WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.770 I made you guys kind of a promise with Ephesians. 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.940 Here's the promise is that Ephesians tells us how to live life right. 00:00:06.840 --> 00:00:11.620 It encourages us, strengthens us, builds us up for what the day to day of life is all about. 00:00:11.620 --> 00:00:14.490 Now I really enjoy the book of Ephesians. 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:18.440 If I could, I want to call it my favorite book in the Bible. 00:00:18.860 --> 00:00:22.640 I feel bad saying that like I'm being mean to the other 65 other books that exist. 00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:25.520 I don't ever like to say that as my favorite, but it is. 00:00:25.840 --> 00:00:27.920 It's my favorite and the book of Ephesians. 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:29.240 I love going through this. 00:00:29.560 --> 00:00:32.920 I love just what it means for me in my own personal life. 00:00:33.260 --> 00:00:35.620 I can tell you if I could get one book right in my life. 00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:36.310 It's the book of Ephesians. 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:44.180 I mean, it deals with every, every relational aspect of life that you can imagine and encourage us to do, 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:44.990 how to do that. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:52.080 And the great thing about the passage or the excuse me, the book itself is that it doesn't even deal with 00:00:52.080 --> 00:00:58.760 the relationships of life and how to handle those, and how to see the glory of God working in your life until you get to chapter four. 00:00:59.940 --> 00:01:06.860 The first three chapters of the book are really about our identity in God and who we are because of God and who God is. 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:12.250 And the idea and the thought behind the book of Ephesians kind of works this way. 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:14.950 If you get God right, then you get yourself right. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:19.020 And if you get yourself right, then you live life according to the way that God has designed you to live it. 00:01:19.880 --> 00:01:26.360 And so before, before the book of Ephesians tells you how life should be lived and the way that looks, it tells us how that looks in light of who God is. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:32.520 And as we figure out what our relationship with God means to us, it encourages us to live our life in this world. 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:37.680 It's a beautiful book to work through, and I've really enjoyed what we've gone through so far. 00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:42.840 And the challenge today is that we come to a portion of the book of Ephesians. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:50.680 If we talk about the book of Ephesians and I tell you to name a verse that you know from the book of Ephesians, more 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:57.780 often than not, most of you are going to say, if you name a book or a verse, it's going to be Ephesians two eight and nine, right? 00:01:58.140 --> 00:01:59.240 For by grace are you saved through faith? 00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:01.820 And that not of yourselves it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. 00:02:02.300 --> 00:02:03.500 That's what you're going to say to me. 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:11.300 And so we're getting into Ephesians chapter two today, and I'm going to say that I'm going to say that verse and here's my fear is 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:17.440 that I'm going to say that verse when we get to that chapter, that portion of the chapter, just like I said it, now we're going to hear it that way. 00:02:17.940 --> 00:02:18.540 Ephesians 289. 00:02:18.860 --> 00:02:21.580 You say, I can I can preach the sermon today. 00:02:21.880 --> 00:02:23.100 And you know, what do I need you for? 00:02:23.260 --> 00:02:26.020 So this is this is what I've come up with today. 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:29.130 I want to I want to go big, and I want to go in a way that you're not going to forget this. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:29.740 All right. 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:30.820 And so today. 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.540 So this passage of Scripture is ingrained in your mind. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:38.840 Today we're going to talk about we're going to talk about butts. 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:39.620 All right. 00:02:41.260 --> 00:02:42.780 Well I know some of you come. 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:44.260 You're thinking, man, we're in church. 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:44.760 Right. 00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:48.440 But this is the reason I want to talk about it, okay? 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:51.070 We're not talking like the word butt. 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:52.040 Like a proctologist, okay? 00:02:52.040 --> 00:02:55.440 We're talking the word we're talking about, like a clause within a sentence. 00:02:55.480 --> 00:02:55.720 Okay? 00:02:55.980 --> 00:02:59.640 There is a significant statement in Ephesians chapter two that's important to us. 00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:06.360 And the compelling words that come after that are told to us in this chapter, follow the word. 00:03:06.700 --> 00:03:07.440 But okay. 00:03:08.660 --> 00:03:12.240 And so we're going to think in terms of the word. 00:03:12.340 --> 00:03:14.570 But all right, I know I said, but I didn't tell you what I meant. 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:16.160 And you guys automatically started thinking wrong. 00:03:16.440 --> 00:03:16.660 All right. 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:18.820 The word but is what we're talking about. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:20.560 But all right. 00:03:20.620 --> 00:03:26.880 And it's important to this passage of Scripture, it communicates to us the significance of what Paul wants us to understand in our relationship with God. 00:03:27.920 --> 00:03:31.280 Because if we get God right, we get our self right, we get our self right, we get life right. 00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:35.800 And so in the book of Ephesians, Paul's outlining for us. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:38.360 The identity of who we are in Christ. 00:03:40.340 --> 00:03:47.360 Now, before we talk about this word, what I want to do is talk about a topic that just 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:48.460 fills churches on Sunday. 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:49.860 And it's not a but. 00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:53.040 It's sin. 00:03:54.140 --> 00:03:54.280 Right. 00:03:54.380 --> 00:03:56.020 You can't wait to talk about sin. 00:03:56.180 --> 00:03:57.360 Get me some church. 00:03:57.620 --> 00:03:59.420 I want to talk about how bad I am. 00:03:59.620 --> 00:04:01.220 I want to talk about sin in the world. 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:04.360 And I just want to feel guilty and just weight on my shoulders. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:04.880 I'll walk out. 00:04:04.880 --> 00:04:06.760 Please let the sermon be on sin today, right? 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:08.740 That's how you guys woke up, right? 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:10.140 Okay, good, good. 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:12.690 Well, this is what I want to go with this premise. 00:04:12.900 --> 00:04:20.279 You guys already know the most popular verse of the Bible or in the book of Ephesians, likely Ephesians 289 for by grace are ye saved through faith talks about the wonderfulness 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:21.279 of God's grace. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.660 Okay, here's the great part about talking about sin. 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:29.960 Before you talk about grace, it's because the weightier you make the idea of sin. 00:04:31.020 --> 00:04:38.080 The more beautiful God's grace becomes and the more beautiful God's grace becomes, the more appreciative you are of the salvation you have in 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:38.530 Christ. 00:04:39.820 --> 00:04:43.980 And so by not talking about sin, we delineate from the very message that Jesus wants us to understand. 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:45.350 It is beautiful. 00:04:46.660 --> 00:04:47.940 And it has nothing to do with what we've done. 00:04:48.020 --> 00:04:49.550 It's everything to do with what he's done. 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:56.320 And so when you talk about saying, I know it's getting popular today, not to say words like, don't say bad words because you say bad words and people do bad things, right? 00:04:56.520 --> 00:04:57.970 Like that's what does it right. 00:04:58.040 --> 00:04:58.610 We don't want to think. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.140 We don't want to think negative thoughts because we become negative people. 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:04.590 That's not we're sinful because or we act sinful because we are sinful. 00:05:05.540 --> 00:05:09.100 And if and if you take away from that message, you take away from the beauty of God's grace. 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:14.020 But not only do you take away from that, you take away from finding the solution that God has given you. 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:20.880 When you downplay the idea of sin, then you take away from the cure of sin which is in Christ. 00:05:22.020 --> 00:05:23.840 There's some something significant about sin. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.620 And I want to start off just these first three verses today, just talking about sin, okay? 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.420 And we're not going to we're not going to go beyond three verses. 00:05:30.460 --> 00:05:31.980 We're going to look at actually 12 verses today. 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:33.690 So let's say 25% of this is about sin. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:37.540 And then the last half is all about the solution, which is what we want to focus on. 00:05:37.780 --> 00:05:40.020 But sin becomes important because God's grace is glorious. 00:05:40.820 --> 00:05:45.250 And so when we talk about God's sin or we talk about God's sin, we talk about our sin. 00:05:46.880 --> 00:05:51.300 The book of Ephesians immediately opens up with the magnitude of what sin is all about. 00:05:51.780 --> 00:05:55.300 And if I say to you, in this world, the world is sinful. 00:05:56.140 --> 00:05:59.020 You don't have to stop and be like, oh, man, let's let's contemplate. 00:05:59.020 --> 00:06:01.260 I don't even recognize the world is sinful. 00:06:01.400 --> 00:06:02.540 This is new to me, right? 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:04.400 It's not rocket science. 00:06:04.900 --> 00:06:07.760 There's a reason that relationships get strained in your life. 00:06:07.780 --> 00:06:09.890 There's a reason you do things that you often regret. 00:06:09.900 --> 00:06:11.920 There's a reason we have wars fought. 00:06:12.100 --> 00:06:14.840 There's a reason there's police officers that govern cities. 00:06:15.080 --> 00:06:16.380 There's a reason for these things. 00:06:16.380 --> 00:06:18.080 And the reason is because there's sin. 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.340 And if you don't recognize the idea of what sin is and what it does. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.600 We won't often find the solution that God desires for us. 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:36.700 And so when it talks in terms of sin in the book of Ephesians, it does more than just speak of what the results of 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:42.890 sin are in our life and causing us to have military and police officers and whatnot in our lives. 00:06:43.860 --> 00:06:50.880 It also talks about the aspect of sin between us and our relationship with God, not just how it's affecting our life here on earth, but what it looks like in our 00:06:50.880 --> 00:06:52.120 relationship with God. 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:59.140 And so when you turn to Ephesians chapter two and verse one, Paul starts talking about sin for us, and he does this in past 00:06:59.140 --> 00:06:59.560 tense. 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:00.220 Okay? 00:07:00.700 --> 00:07:03.910 Now this isn't saying for us that this is referring to everyone. 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:04.640 Okay? 00:07:04.640 --> 00:07:11.960 The reason Paul is talking about this passage in past tense, because he's written this, remember in Ephesians chapter one and verse one, to those who are faithful 00:07:11.960 --> 00:07:12.880 in Christ. 00:07:14.760 --> 00:07:17.560 These people turned the city of Ephesus up upside down for the faith. 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:19.480 Their faith in the Lord and all of Asia. 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:20.530 The Bible tells us. 00:07:21.820 --> 00:07:23.680 And he's writing it to a group of believers. 00:07:24.960 --> 00:07:32.200 And so he's recalling for them the beauty of what Jesus has done in their lives, so that they will never forget 00:07:32.200 --> 00:07:32.380 it. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.280 Because this is what I think is people we get comfortable in sin. 00:07:38.140 --> 00:07:44.700 we think about sin in comparison to our neighbor and think, as long as I'm better than him, then I'm good enough, right? 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:49.210 I'm going to make myself so lovable that God has nothing better to do than just accept me. 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:49.480 Right? 00:07:49.740 --> 00:07:51.640 I just see no, look at this face. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:51.920 He does. 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:52.320 He does. 00:07:52.320 --> 00:07:53.490 He know what he's missing out on? 00:07:55.140 --> 00:07:59.580 And we don't like to talk about sin because we really don't think it's that big of a deal. 00:07:59.580 --> 00:08:02.040 And we compare it to other people and it doesn't look that bad. 00:08:02.460 --> 00:08:06.080 But when you talk about that sin in relationship before a holy God. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.820 And I don't know what kind of word I could use here, but maybe say it's repulsive. 00:08:12.260 --> 00:08:12.780 God is perfect. 00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:17.640 His kingdom is designed to have no sin, and no sin can come before his presence. 00:08:19.340 --> 00:08:20.420 Before a holy God. 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:21.760 My life is filthy. 00:08:23.060 --> 00:08:28.500 In fact, Isaiah 64 says it even your righteous deeds are filthy rags before God. 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:31.550 And we there's not a whole lot that we get right. 00:08:31.780 --> 00:08:34.100 And I realize, okay, here you're doing that. 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:35.260 You're making me feel guilty. 00:08:35.260 --> 00:08:35.559 This is exactly. 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:36.340 I didn't want to wake up. 00:08:36.340 --> 00:08:37.770 I want to leave church and be excited. 00:08:38.140 --> 00:08:40.000 But it's important to recognize what it says about sin. 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:40.980 Look what it says in verse one. 00:08:42.260 --> 00:08:47.420 As for you were dead in your transgressions and sins. 00:08:48.880 --> 00:08:52.920 When the Bible talks about death, the Bible typically defines it in two aspects. 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:57.400 We often think about death as ceasing to exist. 00:08:57.400 --> 00:08:59.850 But when the Bible talks about death, it really means separation. 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:07.540 Okay, so what the Bible says is one day time will run out for you on earth, and you will you will physically die. 00:09:08.300 --> 00:09:10.150 And what we mean by that is not ceasing to exist. 00:09:10.400 --> 00:09:16.180 What's really intended by the word death is that your body is separated from your spirit. 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:16.700 You're divided. 00:09:17.660 --> 00:09:18.140 Death. 00:09:18.140 --> 00:09:18.560 There is separation. 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:26.620 But not only does the Bible talk about separation in that sense, in death, the Bible also speaks about your relationship with the Lord. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:34.860 And the Bible actually says in revelation chapter two, and I believe in revelation 20 and 22, it talks about what's called the second death. 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:42.600 Meaning not only does your body separate from your spirit, but when your spirit goes into eternity, your spirit can be separated from your relationship with God. 00:09:43.940 --> 00:09:45.230 That is the second death. 00:09:46.660 --> 00:09:53.900 And what Paul says about the significance of sin in this passage is Scripture is talking about not just your body leaving your 00:09:53.900 --> 00:09:57.320 spirit, or your spirit leaving your body, but about your spirit. 00:10:00.860 --> 00:10:00.940 And it's division, it's relationship with God. 00:10:00.940 --> 00:10:05.920 And so what it's saying to us in this very first verse is you were dead in your transgressions and sins. 00:10:06.140 --> 00:10:08.700 Listen, the magnitude of what Jesus did is so important, okay? 00:10:08.900 --> 00:10:13.090 Because as it comes to your relationship with God apart from Christ, it is dead. 00:10:13.920 --> 00:10:14.510 It is separated. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:23.040 You think about maybe if you work at a desk at work, you require your desk to be plugged into a computer. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.880 It needs that source of energy in order for it to have life and work. 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.180 Otherwise, you get really frustrated and aggravated, right? 00:10:30.420 --> 00:10:32.360 And it's the same thing with our relationship with God. 00:10:33.400 --> 00:10:35.700 Literally, it is unplugged from the source of life. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:40.980 And unless it's plugged into that socket, no life is channeling through you. 00:10:41.340 --> 00:10:45.580 And life gets frustrating because you were created to experience that relationship with God. 00:10:46.780 --> 00:10:48.440 You're born in sin. 00:10:50.560 --> 00:10:55.500 Bible maybe creates one of the best pictures of that in Isaiah chapter six. 00:10:55.540 --> 00:11:00.040 I know there's a few instances I could point to, but this is one of my favorites that exists in the Bible. 00:11:00.040 --> 00:11:01.680 It's describing Isaiah. 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:08.800 It tells us in the year that King Uzziah died, he was called up before the Lord, and he had this vision of God before him, 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:10.000 before his very throne. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:18.280 It tells us in the book of John, I think it's in chapter ten, that this person seated upon this throne, this God in which he is sitting in front of, is 00:11:18.280 --> 00:11:19.000 actually Jesus. 00:11:20.680 --> 00:11:24.180 But Isaiah records for us the experience that he has in the presence of God. 00:11:25.040 --> 00:11:32.120 Now, keep in mind when you read this passage of Scripture, I'm going to say when I when I look at the Old Testament, if anyone had a relationship with God and 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:35.620 had an accurately, it's going to be a prophet, especially Isaiah. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:42.480 I mean, this man stood for God so boldly that history tells us that he was later sawn in two because he wouldn't stop preaching the Word of God. 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:43.780 He was martyred. 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:48.460 And the experience that Isaiah has when he comes before God. 00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:55.500 It tells us in Isaiah six and verse three says this significantly marking the identity of who God is holy, holy, holy is the 00:11:55.540 --> 00:11:57.000 God of the angel armies. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:58.230 By the way, this is in the message. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:00.420 This is a paraphrase of Isaiah chapter six. 00:12:01.020 --> 00:12:03.280 So this is God before his army of angels. 00:12:03.280 --> 00:12:05.960 And it's clarifying for us something about his identity. 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:06.680 It is holy. 00:12:06.680 --> 00:12:07.680 It is separate from us. 00:12:07.680 --> 00:12:10.200 It is beyond our description in comparison to who we are. 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:11.800 It is it is just glorious and perfect. 00:12:12.880 --> 00:12:19.060 And it says the foundations trembled at the sound of the angel's voices and the whole earth filled with smoke. 00:12:20.040 --> 00:12:21.480 And I said, doom. 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:24.230 You think about that? 00:12:26.190 --> 00:12:29.680 We're created for I just said we're created for a relationship with God. 00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:32.820 And you would expect Isaiah man, he's getting experience with God. 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:34.440 And then he said, and I'm dead man. 00:12:34.920 --> 00:12:37.040 I see God and it's not good. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:38.380 It's doomsday. 00:12:39.280 --> 00:12:40.180 I'm as good as dead. 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:45.500 Every word I've ever spoken tainted, blasphemous, even. 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:52.000 And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate. 00:12:52.900 --> 00:12:53.860 And here I've looked. 00:12:53.920 --> 00:12:54.520 God in the face. 00:12:54.680 --> 00:12:57.020 The king God of the angel armies. 00:12:59.140 --> 00:13:06.220 Isaiah's gathered this picture for us that he's literally before a throne of a king who's prepared to go to battle, and the battle that he's waging is 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:06.740 against sin. 00:13:08.660 --> 00:13:13.200 And Isaiah is saying, and here I find myself before this throne as a sinner. 00:13:14.660 --> 00:13:15.140 I am a dead man. 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:18.240 Compared to one another. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.560 We don't look that bad, right? 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:21.740 Sin's not that bad. 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:27.110 I kind of live my life the way that I want, but as long as it's better than my neighbor, it's not that bad. 00:13:28.560 --> 00:13:36.600 Do you think of it in the perspective of God, who created a kingdom to be perfect and sinless, and now his creation, the crowning glory of his creatures, 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:38.240 the crowning glory of his creation, now sin. 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:41.020 And one day we will meet that maker. 00:13:42.760 --> 00:13:43.160 And say what? 00:13:44.520 --> 00:13:45.560 Sorry, God, for all the death. 00:13:47.640 --> 00:13:50.480 Isaiah says it's doom. 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:56.080 We were dead in our trespasses and sins. 00:13:57.660 --> 00:14:03.400 Isaiah goes on and explains beyond just verse one, listen, our relationship with God isn't plugged into its source. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:11.560 But he also says in verse two, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the 00:14:11.740 --> 00:14:14.980 spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:19.980 You know, I think verse two and verse three are an explanation of verse one. 00:14:20.040 --> 00:14:25.160 But verse two really then begins to describe for us the scope of this effect of sin. 00:14:26.380 --> 00:14:34.020 Isaiah is not just looking at the city of Ephesus and saying, guys, this place is just this is lost cause you guys are living in sin, man. 00:14:34.020 --> 00:14:35.280 Corinth is a good place to be. 00:14:35.280 --> 00:14:37.650 But Ephesus, I ain't going there, you know what I mean? 00:14:37.760 --> 00:14:39.520 Paul's not saying that about the town of Ephesus. 00:14:39.560 --> 00:14:45.260 What he's saying is in verse two, this the magnitude of this sin is affecting the whole world. 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:47.360 It's in everyone. 00:14:48.680 --> 00:14:55.690 Matter of fact, in Psalm 51, David said, I was conceived in sin, not that his mother had him in some sort of sin, but that David, 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.640 at conception from the very conception of his life, was a sinner at heart. 00:15:00.640 --> 00:15:02.760 The Apostle Paul all perfect. 00:15:02.760 --> 00:15:06.690 Paul, the Apostle Paul, who just basically established the church on his own shoulders. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:06.820 Right. 00:15:07.260 --> 00:15:10.600 He says in Romans, O wretched man that I am, man! 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:13.340 If Paul doesn't get it right, what hope do I have? 00:15:15.300 --> 00:15:22.800 And he says in verse two, the sin that's affecting your relationship with God is affecting the world's relationship 00:15:22.800 --> 00:15:23.500 with God. 00:15:23.900 --> 00:15:26.280 And there is this ruler of which we call Satan. 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:29.040 Who's ruling that kingdom. 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:32.600 So in verse three says this. 00:15:33.800 --> 00:15:41.240 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:41.800 and thoughts. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.640 Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:50.680 Bible is very clear for us. 00:15:50.680 --> 00:15:50.780 And. 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:53.080 What happens in sin? 00:15:54.660 --> 00:15:55.240 God. 00:15:56.740 --> 00:15:57.400 Judges sin. 00:15:59.720 --> 00:16:02.640 We're all sinful and God is judging sin. 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:05.560 Now here's the beauty of this statement. 00:16:07.420 --> 00:16:08.540 If by some chance. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:11.880 You aren't on the side of God's wrath. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:16.160 But you get to stand on the side of his presence and his glorious presence. 00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:19.720 And it's not a doomsday for you, but it's an enjoyment of your relationship with God. 00:16:20.900 --> 00:16:23.160 God's judgment of sin is a glorious thing for you. 00:16:24.140 --> 00:16:31.580 You think about all the wrongs that you've ever suffered, all the pain that you've ever endured, all the hardships that you've ever gone through. 00:16:31.760 --> 00:16:31.860 Jesus. 00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:35.110 His desire is to wipe it off the face of this earth. 00:16:36.420 --> 00:16:38.860 The King of Kings wants to remove that which destroys. 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:43.930 And if by some chance you can find yourself on the other side of sin. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:49.000 The statement of God's wrath being poured out on sin is an enjoyable experience. 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:56.030 Like I tell you, when you look at these first three verses, none of us should get to the end of this and say, man, that was great. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:01.640 You know, like the theology at this point is really profound. 00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:05.940 You get to the first three verses and you can say to yourself, let's see, what is Paul trying to say? 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:08.480 Oh yeah, sin stinks, man. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.500 Sin bites whatever word you want to use, I mean expletive whatever. 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:13.920 Sin is horrible, right? 00:17:14.140 --> 00:17:21.220 That's all Paul's expressing to us, this death that we experience in sin, this destroying of the world all, all that we're gratifying 00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:23.339 in the flesh, this thing that's contrary to God. 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:24.680 Sin is just horrible. 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:31.760 If you feel that about this passage of Scripture, it's good theology you're practicing this morning. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:33.500 Here's what happens. 00:17:33.620 --> 00:17:35.200 A lot of times we get to a place like this. 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:44.140 I know sometimes we don't like to hear the solution as it even relates to Christ, because sometimes people 00:17:44.140 --> 00:17:51.180 have used the idea of sin, especially been in a religious gathering, as a way to manipulate you to do what 00:17:51.180 --> 00:17:53.180 it is they want you to do, right? 00:17:54.020 --> 00:17:59.940 And we're not bringing up sin this morning to manipulate you or to make you feel guilty to do things that we want you to do. 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:00.640 Okay. 00:18:00.900 --> 00:18:02.920 That's the big difference in us talking about sin here. 00:18:03.300 --> 00:18:04.130 It's not about manipulation. 00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:05.220 It's not about guilt. 00:18:05.300 --> 00:18:08.080 If you walk out feeling guilty about sin, that does nothing for us. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:09.840 We don't want you to walk out feeling guilty about sin. 00:18:10.120 --> 00:18:12.130 There's a solution to sin and it's not feeling guilty. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:14.220 Okay, I think you guys. 00:18:16.080 --> 00:18:18.900 And so Paul is building this idea for us. 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:20.540 We look at the idea of sin. 00:18:20.800 --> 00:18:24.360 We sometimes try to interpret our own solutions to sense problems. 00:18:24.860 --> 00:18:31.260 I, like some individuals know at church at some point, if it's following the Bible, it's going to talk about sin, right? 00:18:31.260 --> 00:18:31.920 We don't like to do that. 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:34.060 So let's let's just ignore sin. 00:18:34.060 --> 00:18:34.980 Let's let's ignore it. 00:18:34.980 --> 00:18:36.020 Let's pretend like it's not there. 00:18:36.020 --> 00:18:41.650 Let's busy ourselves in our own world and eventually the pain of sin will just subside. 00:18:41.660 --> 00:18:43.140 Or I'll just become so callous to it. 00:18:43.300 --> 00:18:43.980 It won't matter anyway. 00:18:44.420 --> 00:18:46.560 We can pretend like everything's okay around us. 00:18:47.020 --> 00:18:48.470 You know, I've heard of this sin. 00:18:48.600 --> 00:18:49.630 I watched it on the news. 00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:51.330 It happened in, like, Darfur somewhere. 00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:52.920 But it's not happening in my life. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:54.560 So let's continue to ignore it. 00:18:54.860 --> 00:18:58.000 Or the power of positive thinking, right? 00:18:59.520 --> 00:19:06.500 If you just think better or build build a bigger Zen garden and sin will go away. 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:07.280 Man, right? 00:19:07.280 --> 00:19:08.940 It's not that sin is the problem. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.140 It's that I've created this delusion of sin. 00:19:11.140 --> 00:19:11.840 Sin is not even real. 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.600 And so I just think positive and all of it will just go away. 00:19:16.460 --> 00:19:20.630 Other people, they the reason they keep falling back into it is they they're not agreeing with my philosophy. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:23.740 If I could just share my Zen garden with them, everything would be okay, right? 00:19:25.060 --> 00:19:26.680 I say that kind of mockingly, but I'm serious. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:28.600 We tend to think that way sometimes, too. 00:19:28.820 --> 00:19:33.920 We just try to think positive like it's the solution or religiously. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:36.260 We just try to do enough good to make up for the bad, right? 00:19:36.780 --> 00:19:39.900 I do good enough and then I'm acceptable, right? 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:41.380 I'll become so good. 00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:45.490 And some of the stuff I'll do that the bad will be forgotten and I will just be so lovable. 00:19:45.620 --> 00:19:49.740 Because people can only only choose to love me because of the good that I've done, even though there may be some bad. 00:19:50.180 --> 00:19:53.070 So we'll just do as much good as I as I can. 00:19:53.120 --> 00:19:56.440 As long as I'm better than my neighbor, I'm okay. 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:58.900 And it'll be great, right? 00:20:00.100 --> 00:20:01.810 Let me, let me just throw out a thought. 00:20:03.260 --> 00:20:03.600 Doom. 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:09.460 What if your solution to life is do good? 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:12.440 And what if your solution to life is positive thinking? 00:20:13.540 --> 00:20:16.760 And what if you just ignore the sin that's around you? 00:20:16.780 --> 00:20:17.780 Manage to get through most of your life? 00:20:18.540 --> 00:20:19.800 And then what if one day a tragedy happens? 00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:22.140 What if one day your kid goes to school? 00:20:24.920 --> 00:20:25.580 And doesn't come home. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:30.040 What solution do you offer to that? 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:41.690 The reason I like the way the Apostle Paul brings up the sin is because when we talk about sin, the glory of God's grace is far better. 00:20:43.580 --> 00:20:45.180 And no matter how good you do. 00:20:46.760 --> 00:20:48.400 You may not be able to stop something like that from happening. 00:20:49.940 --> 00:20:52.660 I like the war that's happening right now in Washington over guns. 00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:53.720 I'm not going to take a side. 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:54.670 I don't want to make it a political issue. 00:20:54.940 --> 00:21:01.940 But I want to tell you this regardless of what decision they make, whether they give us all guns to carry or they don't allow us to have any guns to carry, it's 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:02.720 not going to solve the problem. 00:21:05.280 --> 00:21:08.340 It can it can defer the problem or it can curb the problem. 00:21:08.560 --> 00:21:10.740 It's not going to solve the problem because this problem rests within us. 00:21:12.800 --> 00:21:14.160 Hearts are wicked and deceitful. 00:21:15.230 --> 00:21:16.120 Jeremiah tells us that in 1709. 00:21:16.120 --> 00:21:16.140 Deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked even your children. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:16.140 I found out something happens. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:16.140 Something happens with kids when they get to the age of two. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:16.140 The devil enters their heart. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:16.140 They learn the word no. 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:16.200 That's what I meant to say. 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:16.200 But the sin is a big deal for us to recognize. 00:21:16.200 --> 00:39:52.260 And no matter how positive you want to think, if something tragic tragic 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 like that happens in your life, if your kid goes to school but doesn't return, I can tell you, no matter what philosophy you want to carry into that situation, none of it is going to is going to help and none of it's going to heal. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 This is what I think Jesus's solution does. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And I want to talk about that as we look and build up into verse one. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But here's what Paul's doing. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He's building this giant, but that's what he's doing. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He wants us to get to these first three verses and just think, gosh, this is so stressful, man. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 This is so huge, man. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Sin. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Sin is horrible. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't even want to experience this in my life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't want to be a part. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 If I could ignore it, I would. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 If I could do any of those solutions you talked about, I would. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But sin, the pervading idea of sin is around me and it stinks, man. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I've been affected by it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Sometimes I'm the one that does it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 How in the world can I break free from it? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so it says this in verse four. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Maybe click for me once. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 There we go. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But there it is. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 That's big. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You think about how big that is. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 That is the biggest. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But in Ephesians so far, you get to the first three verses and you see the enormity of sin and how vile it is before the presence of God, God calling us dead in our relationship. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And then he says this, But God. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I like that it's not. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But me. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But there's something you can do, right? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's something that's been done. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And it's not from me. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's from God. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But God. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Being rich in mercy. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Because of his great love with which he loved us. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Mm. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You think about the theology of the love. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 We've talked about it as we looked in Ephesians together. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Ephesians chapter one tells us that God has loved you before the foundation of the earth. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Meaning out of love. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He's created you in for the purpose of experiencing his love. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He has made you in this world. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It has nothing to do with what you've done. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God has chosen to extend his love to you because he is love. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God loves you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Greater than any love you've experienced in this world. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Nothing that you can compare to in this world. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God desires to experience life with you and desires for you to experience life with him. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And when we look at all the weight of verse 1 to 3 and we think of all the things we can do, and where all that stress when we're thinking, how in the world am I going to get out of here? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And then the answer comes to us it's not even you, but God being rich in mercy is choosing to love you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God loves you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so then he goes on and explains the idea of what this love has caused him to do. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It says in verse five, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 By grace you've been saved. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 So not only does God just love you, but remember when he said that you're dead and your relationship with him? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Remember when he talked about he's telling the Ephesians, who are Christians now? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Remember, think about what God has done. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Don't forget the beauty of what God has done in your life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Remember when you were this way? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God intervened and God loved you, and when you were dead in your relationship with him, what he did was just resurrect that relationship so that you can unite with him once again and experience life with him, both now and forever. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Do you remember when God did that? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God loved you and God has also given you life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He seated you with Christ. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 So then it tells us in verse seven, just the magnitude of it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 We see the magnitude of the way sin affects our lives. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so he says in verse seven, so that in the ages to come. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward you in Christ Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You know, what used to scare me about heaven is how long I had to be there. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I used to be a concern of mine. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I would say the word forever and ever, over and over until it made me feel weird. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Forever and ever. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't know. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 When I was a little kid, I thought I was going to eat popsicles every day. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I was really excited about that. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But when it tells us in verse seven when it talks about your experience with the Lord. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It talks about what you're going to experience as you grow in your relationship with God. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It tells us that in the ages to come, you're going to continue in the knowledge and growth of the surpassing riches of his grace. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And you're going to be experiencing that relationship with God to new depths and new wealth every day for all eternity. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God has chosen to love you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God has chosen to lift you in a position with him, to take you from death to life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And God has chosen to just lavish his riches upon you for all eternity. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 This is what God desires for our lives. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Not that we would talk about sin and walk out feeling guilty. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Not that we would talk about sin and just feel bad about it, but that we would talk about sin, that we could see the beauty of what Christ has done. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And rather than living life for ourselves, just run and embrace the one who loves us more than we really even care to love our own selves. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God talks about sin so that you can see the solution, and the solution is found in him for which you were created to experience life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 As part of Ephesians chapter two. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And verse four is enormous for us to recognize, but we get so callous to it as believers. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 The weight of sin being lifted from my shoulders, that I may experience the one for which I've been created. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so he tells us this as we think about being honest with sin and what Jesus says as we look at this relationship with we have with the Lord, it begins to encourage us the way that we can live in this life, as we'll see in Ephesians four through six. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But he goes on and gives us, you guys know this right click for me. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't know what happened to me. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I'm out of power. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 In verse eight it says this, for it is by grace you have been saved. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I will say this, grace, if you want to know a good definition of grace, I won't even tell you what it is. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Go to Romans for Romans 11 six. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Now I'll tell you what it is nothing to do with you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Grace has no works of your involvement whatsoever. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's everything Jesus has done. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God has extended his grace to you through faith. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's not of yourselves. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's the gift of God. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Now look at this. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 To those who think we make ourselves lovable to Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It says in verse nine, not by works. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 So that no one can boast. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 We are in our favor before the Lord. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 The boasting becomes ours. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But we understand the way that God has given it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 The glory belongs to him. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God has chosen to lavish his love. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Up on you and he saved you through Christ. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I saw a wonderful illustration of this passage this week. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It was a pastor talking about an experience he had living in Dallas, Texas. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't know what goes on in Dallas, Texas, but apparently they have hailstorms in which hail comes from the sky. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 That's the size of softballs. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Apparently this happens quite often. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't know, don't live in Dallas, Texas, as all it took from that. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And but this pastor was watching these individuals that got caught in this field during a giant hail storm. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And they all started running for cover to get out. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And these softballs were just falling out of the sky and just cracking skulls open. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 These things were really hurting people. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And he said he said he saw the most remarkable thing as he watched these people from his shelter scurrying across this field. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Run. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Yeah, I'd help you, but. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Right. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He said he said the people that were running across the field, they begin to realize that they weren't going to make it and that they were going to get severely wounded as they were going on this journey. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so the husbands did this interesting thing. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 As they were running across the field, these husbands turned and faced their wives. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And they begin to lift their arms over top of their heads. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And the. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And the gentleman watching this said you could literally hear the softball sized hail coming from the sky and cracking their skulls. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And nailing them in the bones. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And you could actually watch as these men protected their wives and were just rendered unconscious by the weight of these stones that were hitting them in the head. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And many of them, as they went unconscious, fell forward over their wives to continue to protect them from the storm. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He said that this storm was actually so bad that many of those guys who protected their wives were permanently disfigured from the scars that they have from the stones that hit them as they fell from the sky. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You think about that? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 As a husband. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I know you guys hear that. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You're like, yeah, I'll do that. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I will do that, right? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I love my wife, man. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I'm in. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Right? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Give me the whole story. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Chivalry. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And then you think about it as it relates to Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Looking over the earth. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Watching the weight of sin fall upon us. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Coming to this earth, grabbing us, looking us in the face and just saying I love you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I love you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And covering over you with his love. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Taking the wounds of sin to the cross to die for you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And the Bible tells us in revelation five, when John sees Jesus, he sees him in heaven as a lamb who was slain. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You think about the women. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Who had their husbands protect them. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And every day waking up and seeing a man who bears scars on his face that say to them, I love you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And the opportunity one day where you stand before Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And you see the scars of the ones standing before you that says, I love you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 The beauty of the passage says this. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's by grace that he's just extended his arms over you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He was the punishment for our sins. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It tells us in Isaiah 53, and it tells us through faith we experience the salvation meaning Jesus has come. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Jesus is offering himself to you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And Jesus is just asking, do you want saved? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Do you want rescued? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Do you want my arms over you? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Do you want me bearing your sin on the cross? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Do you want that? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Romans says this. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 For whoever calls on the name of the Lord. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Is saved. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I realize I bring up the word, but I don't want to do it to be uncouth. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I really want to do it just to saturate our minds to remember what this passage is talking about so we don't forget it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 We have to look at it in a new way or it's just going to be said. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Ephesians 289. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Grace, are you saved through faith? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Right. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God's grace in the midst of this storm has come into your life to set you free and to give you the opportunity to experience life in him. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's beautiful. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so he says this in verse ten. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Well, good bye, for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Forget the guilt of sin. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Put your faith in Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Jesus pays for it all. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Now let's put the past in the past and just look forward to our relationship with him. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 That's Ephesians 210. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God has created you for so much more than just feeling guilty, man. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 God's got an answer far greater than just ignoring sin in this world. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's him. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You were created to experience him. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And his handiwork is upon you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I was trying to figure out this week. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I have heard this verse a lot. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I share it like every day in Utah, and I was trying to think this week how can this verse impact my life? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 How can God speak to me through this passage in a way that would just bring life to what God's talking about here, because it's such a big deal. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 What Paul is saying in Scripture. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And then Wednesday morning happened for me. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 My. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You guys know if you've been here for more than a month? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 This past Christmas, just before Christmas, my grandfather passed away and I got to go home and preach at his funeral. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He was a believer in Christ and I was really excited to do it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I actually have another guy in my family. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He's my cousin who's also a minister, and he kind of wanted to do it, but he's my grandpa, so he was asking me if I even wanted to do it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And I was like, man, I am so excited to do this. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Not not because my grandpa's passed or anything. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 All that's sad, but one of the things I regret or not regret, but I don't enjoy about being away from my family is that I don't get to minister to my family living out in Utah. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 You guys are my family now, okay, but the family that birthed me and saw me grow up till I moved here, I don't enjoy the opportunities that I miss and not getting in and not being able to minister to them. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so when my grandfather passed, I realized, man, my whole family will be there. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so I get to talk about Jesus with him and it's going to be great. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so we went in and shared Christ. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And with my family and talked about how he's such a glorious solution to our life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And at the end, people came out, were talking to me about how great it was. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And some people even told me they actually apologized. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 They said, I've shown my backside to you quite often, and I just want you to know that I've given God control of my life and I'm just in love with Jesus, man. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 That's great. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't remember you showing me any of that backside, but. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But I'm glad that you have that relationship with Jesus, man, that is just wonderful to hear. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It gave me a great comfort in being able to do that with my with my family. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And then this past Wednesday, I wake up and I get on Facebook. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 All right. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but first thing I do is I get on Facebook and I see one of my cousins had made a post and it said all it said was rest in peace, sister. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I'll miss you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He's a younger brother of my cousin who I grew up with, grew up right next to my whole life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And it turns out on Tuesday night, someone had found her dead in a hotel room. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And immediately my thoughts were. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 For my grandmother, who just saw my grandfather pass, and now she's burying her granddaughter and my aunt, whose dad had just passed, and now she's burying her own daughter. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 What do you say to that? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Just try harder. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Do good. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Right. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I'll build you a zen garden. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Or just ignore it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Sin. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Who cares? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 She's dead. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Who cares? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Just ignore it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I mean, it's just a figment of our imagination. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Pain. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's not even real. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I mean, what can a solution do I give to a moment like that when hearts, are just being ripped apart? 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And then you remember the promises of Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Jesus knows this world can weigh on us. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And Jesus knows this world is falling apart. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And Jesus doesn't want us to put hope in a place that there is no hope. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And so I could say to her, Alana. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Jesus can restore all of this. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 That pain that you feel. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He wants to bring you into a kingdom of which it will pass away, and wipe every tear from your eye and take every pain from your life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Jesus doesn't want your hope here. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But God loves you and God is rich in his mercy. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And by his grace you are healed. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And he wants to lift you up into a new life and give you a kingdom of which you can experience his riches forever. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Nothing in this world can provide a better solution than Jesus. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 He heals the brokenhearted, the Bible tells us. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And he brings us life. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I like talking about sin. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 I like talking about sin because I know at the end of the story, my God kicks the crap out of it. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Amen. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And if we could get on the right side of sin, the one that's not under his wrath, but in his grace. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 How glorious it will be when my aunt or all of us stand before the Lord, and he brings his wrath and justice on the things that have broken our hearts. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 So I say this. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 For by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's not of yourselves. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's God's gift to you. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 It's not of works lest any man should boast. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But God has created you in Christ Jesus for good works. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 And the Bible says this give me one more click. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Remember church. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Don't forget the power of your message. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Remember that you were, at that time, separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But there it is, twice. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 For he himself. 00:39:52.260 --> 00:39:52.260 Is our peace.