Gracious Restoration:The End of Grace | Ephesians 1.13-14

On our website, in addition to a detailed doctrinal statement, you will find that we distinguish ourselves as a church in four ways: We are first Christian (WE LOVE JESUS). We are second Evangelical (WE PREACH JESUS). We are third Missional (WE LIVE LIKE JESUS). We are fourth Reformed (JESUS GETS THE CREDIT FOR EVERYTHING). It is the fourth description that we have been focusing on through this series. Unfortunately, we hesitate to distinguish ourselves this way often because we know labels can be both helpful and harmful. Different labels often possess negative connotations generated from bad experiences or misunderstandings. In an effort to avoid both, I have worked hard to avoid controversy in WORDS OF MEN, in the hopes that we might amplify GRACE OF GOD in the word of God.

This is the final sermon in our series, but it will never be the final word on grace. The title is the END OF GOD’S GRACE. By end, I don’t mean to imply that God’s grace ceases, rather, that God’s grace has an ultimate goal it aims to accomplish. Grace Plans. Grace Redeems. Grace Transforms. Grace Reforms. And, finally, Grace will RESTORE. Even though, by grace, we are rescued by Jesus in the present, salvation in Scripture usually points to a future rescue. In other words, God’s grace is experienced both NOW and NOT YET. Paul writes in Ephesians 1.3 that Jesus has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Peter, in his 2nd epistle writes, “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence (2Peter 1.3). There is a sense in which we are blessed now with something we can see and experience, and are yet to be blessed in the future with something we cannot. READ MORE