged in terms of sanctification, we never ever want to
forget that even sanctification is a gift from God. So we can speak of
regenerating grace, we can speak of justifying grace, sanctifying grace,
preserving or persevering grace and certainly forgiving grace.
Our
God has always, always been a God of grace, even from an Old Testament
perspective. But there's a difference, isn't there? Grace was more
restricted under the old covenant, God had ethnic Israel. Primarily it
was geared toward the Jews. Even when Jesus came he said salvation first
to the Jews. So under the Old Testament, even though it sometimes
stepped outside of the Jewish ethnic Jew or Israel, there was always a
limitation, there was always a restriction. But when Christ came there's
a flood of grace, you could say. Titus 2, listen to what Paul says
here, “The grace of God has appeared,” speaking of Christ.
Someone has said, “Grace has a face, I like that, it has a face. Grace
came when Jesus came, there was a flood of grace. Grace was always
there, but there was a flood of grace. John 1:17, “The law came through
Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” And here in
Ephesians 1, the apostle Paul wants us to remember all that we have is
because of Christ. And that language that he uses here is a
prepositional phrase that he keeps on using again and again and again. I
think Dr. Ferguson calls it a prepositional phrase of grace: in Christ,
in him, in Christ, in him, some 10-12 times, and that's just a good
reminder of who we are. That's our primary identity as Christians, “We
are in Christ.” Very few times they are called Christians, but they're
often called people who are in Christ.
And so when we come to
prayer, there is probably nothing more important to remember about
yourself than that you are in Christ. We are accepted in Him, we are
clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. So we can be
assured that he will never stop giving grace. Grace for today, grace for
tomorrow, grace until we make it to heaven, grace for ourselves, grace
for our Christian brethren, and we can even pray for grace for unsaved
loved ones.
But we also need to pray in light of grace. We need the grace of faith, we need the grace of love, the grace of perseverance.
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