God’s Amazing Grace
Healing Grace
Ephesians 1:6
 
In our time together on Sunday mornings we are thinking about “God’s Amazing Grace”.  I don’t suppose there is a hymn more familiar to us than amazing grace, but I’m afraid we aren’t as familiar with the theology behind the title. 
 
So we’re spending some time exploring that subject.  So far we’ve talked about “Saving Grace” where we discovered that God’s amazing grace provides us with an opportunity to be saved.  Salvation is God’s gift and it must be received by faith.  It is available to all who come through Christ and it extends for all eternity. 
 
You may say, “That sounds too good to be true!”  Well, that’s why it’s called “Amazing Grace”!  It is beyond comprehension that God would take folks as sorry and sinful as us, and with the purchase price of the life and blood of His own Son, provide us a way to be saved. But that is the very heart of grace!
We are saved by grace through faith. 
 
Now that would be enough, but that’s not all there is to “God’s Amazing Grace”.  Not only are we saved by grace but we are sustained by grace. Paul told the Philippians regarding their salvation, that what God begins, He completes. In fact, Peter said, we are standing in grace. That means once I am saved by grace,, I will never be outside the reaches and influence of His grace. 
 
 
Not only is it the grace of God that saves us and makes us a child of God but it is also the grace of God that is active and alive in our lives day by day to cause us to be like Christ.  It is dynamic and it continues to work in our lives sustaining us in every situation of life. 
 
Now today, I want to sharpen the focus a little bit and help us to think about “Healing Grace”.  Now when we hear the word “healing”, there is a tendency to think about physical healing.
 
And it wouldn’t be wrong to think in those terms because when we experience a physical healing, it is by and through the grace of God.  By the way, you do realize you don’t deserve to live, right?  The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “The wages of sin is death.”
 
The consequences of sin are death. And since “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”, we deserve to die.  But that verse continues by saying, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
 
So all of life is a gift, therefore, every physical healing is by the grace of God.  And we’ve all experienced physical healing.  Every one of us.  If you’ve ever had a cold or the flu or a rash or a cut or bruise, and you don’t have it any more, guess what?  You’ve been healed and that healing came because of the grace of God.   
 
So today, if you need physical healing you ought to pray for that and ask God for that and believe God for it because God may choose to graciously intervene and heal you.
 
 
He may use doctors and medicine to do it, but healing comes from God’s grace. 
 
Or He may choose to not heal you, as was the case with Paul, and let you learn about His grace in other ways.  But either way, it is His grace which is sufficient, either to heal you or to strengthen you to endure what you’re going through physically.    
 
But that’s a sermon for another time.  Today I don’t want to focus on physical healing, but the healing of our inner wounds. 
 
For many, there are some deep, internal wounds that have been carried and nursed and tended for a long, long time.  They may have been inflicted by our parents or friends or spouses.  It might be the wound of a betrayal or disappointment.  There are many ways we have been wounded. 
 
But I want you to know, God grace can heal those wounds.  The 147th Psalm says God heals the broken hearted.  So how does He do that?  He does it through His grace. 
 
The primary way His grace works to heal the internal wounds is by helping us understand who we are. The Bible says “as a man thinks in his heart, so is it.”   Now think about that in very practical terms.  If you constantly see yourself as a victim, then you put yourself in positions where you are victimized by others. 
 
If you see yourself as a failure then you are going to tend towards failure in your life.  If you see yourself as worthless then you will suffer from low self-esteem. 
So a part of the work of the grace of God is to help us change our thinking about ourselves as a child of God. 
 
Remember what we read in Ephesians 2:1 and following?  When Paul talks to these believers about what it means to be saved by grace, he begins by saying, “Here’s what you were” and “Here’s what you are now”. 
 
Understanding God’s grace means I need to come to terms with the change that has taken place in my life because of salvation.  It’s not just about dying and going to heaven.  It affects me right now.
 
So what I want to do this morning is help us to see who we are in Christ and then show you how to put it in practice in your life. 
 
I want you to listen to this statement:  No matter what is going on in your life, no matter what kind of problems you experience or relationship issues you have, as a child of God, you are who God says you are. 
 
You are not who your parents say you are.  You are not who your spouse said you are.  You are not even who you say or think you are.  You are who God says you are.
 
Many of the wounds and images we carry of our selves are reflected back to us by others.  Somebody told you you would never amount to anything.  Somebody told you you would never be successful.  Somebody told you you were ugly.  You are just a failure.  You are nobody in life. 
 
And after a while, you began to believe it and may times those reflections are carried for the rest of life.  But the problem is that is a distorted image. 
It’s like going to the county far and looking in the hall of mirrors. Some of them make you look fat, some make you look skinny, some of them make your head look large in proportion to your body, but they are not really you.  They are distorted images of you.  And many of the images that we have of our selves are distorted images. 
 
Our true self is what God says about us.  The way God heals the wounds on the inside of us is to show us who we are because of His wonderful grace.  So who am I?  I am who God says I am.  So who does God say that I am?  Well, God says a lot about who we are, but let me give you one example. 
 
Ephesians 1:6
 
God says you have been accepted in the beloved. 
Most of our lives are spent trying to be accepted.  We drive a certain car, we wear certain kinds of shirts with emblems on them, we live in a certain neighborhood, or we go to certain parties.  We do certain things trying to be accepted. 
 
But this verses says, “I’m in.  I’m accepted.”  As Romans 15:7 says, “Christ has received me.  And there are no conditions, no strings attached to it, no “ifs” or buts”.  If you have received Christ, through His grace, you have been accepted. 
 
It doesn’t say you are accepted based on the way you keep the Ten Commandments.  It doesn’t say you are accepted based on the way somebody views your life.  It doesn’t say you are accepted based on your performance.  God says you are accepted.  And it is to the glory of His grace!
 
Now that’s the premise.  And if it were only that easy we could wake up tomorrow and all the pain and hurt of the past would be gone and we’d feel great about ourselves and live a grand and glorious life. 
 
But it is not that east, so let me give you some suggestions on how to make it a reality in your life as you change your thinking about who you are because of God’s amazing grace. 
 
Let’s go back to our text and see what leads up to this statement that we find in verse 6.
 
Ephesians 1:1-6
 
Now in this passage, Paul tells us exactly how God works.  God works from the inside out not from the outside in.  That is why you can change a person for a little while on the outside and they can do some good works in their own energy but if they are not truly born again.  If they are not a new person on the inside, then soon they will fall away. 
 
Your performance on the outside will follow the person on the inside.  And how you view yourself has a great deal to do with living a success Christian life. 
 
Have you ever seen a circus elephant chained to a little peg?  Now the elephant has more than enough strength to pull up the peg and go wherever he wants, but he stands there and never tests the holding power. 
 
Why?  It is because long before he was tied to the peg, he was tied to an unmovable object.  And now, even though he has the power to break the chain and pull up the peg, he doesn't do it because he is  convinced in his mind that he can't do it.
That is the reason many people never get victory over their habits or change their lives. The devil has told them that they are chained.  He’s convinced them they couldn't amount to much.  They can’t teach or share their faith.  They can’t sing in front of people.  So convinced of their failure, they never try and therefore, never experience the grace and strength of God that is available. 
 
So the apostle Paul comes along to tell us who we are and in the very first verse, he uses a key phrase. 
Notice in verse 1, the little phrase, “in Christ Jesus.”
 
That’s where the power is found. "In Christ" is a phrase that you find over and over again in the New Testament and it is a key phrase to what it means to live by grace.   You live by grave because you are in Christ.  God has taken you out of Adam and God has put you into the family of Jesus Christ by His grace. 
 
So if we will change our thinking on the inside and find healing for our internal wounds, what’s involved?  Let me suggest three things from this text.  First,
 
1. Recognize Your Righteousness
 
Notice in verse 1 to whom this letter is addressed.   It is addressed to the saints in Ephesus.  So let me ask, how many saints do we have here today?  The truth is every Christian can hold up their hand because if you are saved, you are a saint.  The word saint is simply speaking of the “sanctified ones”, or to put it more plainly, “the set apart ones”. 
 
And in that regard, every child of God is a saint. You are either a saint or an "ain't".  There is no middle ground.  If you are a Christian you are a saint. 
That means you are either saved or you are not.  If you are saved you are in Christ.  If you are in Christ you are a saint.
 
Remember, we are “in Christ”.  That means I’m covered in His righteousness.  That mean’s God is able to look at me and see me as a person who absolutely has no fault.  He sees me as perfect and  holy and blameless.  How is God able to do that?  Well, it’s sure not because of my performance or behavior.  It is because I am “in Christ”.  And in Christ, I have been set apart, sanctified, made a saint, for the purpose of God.
 
And I need to come to terms with that.  This is what God says about me.  I’m accepted in the beloved.  I’m in Christ and I’m a saint! 
 
Some of you say today well I just couldn't accept that I am a saint because if I did that would be a huge misstatement of the person I am.  I have so many faults.  How in the world can I say I am a saint?  You can say it because of what God says about you.  God says that in Christ you are a saint.  You have been set apart for God's purpose and God's plan and you need to recognize your righteousness.
 
You say, well nobody is sinless, nobody lives without sin.  And that is exactly right.  No one understood that better than Paul, so notice what he says in
 
verse 4
 
The fact that we are saints, saved by grace and living Christ, is to motivate us to live a life that is blameless.  Nobody lives a sinless life but we can live a holy and blameless life. 
And as far as the world sees, as far as the world can tell through their experiences with us, we are to reflect a life that is committed to Jesus Christ.  So you have to recognize your righteousness. 
 
Here’s the second thing.
 
2.  Rely On Your Resources
 
verse 3
 
Notice that “blessed” is past tense.  He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.  Now all of us have probably said maybe even this week, "I need more patience".  But you really don't.  Or I need more love.  Or I need more endurance.  I need more kindness.  I need more gentleness; I need more of these things in my life.  I need to be more like Jesus. 
 
Well, the Bible says you already have all the love you need.  You already have all the kindness you need.  You already have all the patience you need. 
You already have all the endurance you need.  It says that God has blessed you, already blessed you with every spiritual blessing.  God didn't leave a single one out.  God says I have given you all the resources that I have.  They are yours already because you are in Christ Jesus and Jesus is in you.
 
And God will never demand anything of your life that He has not already supplied for you.  You say, “Well if He has supplied it for me, then why am I not experiencing that in my life?” 
 
 
 
It is because you have appropriated that which God has supplied for you.  You have not taken advantage and received that which God has made available to you.  He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
 
I like what Simon Peter wrote about this in II Peter 1:3.  He said according to His divine power, He has give us all things that pertain unto life and godliness."  How many things?  All things!  Not that He will give them to us, not that He can give them to us, not that if we beg and plead they will be ours, but He has already given to us everything that pertains to life and godliness.  Everything you need to live a Christian life you already have.
 
Back in the mid-1920’s, a couple named Ira and Ann Yates bought a modest ranch out in West Texas.  They were having a difficult time making enough profit to pay the mortgage and taxes, much less make a living, so on a hunch, Ira Yates invited Transcontinental Oil Company to explore his land for oil.
 
In 1926, a partnership consisting of Mid Kansas Oil Company and Transcontinental Oil, drilled an exploratory well on the Yates ranch.  At just over 1,000 feet they hit a gusher.  Little did they know, they not only hit a gusher, they drilled the first well into a region that would eventually produce over a million barrels of oil.
 
The area was completely unprepared for what had happened.  The nearest company that had any facilities at all was the Humble Pipe Line Co. who was a predecessor of Exxon and they were over 25 miles away. 
They quickly built a 55,000 barrel storage tank but it was insufficient to hold the massive amounts of oil that were being produced. 
 
Many of the early wells on the Yates Field were phenomenally productive; the first five wells, by spring 1927, together produced an average of 9,009 barrels per day. 
 
Production from the field peaked in 1929, with a total production of 41 million barrels of oil. That year also saw the spudding of well Yates 30-A, which blew out with the spectacular flow of 8,528 barrels per hour, and over 200,000 in a day, setting the world record. 
 
Ira Yates donated 152 acres of his land for the town site of Iraan named for his wife and him.  Countless thousands of dollars have been poured into the Texas economy, and in particular because of Texas law, into the colleges and universities of Texas because of the Yates Field.
 
Today there are still over 360 active wells operating and estimates are even though a billion barrels have been produced, half of the recoverable reserves are still in place.
 
Now it occurs to me that Ira Yates owned that land all along.  It was in his name.  He owned the mineral rights.  And yet for all those years, although he owned the land, he didn't possess all the resources of that land because he had not yet discovered them.
 
And many Christians live the Christian life a long time knowing Jesus, being saved but living the life of defeat because they had not discovered all that they have in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
They have every spiritual blessing. God has already given it to us.  And today you need to rely on your resource.  And your resource is Jesus Himself. 
 
One more thing:
 
3. Rest In Your Reception
 
Verse 6
 
We’ve already talked about the “accepted ” part.  Now let’s focus on the “beloved” because that is a reference to Jesus and He ought to be the focus! 
 
What did God say about Jesus when Jesus walked on earth?  What did God say about Jesus as He spoke from heaven?  He said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased".  God spoke audibly into the ears of the disciples and it’s as if He pointed at Jesus and said, “This is my beloved!  And I am well pleased in Him.”
 
Now that makes all kinds of sense, doesn’t it?  That God would be pleased with Jesus is absolutely right!  We couldn’t imagine it any other way. 
 
But can you imagine God saying that to you?  It is one thing when the coach says you did a good job.  It is one thing when the teacher writes on your paper "outstanding paper" you did a great job.  And it is one thing when somebody at work comments and says you did a good job. 
 
But when God shows up and says to you through His Holy Word, "You are my beloved!  In you I am well pleased", that is unexplainable. 
 
And yet that is exactly what we read in this verse. 
We are in Jesus and God looks at us through the bloody sacrifice of Calvary's cross and declares that we have been accepted in the beloved.  And it is to the glory of His grace that we can say it.
 
We do so much to be accepted.  Precious daughters will give their virginity to a crude, young man hoping to feel loved and accepted. 
 
Young men will sell their soul to the devil for a drink of alcohol or a high on drugs because of peer pressure.  Business men will wreck their careers trying to climb the corporate ladder.  On and on the tragedies go because we fear being rejected.   
 
Dear friend, I want you to know when we give our lives to Jesus no longer do we have to feel rejection because we have been accepted in the beloved.  We are accepted now, we are accepted in the future and our acceptance will never end. 
 
We are accepted forever because Jesus is accepted forever and He’s the One Who makes acceptable to God. 
 
Years ago, a seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests.
The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn't come over here." But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. "Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice.
They told him where they lived and he said,  "Great to have you here in Tennessee. What do you do for a living?"
 
"I teach at preaching at a seminary," he replied.
 
"Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really great story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple. The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great... Just what I need another preacher story!"
 
The man started, "See that mountain over there pointing out the restaurant window. Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, Who's your daddy?' "Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's your daddy?'
 
He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so bad. "When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?'. But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.
 
"Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'" The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy'. This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy
 
"'Wait a minute!' he said. 'I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God. With that he swatted the boy on the backside and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'
 
With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again.
 
Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God'." The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn't that a great story?"
 
The professor responded that it really was a great story!
 
As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!" And he walked away.
 
The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, "Do you know who that man was who just left that was sitting at our table?"
The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's the former two-time governor of Tennessee!"
 
A little boy who was an illegitimate child found out who he was, he found out whose son he was and it changed his life.  And my friend if you will find out who you are, if you will look at who you are, if you will look into the mirror of God’s Word and let God tell you who you are, it will change your life. 
 
And if you have never given your life to Jesus, you can become a child of God.  He has already accepted you.  And now you need to open your heart and say Lord Jesus I accept your acceptance of me.
 
Let’s pray.
 
 
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