Gracious Regeneration: The Need for Grace  | Ephesians 1.7-10

WHERE IS THE LOVE?

We are spending five-weeks studying the grace of God in salvation in the letter to the Ephesians. Last week we read that GOD PLANNED for grace before the foundation of the world. He planned to create a people, for those all of those people to rebel and fall into sin, to rescue a chosen people by making them the object of His grace. And planned to accomplish this by sending His Son to die the death and live the life they should have. But grace did not end there. He planned to adopt them. He planned to lovingly conform them into the image of His son. He planned to one day restore those people to perfection and spend eternity with them—ALL for the purpose of declaring His glory, magnifying His name, and displaying His character.

The first seven verses of Revelation chapter 2 are also addressed to Ephesus—where Jesus commends the church for having good doctrine but condemns them for their loss of love. SOBER US. Honestly, the doctrines of grace don’t always feel loving, but the word love is used 14xs in the book of Ephesians. IN LOVE he predestined us...because of the great love with which he loved us he saves. Though it doesn’t “feel” loving when we start talking about God choosing to show grace to some and not others—the problem is that we want to define God’s love according to our view, not the Bible. You cannot separate God’s love from His holiness, His justice, or His wrath. God intends to display his FULL NAME—first, middle, and last. If God were only just and wrathful, all of creation would be rightly destroyed. But he is loving, merciful, and gracious—perfectly so—at the same time.

Our series is not designed to elevate the GRACE of God exclusively, but explicitly. It's God's grace that saves us. It is God's grace changes us. It is God's grace that keeps us. It's all God's grace. There's great comfort in God’s sovereignty. If all of life is dependent upon my effort or faith, then we have much to fear. But if it is completely dependent upon a holy, powerful God who loves, a God moves first and doesn’t wait for me to move, then there's much to rejoice. Read more here.