Ephesians 2 v 8 thru 10

Transcript

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There are some passages in scripture that are so dense with truth that they really function kind of like jewels, theologically speaking, and they're small in size, but they're immense in weight. And Ephesians 2, 8 through 10 is one of those passages of scripture. These verses are kind of the reformation in miniature. They are the gospel compressed into three verses. They really are the clearest declaration in all of Scripture that salvation is from God, through God, and to God. Great pastor and theologian John Stott once said that if the church lost every other text but kept Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, she would still possess the gospel. John Calvin wrote that these verses leave no room for human pride, for they ascribe the whole glory of our salvation to God alone. So let's look in Scriptures this morning at Ephesians 2, beginning in verse 8. 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. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word today. Lord God, I ask that you would by your Spirit empower your word, that the gospel would go forth, that lives would be changed, that if there's one here today who does not know you, who's not walking in the salvation that is offered in Christ, that today might be the day that they call on your name. And Father, those of us who are in Christ, may it strengthen us and encourage us as we study your word today. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. So the first point I want to make this morning is that salvation is entirely by grace. Nothing else. He says, For by grace you have been saved. By grace. Paul begins with grace because it is really the fountainhead of salvation. It is the beginning point of salvation, God's grace. Grace is not God's response to our effort. There's a certain group that's based in Utah who would say, I am saved by grace after all that I can do. None of us can ever do all that we can do because there's always a moment in time where we are wasting time, so we're not doing all we can do. We are saved by grace, period. End of story. It is absolutely all of God, and it is God's initiative toward our inability as humans to save ourselves. The word that is used there in the Greek is the word kadity, and it carries a sense of an undeserved favor, unmerited favor. It is uh an unearned kindness, it is generosity toward those who are unworthy. It is the exact opposite of merit. I don't know how else to say that more clearly. Grace is the opposite of merit. It is the opposite of earning anything. We are saved by works. Christ works on the cross. That's the only work involved. Our works do not save us. Grace is not just God overlooking sin, but it is God overcoming sin. It is God doing what we cannot do for ourselves. And the context of grace is within our helpless condition. Earlier in this chapter, if you remember a few weeks ago, back up to verse 1, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. So we're described as dead in trespasses. He says we were following the course of this world. We were enslaved to the flesh in verse 3. We were children of wrath in verse 3. And then we got to verse 4. But God. But God. My two favorite words in the Bible, but God. We were this, but God. What did God do? Well, 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 and kindness toward us in Christ. For by grace you have been saved. Paul's doubling down here. He just explained our condition, our complete inability to do anything for ourselves. We were dead. Guess what? Dead people don't do anything, they stay dead unless someone acts upon them on their behalf. And that's what verse 4 is all about. We were dead, we were lost, we were hopeless, but God made us alive together with him in Christ Jesus. How? By grace. Not because we were such wonderful people, not because we had earned anything, not because of anything we had done. Let's go back to probably the most well-known, maybe not today, but in my childhood, the most well-known verse in all the Bible. For God so loved the world. And the rest of it flows out of that. Because God loved the world, he gave his only son. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It all flows from God's love. What does it? The grace. The grace is a byproduct of God's love for the world. For a world who by practice spits in his face. Romans 5.8. God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Back up to what we just looked at earlier. He says, because of the great love of which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive. So it is all because of God's grace. That is our condition. We were dead, we were following the world, we were enslaved to the flesh, we were children of wrath. James says we were at enmity with God, we were warring against God. Dead people don't cooperate. I remember being at my dad's funeral, walking up to the casket before anybody else was there. I got there early. They wanted me to, my stepmom had asked me, my dad heard me singing a song at his house, and he asked me if I would sing that song at his funeral. And my stepmom doubled down on it and asked me if I would sing it. And I said, No, but I'll record it because I won't get through it. So I got there early, recorded it, sent the file. They ran it through their computer system and played it during the service. Nobody else was there. Me, my dad's tent that he no longer occupied was there in a casket. And I talked to him. Guess what? He didn't talk back. He's dead. That body was dead. He was very much alive, and is very much alive with Christ. But his body was dead. He didn't answer me back. If he had, I might have put a new door in that building. As Jerry Clower once said, uh he was at a funeral, and the widow said, Oh, speak to me, and he said, If he does, that window's mine. That's the reality. He was dead. That body was dead. And dead people don't do anything but stay dead. They don't seek God. There's no one who does good. There's no one who seeks after God, Romans 3.10. Dead people don't choose Christ. How do we know? Were you here for chapter 1? Were you here for chapter 1? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ. Did you catch all the he, him, he, he, he, he, he? Our salvation isn't up to us. I mentioned a couple weeks ago a song I used to sing called Were It Not for Grace. Were it not for grace, I can tell you where I'd be, wandering down some pointless road to nowhere, with salvation up to me. I know how that would go, the battles I would face, forever running, but losing the race, were it not for grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace. What do I mean God's riches? I just read to you verse 3 out of chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's what we're blessed with. Everything we need for salvation, he blessed us with. That's why when Jesus was hanging on the cross before he bowed his head, he said, It is finished. The work was done. Our works come after salvation. We'll get to that in a minute. So R. C. Sproul once said, to tag on to that, that dead people don't make decisions. Dead people don't make decisions. Grace is not helping the sick, grace is God raising the dead. Because we were dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked. Some historical people who I'm glad agree with me, because these guys are a lot smarter than me. John Chrysostom said, Paul did not say you are saved by your works, but by grace, showing that the whole is of God. John Calvin said, We bring nothing to God but our sin and our need of mercy. You all are familiar with my favorite quote by Jonathan Edwards that says, You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. That's the reality. We can't add to our salvation to make us more saved. Our salvation is by grace. Romans 11:6, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Titus 3.5, he saved us not because of works done by us, but according to his own mercy. And 2 Timothy 1.9 says, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. Grace is the origin, it is the cause, and it is the security of our salvation. Our salvation begins in God's grace. It is God's grace in the person of Jesus Christ that causes us to be saved. And it is grace in the person of the Holy Spirit who keeps us saved. Then faith is the instrument, not the cause. Verse 8. By grace are you saved? Through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. So faith is the means by which we are saved, not the merit. We don't obtain salvation because our faith merits or deserves that salvation. We are saved through faith as the means, meaning faith is the avenue by which Christ's sacrifice saves us. And it literally means a trust or a reliance. It means leaning your weight upon another, resting in the sufficiency of Christ. Faith is not a simple belief or acknowledgement of some facts. That's an important thing to well. It's not just acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God. What do I mean? Paul tells us in Romans 10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you'll be saved. Right? Whether we like that or not, that's what Scripture tells us. We confess him as Lord. We don't just say, well, I believe he's the Son of God. There are lots of people who would make that profession, I think, who don't know salvation. It's not just an acknowledgement of those facts. Faith is trusting in and relying on. Told y'all before, I don't remember where this missionary was, but it was, I believe it was in South Africa. Missionary got there, he starts trying to minister to this tribe, and they have no Bible in their language. And so he's been there a while, he's learned their language, and he's translating the Bible from English into their language so that they can understand it. And he's in his little hut, and one of his church members comes in, and there's a chair hanging from a beam in the ceiling, and he runs in and hops up and flops down in that chair. Nothing supporting him but the ropes that are holding it to the beam. And the guy's struggling to come up. They have no word in their language for the word faith. And this missionary looks at this man and he goes, What do you call that? And he goes, What do you mean? He said, What you just did, the way you you jumped into that chair, trusting that it was going to support you. He told him whatever the word was. That's the word the man that missionary used for faith, because he's he's put his entire self on the fact that this chair is not going to collapse when I jump into it with no other way to support myself. And that's the reality. It is completely trusting and resting in what Christ has accomplished on the cross as being sufficient for our salvation. Faith is not a work we perform. Faith is not us going to God with something in our hand saying, Look what I have brought you. Faith is going to God with an empty hand saying, I have nothing to give you of any worth. I need you to save me. Is faith a gift? Yes. But it is not alone. He says, This is not your own doing. We're going to get technical a little bit in the language, okay? It uses a neuter demonstrative pronoun toto, which refers not merely to faith, but to the entire saving event. That's why I've said before, the way this is worded here, by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. What is the grace, the faith, the salvation? All of it in total is a gift of God. And it is it is all of that together. Martin Luther said that faith is God's work in us. It is something He grants to us. We don't just wake up one day and somehow get it. Ah, now I understand. We don't understand the things of God until the Spirit gives us understanding. Even the basics of the gospel. We do not understand that until the Spirit does that. The great Scottish reformer John Knox said the faith by which we lay hold of Christ is itself the gift of God's grace. That very faith is given to us. Charles Spurgeon said, faith is the channel, not the fountain, the hand, not the treasure. Philippians 1.29 says, It had been granted you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also, ooh, ooh, suffer for his sake. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I've overcome the world. Acts 16, 14 says, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention. Hebrews 12, 2 says, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith or perfecter of our faith. Faith is not the cause of salvation. Christ is the cause of salvation. Faith is not the basis of our salvation. Grace is the basis of our salvation. And faith is not the achievement, it is the gift. It is what we are given. And that's, I think, what is hard for people to believe because faith is not by works, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Paul in that phrase takes away every possible misunderstanding. He does not say merely that salvation is by grace. He says salvation is not by works. It is by grace, but it is not by works. He's contrasting those two things. Salvation is a gift given by grace through faith, not of works. It's not anything we're bringing to God to say, I deserve this. If we think in any way we deserve salvation, we don't have salvation. We have something else. We have some idol we've created because no one is deserving of salvation. The word works there, it's the Greek word ergon. And it includes these things. It includes moral effort, it includes religious rituals, it includes obedience to the law, it includes human righteousness, and it includes spiritual performance. None of those things contribute to our salvation. Plain and simple. None of those things contribute to our salvation. Paul is not attacking good works, he's attacking confidence in good works, relying on those good works to somehow bring us to Christ, to make us acceptable to God. Because he who knew no sin was made to be sin. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That's a really cool sounding thing. Thankfully, I didn't come up with it. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. So Paul is not attacking the good works. I know I said that, but I want to make this clear. He's attacking confidence in good works. He's attacking us relying on our own good works to somehow bring us to salvation. Why is it not by works? Because works would give us something to boast about. He says right here that we are saved by grace through faith. It's not of our own, it's the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. So that I can't say, Well, I'm a Christian. Aren't you impressed with me? No, the reality is I'm a Christian, and I don't understand why. Except that God is gracious and God is merciful and God is loving. And God is just, therefore, he had to crush his own son because of my sin. So the reality is we have nothing to boast about. Why? Because God will not share his glory with another. God will not share his glory with another. Paul writes to the church in Rome, he says, Where then is boasting? It is excluded. 1 Corinthians 1.29, he says, so that no human being might boast in his presence. Paul says, if I must boast, let it be in the cross of Christ. The only boasting we have is in Christ. Not because we were good, not because we were smart enough to understand it, not because of anything except Christ. He is our only point of boasting. That the very Son of God, the sinless, spotless, unstained, perfect Lamb of God, took my sin and your sin to the cross and allowed it to be placed on him. Though he was undefiled, he took our sin. Voices through history who speak to this, John Calvin says, There's no room for pride, for we contribute nothing. Charles Spurgeon said, if we could be saved by works, heaven would be a place of human bragging. Then, us being human, what would we do? You ever have those those conversations with people where no matter what you're talking about, you're talking about experiences in life, things you've gone through, they always have to try to one-up you. Well, that's nothing. I went through this. This happened to me. And it doesn't matter what it is. I mean, it can be the most bizarre, crazy, intense thing that you've just related to them, and they want to try to one-up you. That's what I think heaven would be if we had any part in our own salvation. We'd be up there, oh, really? Well, Anna, you got saved because you blah blah blah blah blah. Well, guess what I did? And then Mark would be, well, guess what I did? Why? Because it's human nature. So Paul makes it clear we have nothing to boast about. Why? Because we didn't do it. We got it, but not because of what we did, in spite of what we did, in spite of who we are and were. The gospel strips us bare. We have nothing to boast about. The only boast is Christ crucified. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and 1 Corinthians 2 2, he says, I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why? Because when you're talking about spiritual matters, nothing else matters. Apart from that, we're doomed. Then he says in verse 10, we are saved to good works. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are his workmanship. Now, Paul shifts the focus here at this point from how we are saved to why we are saved. What is the purpose of our salvation? Workmanship, poema in the Greek. And what does it mean? It means we are his masterpiece. We are his crafted work. We are his poem, his artistic creation. Why? Because we are the representation of the grace of God to the world around us. It's hard for us to understand, but I want you to know if you're in Christ today, you are Christ's masterpiece. You are God's perfect creation in Christ, not because of your achievements, but because of his craftsmanship. He says, We're created in Christ Jesus. Now we're talking about creation language here. You are his creation. Anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold, all things become new. John 3.3 says, You must be born again. Jesus having that conversation with Nicodemus, the teacher in Israel. Jesus calls him. He says, You must be born of water. Please understand and know, trust, and rest in effect. That is not talking about being baptized in water. That's talking about being born like we're all born. Anybody ever been in the room when your baby was born? There's lots of fluid in there. That's what Jesus is talking about when he says we have to be born of water and of blood. Christ's blood. We have to be born again. Salvation is not a moral renovation, it is spiritual resurrection. It is raising the dead. We are new creations. Why? For good works. Good works are not the cause of our salvation, but they are the purpose of our salvation. The reason we are saved is unto good works. Martin Luther said we're saved by faith alone, but that faith that saves is never alone. What did he mean? It's always accompanied by works. James tells us pretty clearly that you want to show me your salvation by faith, faith without works is dead. That's back to that mere mental assent to some facts. I accept those things as true. If you're not a new creation, your faith is dead. If you're not demonstrating that faith by good works, your faith is dead. That's what scripture teaches us. Augustine said, Grace makes us not merely forgiven, but new. Now we have new desires. We have new goals and aspirations. He says that God prepared those things beforehand. Proitoimasen. It's a big long compound word in the Greek. And it means to prepare in advance or to ordain beforehand, to set out ahead of time. Okay? It's like, how many of you have ever had something that you wanted your kids to do? Maybe go out and work in the yard. And so you go out and you get the rake or you get the shovel or you get the whatever. You prepare that beforehand so that they don't go, oh, I don't have any tools. Because kids would never do that. Except if they're given half a chance. But that's the reality. It's the picture here is that God prepared everything for us to do beforehand. Here's the great news, though. If we don't want to do it, somebody else will do it. I remember hearing preachers say, you know, God's got something for you to do. And if you don't do it, it won't get done. I've never read that verse. I've never even seen that concept in all of Scripture. Because that's a weak God. And that's not the God of the Bible. There are too many examples, especially in the Old Testament, of God calling people to do things and they put it off and put it off, and then either God puts them in such a horrible condition that they finally submit and surrender, or God just gets somebody else to do it. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need anything. He is self-sufficient, self-sustaining. That's part of what makes him God, is that he needs nothing. So before the foundation of the world, God ordained the good works that each of us should walk in. That's what he says. He says that they were prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Christian life is not a moment in time, it is a walk. It is a day-to-day living, it is a lifelong journey of spirit-empowered obedience to God. I mentioned earlier, James 2.17, faith without works is dead. Matthew 5.16, let your light shine so that they may see your good works and glorify God. John 15, 5, whoever abides in me bears much fruit. Good works are the evidence, not the engine of salvation. They demonstrate that we are saved, they don't make us saved. Notice we have grace, faith being given as a gift, not resulting from our works, so we have nothing to boast about. Then we are his workmanship creating Christ Jesus for good works was he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We must be saved to do good works. Otherwise, those works are going to be faulty in some fashion. We have to be in Christ first. So what do we do with this? Well, when we are in Christ, we are living as God's redeemed masterpiece. First, we need to rest in the grace that we have. Rest in the grace that we have because our salvation is secure, because Christ's work is complete. Then we have to reject boasting. Humility is the natural position of a born-again, saved soul. Because we understand I had nothing to do with this. Then we need to rejoice that our faith is God's gift because our belief is evidence of God's previous work in us. Then we walk in the good works God prepared beforehand for us to do. Our life is not random, it is divinely orchestrated by God's providence. And finally, remember that grace produces holiness. Al Moller, he's the president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, he said, grace does not free us from obedience, grace frees us to obedience. Grace allows us to obey God's word. From beginning to end, our salvation is grace. There really are three movements in this. Grace is the source, faith is the instrument, and good works are the result. The true Christians throughout history love this passage because it leaves no room for human pride and it gives all the glory to God. Let me give you a few examples. John Chrysostom, we're talking three hundreds. All is of God. I can do no other. That was at the Dead of Verms, where they were challenging the authority of Scripture. And he told the Catholics who were arguing against him, he said, Here I stand, I can do no other, unless I am convinced by God Himself or by the Word of God, I cannot recant of my faith. John Knox, 1500s. He said, Give me Scotland or I die. He was talking about give me Scotland for the gospel, not for himself, not for his own glory. Charles Spurgeon, 1800s, mid-1800s, said a great God must have a great gospel. Let's move a little closer in time. Somebody you may have heard of, John MacArthur. Grace is the theme of redemption.

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C. Sprohl says you are saved by grace alone. And again, Dr. Al Moeller, the gospel is God's work from beginning to end. And let's throw in there the Apostle Paul, by grace you have been saved. So if you're here today and you've experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ, give him thanks and praise for his glorious grace. If you're here today and you don't yet know that saving grace, call out to Jesus today. Call out to his mercy. Call out for his grace. Call out for him alone and rest in Christ's finished work at the cross for your salvation. Trust in him alone for that. And you may ask, how do I do that? Just like I said, God, I need your grace. I need your mercy. I need you to save me because I can do nothing to save myself. I trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross for my salvation. Make me clean, make me new, and do that for your glory. It's that simple. There's no formula. Cry out to God for his mercy. Because he is merciful and he is gracious. How do we know? Because by grace you have been saved. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word today. Lord, I pray that.