welcome to this episode of real Christianity my name is Dale Partridge reach week I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough the illogical and pastoral question this is 100% listener support audio Ministry of relearn. Org and for those who don't know our mission a tree learn.org is to educate and equip ordinary Christian to plant biblical confessional and missional house churches for more information just visit relearn. Org forward slash house alright so do you cry when you meditate on the gospel
 what does God's love Captivate you in the infill every free second of your day do you ever feel that your passion for Christ seem so small in comparison to others do you want to have that and wonder of the Gospel that we see in so many preachers and evangelist organ be discussing this and more but before I begin I just want to make one quick announcement as you guys know we have a handful of companion Ministries here at reload out of work to support our greater Ministry meeting that we have a few other Ministry products that we have and people support our ministry by buying these products at one of them is standing victory.org which is a program on Breaking Free from pornography according to the gospel
 another one is Ultimate marriage.com and what marriage is a six-week marriage training program that's built on physical principles that my wife and I Veronica we are talking about the the mission of marriage the geology behind are the biblical roles of marriage the money sex the children all these elements in these difficult parts of marriage and we talked about them through a Biblical lens and we also have broken this down into a really great six-week program with six videos it's got six little worksheet to do as a couple you can do it in a small group you can do it as just a one-on-one just you and your spouse but it's a great program that has been $199 for the last 2 years and we have just slashed the price in half because we wanted to make it more accessible to people in our community so it's $99
 and that really helps our ministry and it's a great way to help your marriage so go ahead and check out altimate marriage.com if you want to at work on your marriage proactively or if you need some help your marriage is a great resource to get you started again that's ultimate marriage.com today's question comes in from Tracy and Tempe Arizona and she asks I'm struggling to understand the author and wonder of the gospel I've seen Christians who just think about the gospel and they begin to weep I've seen Christian to break out in celebration when they hear someone is converted to be honest I don't feel all that emotional about it I love Christ I came to Christ as a young girl I'm incredibly thankful for his forgiveness but I feel like I'm not seeing what other people see can you help me
 okay Tracy this is actually a very vulnerable question so thank you for that I think many many Christians struggle with this very thing you guys may have noticed the title of this podcast episode is how to have a greater appreciation for your salvation and I really do believe that you're not alone in this desire. Tracy and I can also confidently say that Jesus wants you to have that odd and wonder regarding the gospel he wants you to see his grace and your salvation in all of its Glory the Bible actually offers a specific passage of scripture that deals with this exact issue it's Ephesians 2 1 through 9 and at the time that this epistle was written the church at Ephesus and everywhere else for that matter didn't have a knack
 your understanding of how falling they were how great their rescuer was and how amazing the gift of Salvation truly was for them Nepal addresses this letter in 1:1 to the Saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful and Christ Jesus 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 basically your understanding of all the inner mechanics of the Gospel are not required for salvation you are saved by faith alone in Christ alone but nevertheless the Holy Spirit by the hand of fall
 I saw it fit to reveal to the church through this letter to the Ephesians how great our Salvation truly is it before I read the text I just want to make something very clear those who understand the weight of this text not just in her mind but I would take in the seat of their heart those people who can really grasp this are those people who weep when they meditate on the gospel if you like Tracy want to stand in awe of God's Amazing Grace you want to have shouts of Praises of joy and worship the Christ and revel in The Wonder of your salvation then you must understand this passage of scripture to read this to you
 and then I'm going to explain it briefly cuz we could spend hours on this but explain briefly what I'm trying to get across and hopefully that will help jump-start this process for those of you who are looking for a greater appreciation for your salvation so let's read Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 9 I'm going to be reading in the ESV it says and you were dead in the trespasses and sins and what you want 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 we're by Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich and mercy because of the great love with which he had 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 seated us with him in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is a gift of God not as a not a result of works so that no one may boast
 okay I am I once heard one of my professors Brian be tebak dr. Brian me to balk at the Master's Seminary offer probably the best metaphor for the section of scripture that I've ever heard and it really helps illustrate what this text is trying to teach cuz I know it's hard to hear that and go okay that was a lot of scripture what's really being said here will first it's broken up really into two parts how bad we were and how great God is and so I'm going to break it down in this phrase that doctor be debauch have used that I think will help give you a general understanding of where we're going to go today this is probably a almost word-for-word quote it's from memory when you are rescued from danger
 the greater the danger you are rescued from the more grateful you will be for The Rescuer going to say that one more time or should pay attention when you're rescued from danger the greater the danger that you're rescued from the more grateful you will be to your rescuer so maybe two stories that I think will help illustrate what I'm trying to talk about hear the first story is imagine if you were in a burning building and you were on the 7th floor and you couldn't escape you're surrounded by flames in the only door out is engulfed in fire the smoke is so bad that you eventually just pass out about a firefighter wrapped in a flame retardant suit runs up the stairs to find you unconscious wraps you in a fire resistant blanket and Carries you down the stairs cuz he's coming down to the last flight of stairs about to get too close to the lobby they hand you off to another firefighter to carry you out
 and as you escape the building collapses and kills the man that rescued you okay that's Story number one store number to imagine that you're outside in your backyard and you're trying to get a tan and your neighbor walks by its is ma'am your back is looking a little red you might want to put some sunscreen on ultimately he saved you from a sunburn that might have been quite painful so which of these two Rescuers will you be more grateful for which of these two men would you honor more and respect more the firefighter or the neighbor we obviously the answer is the firefighter who gave up his life and extremely dangerous circumstance to save your life and that's really what this passage in Ephesians is trying to do Paul is offering us as Christians
 the context of our savings story this section of scripture really could be just titled what really happened when you were saved 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 and while we may think that prior to Christ we were just you know struggling through life or that we just needed a little help to get back on the right track that's not what this passage is saying here this passage is teaching that you weren't just sick or struggling you or catastrophically dead you weren't following your own plan and your own dreams you were following the course of this world and you were following the prince
 this world that Satan you were like a corpse laying in your own feces and vomit and it you were just picked up by it like a flash flood and you were floating down a Black River of sewage that just eventually turned into a waterfall that fell into the mouth of a volcano okay this was your way this was your identity you you weren't a good person you were a son or daughter of Disobedience you weren't righteous you were a child of God's Wrath okay and another words what this is teaching us is you weren't rescued from a sunburn you were rescued from Eternal fire
 he presented verse 4
 after that first the first three verses which will read it again here in a minute to give us that context their of how bad we were
 but then verse for we hear what is likely to of the most amazing words in the Bible it says but God keep all just get done delivering this gruesome and sobering account of what is likely to all of us when we hear it and absolutely tragic
 understanding of our state prior to knowing Christ and then he transitions
 from the bad news to the good news and again what makes the good news so good is that their dad knows and that was the bad news and he makes this transition with two words but God and I want to read that entire passage of scripture so you can kind of listen this time with a little bit of contacts so I'm going to read chapter 2 verses 1 through 9 one more time it says 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 in the mind and we're 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 a live together with Christ by Grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable Riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no
 one may boast to the only proper response to this passage when you comprehend it is just a fall down and lay on your face and let the words all glory be to God all glory be to God all glory be to God fall off your lips until you can no longer speak I just think about the words that are in Romans 12:1 and I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service
 if this text shows us the great danger and the great rescuer the only response that is proper is worship
 it's worship
 it's reveling in the glory in the majesty and in just the Gratitude of the work that has been accomplished in your life by Christ
 and I want to make one point really clear is it a lot of time I want to make one point very clear
 the text doesn't care if you came to Christ as a five-year-old child or as a fifty-year-old convicted murderer hid your story of redemption is the same K verse 36 among whom all we once lived in the passions of our flesh all of us and a very end it says and we're by Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind look at you were both the child and the convicted murderer you're both dead in your trespasses and sent you were both in bondage to the course of this world and under the leadership of Satan you were both ruled by the loss of your flesh in your mind and you were both deserving of everlasting fire be too often I just hear this too often that people have a low view of God and a low view of the grace of God because they don't believe that they were really that bad prior to receiving the gospel that's just simply not true the Bible teaches us that we were all born into sin and that sin is not just an act but it's
 what condition it's a spiritual disease that leads to death not just the first physical death but also spiritual death and only the stripes of Christ can bring us healing right we heard that verse by his stripes we are healed we are healed from the disease of sin
 and what I'm trying to tell you here that's so critical is this in a sense we all have the same testimony all of us have the same testimony sure the murderer and the rapist in the Pharisee may have an easier understanding of the gravity of God's forgiveness but the eight-year-old boy is equally condemned if he is not put his faith in Christ
 okay your testimony
 is the same as my testimony or some variant differences but at the end of the day we are both part of this community of people that Paul talks about in the first three verses of Ephesians chapter 2
 it's ultimately Tracy when you come to an accurate understanding of your Redemption story
 not just in the mind as I said earlier but in the heart of the natural response will be Everlasting tears of joy it'll be obedience and loyalty gratitude love in fact I would guess that if any Christian could fully comprehend the greatness of God's grace to the Gospel of Jesus Christ they would be so physically overwhelmed with joy and love that they could not even they couldn't do anything but worship I bet they would struggle to sleep because of their inability to cognitively Revel in the glory of God they wouldn't be able to do anything without the constant recognition of God's greatness
 the only reason
 that we don't react this way is because we don't comprehend this story fully
 unfortunately. Hasn't chosen to give us that full understanding until we've been glorified with him to comprehension Revelation and illumination really become the Crux of the matter this is this is why you were writing this question in Tracy your level of awe and wonder of God is a direct result of your understanding of your salvation story okay when we have an accurate view of God and is holding us an accurate view of ourselves or depravity and our unworthiness Christ who is the bridge between God and man will be lifted higher and higher and higher in our hearts
 we will become more and more passionate worshippers the more clearly we can see the beauty of God the lowness of man and the bridge that got us there
 will be compassionate evangelist when we see these think we will be obedient children when we see these think we will be Great Commission workers when we see these things we will be deeply devoted prayer warriors when we see these things we will be fervent students of scripture when we see these things we will be loving and gracious and merciful to those around us when we CDs think we will be all these things because of him and what he did for us
 so this is this is it Tracy
 this is it for anybody that's listening we need to constantly go Lord give us give me a clear view of the Gospel
 don't let me a tribute anything to me
 show me your great Glory show me what you've done for me show me who I was so that I can appreciate who I am now show me why you did what you did let me understand these things in the more clearer you get there the more Revelation and illumination the Lord gives you your reaction will be it will be worship it will be Wonder
 and not is the only way to have a greater appreciation for your salvation
 was always guys I want to leave you with just a few resources that will help further your journey and understanding the appreciation for your salvation and understanding your role as a Christian and how communicating this message to others would be at a fine for the church you can find this episode a trailer. Org this is episode number 114 again it's titled how to have a greater appreciation for your salvation are the two resources and I'll leave you this week is actually I found a message from my professor Brian Beaty Bach on this specific passage of scripture and it's titled Grace that is greater than all our sin and it's on a fusions to 1 through 3 I put a link to that available for you to watch on our web site and I also have an article by r.c. Sproul title to what is Grace and I believe that'll be a helpful article for you as your comprehending and trying to get a
 we're in more accurate understanding of what a biblical definition of Grace is on that note if you guys are a regular listeners to this episode or two this podcast would you guys do me a favor and leave a review your reviews are so encouraging to us if you write something you don't need to write something you could just tap the stars in your podcast app but those reviews really do help increase the exposure at the show and they are encouraging I do read every single one of the reviews that come in as a written review thank you guys for doing that also if you guys haven't yet cuz they're following us on Instagram you can find us there you can also find me at Twitter just at Dale Partridge is the only social media platform that I'm really communicating on at this point and I do a little writing there and so is a great spots to find us on the internet so after this episode was edifying for you my name is Dale Partridge and I will see you next week
 thank you for listening to this episode of real Christianity if your regular was no to this show would you carefully consider making a donation to support our ministry efforts simply visit relearn. Org forward slash donate again that's relearn. Org forward slash donate and for those looking to explore the idea of joining or planting a church in your home you can download our free pdf ebook titled the basics of biblical Houston visiting relearn. Org for house lastly do you have a theological question you would like answered on the show submit your question at relearn. Org forward slash question thanks for joining us on this episode of real Christianity we will see you next Wednesday