Dale Partridge - October 07, 2020


Real Christianity #114： How to Have a Greater Appreciation For Your Salvation


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Length

23 minutes

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151.47862

Word count

3,560

Sentence count

209

Harmful content

Toxicity

4

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Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Dale answers a question from a reader named Tracy who wants to have a greater appreciation for the grace and wonder of God's love and grace alone. In Ephesians 1:1-9, the church at Ephesus had a good idea of how great God's grace was, but they didn't fully grasp the full extent of it. In this episode of Real Christianity, Dale explains why it's so important to have an appreciation for your salvation.

Transcript

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00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge, where each week
00:00:13.120 I offer 15-20 minute answers to tough theological and pastoral questions. This is a 100% listener
00:00:20.600 supported audio ministry of ReLearn.org. And for those who don't know, our mission
00:00:26.400 at relearn.org is to educate and equip ordinary Christians to plant biblical confessional and
00:00:32.800 missional house churches for more information just visit relearn.org forward slash house
00:00:39.280 all right so do you cry when you meditate on the gospel does God's love captivate you and
00:00:47.620 fill every free second of your day do you ever feel that your passion for Christ seems so
00:00:55.900 small in comparison to others? Do you want to have that awe and wonder of the gospel
00:01:03.400 that we see in so many preachers and evangelists? Well, we're going to be discussing this and more,
00:01:09.980 but before we begin, I just want to make one quick announcement. As you guys know, we have
00:01:15.440 a handful of companion ministries here at relearn.org to support our greater ministry,
00:01:22.160 meaning that we have a few other ministry products that we have, and people support our
00:01:29.100 ministry by buying these products. One of them is standinvictory.org, which is a program on
00:01:34.920 breaking free from pornography according to the gospel. Another one is ultimatemarriage.com,
00:01:41.220 and Ultimate Marriage is a six-week marriage training program that's built on biblical
00:01:47.240 principles. It's my wife and I, Veronica. We are talking about the mission of marriage,
00:01:54.520 the theology behind marriage, the biblical roles of marriage, the money, sex, the children,
00:02:02.300 all these elements, these difficult parts of marriage. And we talk about them through a
00:02:07.580 biblical lens. And we also have broken this down into a really great six-week program where it's
00:02:13.600 six videos. It's got six little worksheets to do as a couple. You can do it in a small group. You
00:02:19.340 can do it as just a one-on-one, just you and your spouse. But it's a great program. It's been $199
00:02:25.260 for the last two years. And we have just slashed the price in half because we wanted to make it
00:02:31.620 more accessible to people in our community. So it's $99. And that really helps our ministry.
00:02:39.900 and it's a great way to help your marriage.
00:02:42.300 So go ahead and check out ultimatemarriage.com
00:02:44.940 if you want to work on your marriage proactively
00:02:47.340 or if you need some help in your marriage,
00:02:50.680 it's a great resource to get you started.
00:02:52.500 Again, that's ultimatemarriage.com.
00:02:54.880 Today's question comes in from Tracy in Tempe, Arizona,
00:02:58.360 and she asks,
00:03:00.320 I'm struggling to understand the awe and wonder of the gospel. 1.00
00:03:05.420 I've seen Christians who just think about the gospel 0.99
00:03:08.320 and they begin to weep.
00:03:10.280 I've seen Christians who break out in celebration when they hear someone is converted.
00:03:15.440 To be honest, I don't feel all that emotional about it.
00:03:18.800 I love Christ.
00:03:20.080 I came to Christ as a young girl.
00:03:22.140 I'm incredibly thankful for his forgiveness, but I feel like I'm not seeing what other
00:03:27.340 people see.
00:03:28.720 Can you help me?
00:03:30.700 Okay, Tracy, this is actually a very vulnerable question, so thank you for that.
00:03:35.500 I think many, many Christians struggle with this very thing.
00:03:41.640 You guys may have noticed the title of this podcast episode is
00:03:47.500 How to Have a Greater Appreciation for Your Salvation.
00:03:52.160 And I really do believe that you're not alone in this desire, Tracy.
00:03:58.560 And I can also confidently say that Jesus wants you to have that awe and wonder regarding the gospel.
00:04:06.340 He wants you to see his grace and your salvation in all of its glory.
00:04:12.760 The Bible actually offers a specific passage of scripture that deals with this exact issue.
00:04:19.620 It's Ephesians 2, 1 through 9.
00:04:22.900 And at the time that this epistle was written, the church at Ephesus, and everywhere else for that matter,
00:04:29.500 didn't have an accurate understanding of how fallen they were, how great their rescuer was,
00:04:37.040 and how amazing the gift of salvation truly was for them.
00:04:42.040 Now, Paul addresses this letter in chapter 1, verse 1, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.
00:04:52.080 So one thing I want to point out is that this means that despite their understanding of how great the gospel was, how great the grace they received was, they were still saved.
00:05:03.980 Basically, your understanding of all the inner mechanics of the gospel are not required for salvation.
00:05:12.220 You are saved by faith alone in Christ alone.
00:05:15.940 But nevertheless, the Holy Spirit, by the hand of Paul,
00:05:19.580 saw it fit to reveal to the church through this letter to the Ephesians
00:05:25.300 how great our salvation truly is.
00:05:28.300 And before I read the text, I just want to make something very clear.
00:05:33.140 Those who understand the weight of this text,
00:05:36.140 not just in their mind, but I would say in the seat of their heart,
00:05:40.480 those people who can really grasp this are those people who weep when they meditate on the gospel
00:05:51.340 if you like tracy want to stand in awe of god's amazing grace you want to have shouts of praises
00:06:01.100 of joy and worship to christ and revel in the wonder of your salvation then you must understand
00:06:08.080 this passage of scripture. So I'm going to read this to you, and then I'm going to explain it
00:06:14.300 briefly, because we could spend hours on this, but explain briefly what I'm trying to get across,
00:06:20.820 and hopefully that will help jumpstart this process for those of you who are looking
00:06:25.940 for a greater appreciation for your salvation. So let's read Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through
00:06:33.000 9. I'm going to be reading in the ESV. It says, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in
00:06:39.720 which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power
00:06:45.580 of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived
00:06:51.600 in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by
00:06:57.060 nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great
00:07:04.320 love with which he had loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together
00:07:09.740 with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him
00:07:16.600 in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable
00:07:22.360 riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved
00:07:28.640 through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works so that
00:07:35.960 no one may boast. Okay. I once heard one of my professors, Brian Bedebock, Dr. Brian Bedebock
00:07:45.120 at the Master's Seminary, offer probably the best metaphor for this section of scripture
00:07:51.160 that I've ever heard. And it really helps illustrate what this text is trying to teach.
00:07:57.500 Because I know it's hard to hear that and go, okay, that was a lot of scripture.
00:08:00.960 What's really being said here? Well, first it's broken up really into two parts,
00:08:06.540 how bad we were and how great God is. And so I'm going to break it down in this phrase
00:08:13.320 that Dr. Bedebach had used that I think will help give you a general understanding of where
00:08:18.820 we're going to go today. This is probably almost a word-for-word quote. It's from memory.
00:08:25.540 When you are rescued from danger, the greater the danger you are rescued from, the more grateful
00:08:32.580 you will be for the rescuer. Okay, I'm going to say that one more time. I want you to pay attention.
00:08:37.780 When you're rescued from danger, the greater the danger that you're rescued from,
00:08:42.900 the more grateful you will be to your rescuer. So let me give you two stories that I think will
00:08:48.700 help illustrate what I'm trying to talk about here. The first story is, imagine if you were
00:08:57.200 in a burning building and you were on the seventh floor and you couldn't escape. You're surrounded
00:09:03.120 by flames and the only door out is engulfed in fire. The smoke gets so bad that you eventually
00:09:10.140 just pass out. But a firefighter wrapped in a flame retardant suit runs up the stairs,
00:09:16.040 finds you unconscious, wraps you in a fire-resistant blanket, and carries you down the stairs.
00:09:21.920 And as he's coming down to the last flight of stairs, about to get close to the lobby,
00:09:25.180 he hands you off to another firefighter to carry you out. And as you escape,
00:09:30.380 the building collapses and kills the man that rescued you. Okay, that's story number one.
00:09:37.340 Story number two, imagine that you're outside in your backyard and you're trying to get a tan
00:09:44.600 And your neighbor walks by and says, ma'am, your back is looking a little red.
00:09:50.520 You might want to put some sunscreen on.
00:09:53.260 Ultimately, he saved you from a sunburn that might have been quite painful.
00:09:58.520 So which of these two rescuers will you be more grateful for?
00:10:04.700 Which of these two men would you honor more and respect more, the firefighter or the neighbor?
00:10:11.700 Well, we obviously know the answer is the firefighter who gave up his life in an extremely dangerous circumstance to save your life.
00:10:19.700 And that's really what this passage in Ephesians is trying to do.
00:10:25.240 Paul is offering us, as Christians, the context of our saving story.
00:10:33.300 This section of scripture really could be just titled, What Really Happened When You Were Saved.
00:10:39.800 Right. As humans, we have like we just have this tendency to not see how incredibly blessed we are, meaning that we have to realize that self-love is blinding.
00:10:58.720 And while we may think that prior to Christ, we were just struggling through life or that
00:11:05.800 we just needed a little help to get back on the right track, that's not what this passage
00:11:11.280 is saying here.
00:11:12.800 This passage is teaching that you weren't just sick or struggling.
00:11:17.580 You were catastrophically dead.
00:11:20.280 You weren't following your own plan and your own dreams.
00:11:24.160 you were following the course of this world and you were following the prince of this world that's 1.00
00:11:29.700 satan uh you were like a corpse laying in your own feces and vomit and you were just picked up 0.97
00:11:37.420 by like a flash flood and you were floating down a black river of sewage that just eventually 0.98
00:11:44.640 turned into a waterfall that fell into the mouth of a volcano okay this was your way this was your
00:11:52.300 identity. You, you weren't a good person. You were a son or daughter of disobedience. You weren't 0.70
00:11:59.040 righteous. You were a child of God's wrath. Okay. In other words, what this is teaching us is you
00:12:05.480 weren't rescued from a sunburn. You were rescued from eternal fire. Okay. But then in verse four,
00:12:13.200 uh, after that first, this first three verses, which we'll read it again here in a minute,
00:12:19.000 They gave us that context there of how bad we were.
00:12:23.660 But then in verse four, we hear what is likely two of the most amazing words in the Bible.
00:12:31.040 It says, but God.
00:12:33.420 Okay, Paul just gets done delivering this gruesome and sobering account of what is likely to all of us when we hear it,
00:12:43.160 an absolutely tragic understanding of our state prior to knowing Christ.
00:12:50.480 And then he transitions from the bad news to the good news.
00:12:55.400 And again, what makes the good news so good is that there's bad news.
00:12:59.880 And that was the bad news.
00:13:01.700 And he'd makes this transition with two words, but God.
00:13:06.440 And I want to read that entire passage of scripture.
00:13:08.580 So you can kind of listen this time with a little bit of context.
00:13:12.780 So I'm going to read chapter 2, verses 1 through 9 one more time.
00:13:16.320 It says,
00:13:16.760 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
00:13:22.720 following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,
00:13:27.480 the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,
00:13:31.480 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,
00:13:35.800 carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
00:13:38.200 and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
00:13:44.180 But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us,
00:13:50.040 even when we were dead in our trespasses,
00:13:52.500 made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved,
00:13:56.920 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
00:14:02.740 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness
00:14:10.280 toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your
00:14:18.020 own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Okay, the only
00:14:25.620 proper response to this passage when you comprehend it is just to fall down and lay on your face and
00:14:33.600 let the words, all glory be to God, all glory be to God, all glory be to God, fall off your lips
00:14:38.060 until you can no longer speak. Okay, I just think about the words that are in Romans 12, 1 that
00:14:44.620 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a
00:14:50.860 living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
00:14:58.540 Okay, this text shows us the great danger and the great rescuer.
00:15:05.660 The only response that is proper is worship.
00:15:11.420 It's worship.
00:15:13.740 It's reveling in the glory and the majesty and just the gratitude of the work that has been accomplished in your life by Christ.
00:15:25.300 And I want to make one point really clear because we don't have a lot of time.
00:15:29.080 I want to make one point very clear.
00:15:31.640 The text doesn't care if you came to Christ as a five-year-old child or as a 50-year-old convicted murderer.
00:15:39.680 Your story of redemption is the same.
00:15:42.220 Okay, verse three says,
00:15:43.240 Among whom all we once lived in the passions of our flesh, all of us.
00:15:47.960 And at the very end, it says,
00:15:49.000 And we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
00:15:53.700 Okay, you were both the child and the convicted murderer.
00:15:57.980 You're both dead in your trespasses and sins.
00:16:01.080 You were both in bondage to the course of this world and under the leadership of Satan.
00:16:06.620 Okay, you were both ruled by the lusts of your flesh and your mind.
00:16:09.980 and you were both deserving of everlasting fire.
00:16:13.580 Okay, too often, I just hear this too often,
00:16:15.520 that people have a low view of God
00:16:18.220 and a low view of the grace of God
00:16:20.300 because they don't believe that they were really that bad
00:16:22.920 prior to receiving the gospel.
00:16:24.420 But that's just simply not true.
00:16:25.900 The Bible teaches us that we were all born into sin
00:16:28.820 and that sin is not just an act, but it's also a condition.
00:16:32.440 It's a spiritual disease that leads to death,
00:16:35.680 not just the first physical death, but also spiritual death.
00:16:39.400 And only the stripes of Christ can bring us healing, right?
00:16:43.380 We've heard that verse.
00:16:45.540 By his stripes, we are healed.
00:16:47.060 We are healed from the disease of sin.
00:16:49.900 And what I'm trying to tell you here that's so critical is this.
00:16:54.860 In a sense, we all have the same testimony.
00:16:58.960 All of us have the same testimony.
00:17:00.700 Sure, the murderer and the rapist and the Pharisee may have an easier understanding of the gravity of God's forgiveness.
00:17:06.520 but the eight-year-old boy is equally condemned if he has not put his faith in Christ.
00:17:12.620 Okay, your testimony is the same as my testimony. There's some varying differences, but at the end
00:17:20.740 of the day, we are both part of this community of people that Paul talks about in the first
00:17:27.060 three verses of Ephesians chapter two. And so ultimately, Tracy, when you come to an accurate
00:17:33.880 understanding of your redemption story, not just in the mind, as I said earlier, but in the heart,
00:17:43.140 the natural response will be everlasting tears of joy. It'll be obedience, loyalty, gratitude,
00:17:52.100 love. In fact, I would guess that if any Christian could fully comprehend the greatness of God's
00:17:59.160 grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would be so physically overwhelmed with joy
00:18:03.680 and love, that they could not even, they couldn't do anything but worship. I bet they would struggle
00:18:09.940 to sleep because of their inability to cognitively revel in the glory of God. They wouldn't be able
00:18:14.960 to do anything without the constant recognition of God's greatness. The only reason that we don't
00:18:24.160 react this way is because we don't comprehend this story fully. And unfortunately, God hasn't
00:18:31.960 chosen to give us that full understanding until we've been glorified with him. So comprehension
00:18:37.640 and revelation and illumination really become the crux of the matter. This is why you are writing
00:18:43.820 this question in Tracy. Your level of awe and wonder of God is a direct result of your understanding
00:18:52.820 of your salvation story. Okay. When we have an accurate view of God and his holiness and an
00:19:00.640 accurate view of ourselves, our depravity, and our unworthiness, Christ, who is the bridge between
00:19:07.200 God and man, will be lifted higher and higher and higher in our hearts. We will become more
00:19:15.560 and more passionate worshipers the more clearly we can see the beauty of God, the lowness of man,
00:19:22.840 and the bridge that got us there. We will become passionate evangelists when we see these things.
00:19:28.240 We will be obedient children when we see these things.
00:19:31.540 We will be great commission workers when we see these things.
00:19:35.780 We will be deeply devoted prayer warriors when we see these things.
00:19:40.080 We will be fervent students of scripture when we see these things.
00:19:44.520 We will be loving and gracious and merciful to those around us when we see these things.
00:19:50.260 We will be all these things because of him and what he did for us.
00:19:56.760 So this is it, Tracy.
00:20:00.080 This is it for anybody that's listening.
00:20:02.140 We need to constantly go,
00:20:04.720 Lord, give us, give me a clearer view of the gospel.
00:20:11.680 Don't let me attribute anything to me.
00:20:15.300 Show me your great glory.
00:20:17.580 Show me what you've done for me.
00:20:19.680 Show me who I was so that I can appreciate who I am now.
00:20:23.680 Show me why you did what you did.
00:20:26.180 Let me understand these things.
00:20:27.880 And the more clear you get there, the more revelation and illumination the Lord gives you,
00:20:34.620 your reaction will be awe.
00:20:37.800 It will be worship.
00:20:40.120 It will be wonder.
00:20:42.960 And that is the only way to have a greater appreciation for your salvation.
00:20:48.800 well as always guys i want to leave you with just a few resources that will help further
00:20:55.280 your journey and understanding the appreciation for your salvation and understanding your role
00:21:02.100 as a christian and how communicating this message to others would be edifying for the church you
00:21:08.680 can find this episode at relearn.org this is episode number 114 again it's titled how to
00:21:13.620 have a greater appreciation for your salvation the two resources i'm going to leave you this week
00:21:18.360 is actually, I found a message from my professor, Brian Bedebach, on this specific passage of
00:21:26.340 scripture, and it's titled, Grace That Is Greater Than All Our Sin. And it's on Ephesians 2, 1
00:21:33.480 through 3. I put a link to that available for you to watch on our website. And I also have an
00:21:41.180 article by R.C. Sproul titled, What Is Grace? And I believe that'll be a helpful article for you as
00:21:48.000 you're comprehending and trying to get a clear and more accurate understanding of what a biblical
00:21:53.580 definition of grace is. On that note, if you guys are regular listeners to this episode or to this
00:22:00.020 podcast, would you guys just do me a favor and leave a review? Your reviews are so encouraging
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00:22:15.620 and they are encouraging.
00:22:17.300 I do read every single one of the reviews
00:22:19.980 that come in as a written review.
00:22:22.900 And thank you guys for doing that.
00:22:24.020 Also, if you guys haven't yet,
00:22:25.840 consider following us on Instagram.
00:22:27.920 You can find us there.
00:22:28.980 You can also find me at Twitter.
00:22:31.280 It's just at Dale Partridge.
00:22:32.660 It's the only social media platform
00:22:34.480 that I'm really communicating on at this point.
00:22:38.320 And I do a little bit of writing there.
00:22:40.040 And so those are great spots to find us on the internet.
00:22:43.280 So hopefully this episode was edifying for you.
00:22:45.280 My name is Dale Partridge, and I will see you next week.
00:23:15.280 by visiting relearn.org forward slash house lastly do you have a theological question you would like
00:23:21.120 answered on the show submit your question at relearn.org forward slash question thanks for
00:23:26.660 joining us on this episode of real christianity we will see you next wednesday