Guest Preacher on 01.06.07

The pastor of the church I’m attending is currently in Russia helping to train Russian pastors…in his absence we had a guest preacher and he taught on Ephesians 2:1-10. I was pleased with what he said and especially with what he emphasized during his message. He did the proper thing in the first three verses as far as explaining and focusing the attention of the church on our previous spiritual state…which of course was death!

What I liked most about his sermon, however, was what he said beginning in verse 4; his heart came through when he arrived at this verse…and in order to properly explain what I mean, read the first three verses now:

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

I will note here what the preacher stressed in this passage…

“YOU He made alive, who were DEAD in trespasses and sins, in which YOU once walked…according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also WE ALL once conducted ourselves…”

Having stressed all of this, having connected us to the damning state of our previous spiritual state, he then came to verse 4 and stressed “BUT GOD…”

Here is the transition…in its simplicity and in its beauty we cannot overlook it, and the preacher wanted us to clearly understand it. “BUT GOD…”

No matter that we were BY NATURE children of wrath…no matter that we were DEAD in our trespasses…”

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”

Wow. What a powerful passage to bring to peoples mind! It is the grace and mercy of God, a mercy based on a great love for His elect, this grace and mercy was extended to a people undeserving of it! “BUT GOD…”

A beautiful transition, a beautiful arrow pointing us to the cause of our salvation!

Thank you, preacher, for an amazing reminder of the marvelous work of grace.