Old Condition to New Position; Sinner to Saints; Trash to Trophies part 2
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Intro
In April 1995 Bud Welch’s 23-year-old daughter, Julie Marie, was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City along with 167 others. In the months after her death, Bud changed from supporting the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to taking a public stand against it.
When I got ready to leave, I shook Bill’s hand, then extended it to Jennifer, but she just grabbed me and threw her arms around me. She was the same sort of age as Julie but felt so much taller. I don’t know which one of us started crying first. Then I held her face in my hands and said, ‘Look, honey, the three of us are in this for the rest of our lives. I don’t want your brother to die and I’ll do everything I can to prevent it.’ As I walked away from the house, I realized that until that moment I had walked alone, but now a tremendous weight had lifted from my shoulders. I had found someone who was a bigger victim of the Oklahoma bombing than I was, because while I can speak in front of thousands of people and say wonderful things about Julie, if Bill McVeigh meets a stranger he probably doesn’t even say he had a son
-the freedom project
wow, powerful story of forgiveness. in so many ways it goes against the law of man written in our hearts. You see, when we encounter wrongs, we expect it to be made right or for restitution to be made. When someone breaks the law, a punishment that fits the crimes seems fitting. When a person is killed that makes no sense, we expect recompense!
justice demands payment for wrongs, but God took our wrong upon Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, so that’s why we sing so many of our songs to our king Jesus.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The apostle Paul, writing like prosecuting attorney, has made the case for humanity’s destruction. We were born dead, followed the world, and even the devil in our depravity, and now we can expect the hammer to fall. Judge, we could almost imagine Paul arguing. I am asking for the death penalty, but since they’re already dead, I am asking for eternal damnation for every person who has ever lived.
Ephesians 2:4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,”
Ephesians 2:5 “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”
Do you know how dead People are made alive? Resurrection! we are not talking about a scene in a blockbuster or Halloween movie, we’re talking about Gospel reality. We’re talking about the great celebration of the Church-Easter Sunday morning. When the women went to the tomb expecting to find death, what they found was shock and surprise . Anticipating rotten flesh, what they found was folded grave-clothes. there was a probability of a great stone blocking the way, but instead they found an angel welcoming them in. They could have predicted mourning tears, but what they found was the best early morning cry one could imagine, because they found Jesus alive. You and I should expect death from this living death we were born into, but instead God grants us LIFE in Jesus Christ. resurrection! Life anew!
John 1:16 “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
Ephesians 2:6 “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
Ephesians 2:7 “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
grace 121 times in NT by my count
Ephesians 2:9 “not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”