Welcome And Text: Ephesians 2

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Good morning. I'm Bark Effosegan. I'm one of the pastors here. If you're our guests, an extra special welcome. We are delighted that you are here. And I'm particularly excited about this morning because I get to preach on two of my favorite verses. And anybody who's been here very long, I bet you can figure out what those verses are. We're in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says this for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is a gift from God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. Now, those verses mean so much to me because I was raised in high church. And in high church, I was taught that grace is something you earn. But my friends, this is simply not true. Grace, by definition, is a gift. And a gift, by definition, is not something that you can earn. A gift is something that one person pays for and offers to another person for free. If I offer you a gift and then ask you to pay for it, then you're going to look me in the eye and say, Well, that's not a gift. If I offer you a gift and I say, but I'd like to trade for it, you can look at me in the eye and say, Well, that's not a gift. If I offer you a gift and I say, but first I need you to do a few things for me, you look at me and say, Well, that is not a gift. A gift by definition is something that one person pays for and offers to another person for free. Now, as we have been studying, we have noted that Paul, the Apostle Paul, when he writes, and we see this in many of his letters, his tendency, his practice is to start his letter. The first half of his letter is all theology. Get your head right, get your mind right. And then the second half of the letter is all about practical application. And that is true almost. Because when we come to chapter

Why Context Matters For Grace

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2, the apostle Paul is rehearsing for us some things that he's already spoken about. And when he comes to verse 10, he already gives us some practical application. And so as we are in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, we're going to study along. We're going to find out that the apostle Paul does this thing. He does what's known as a flashback. Now, you've watched many a movie or a TV show. There's a flashback. He's writing to believers, but he wants to remind them where they once were. And so he does a flashback. And in fact, you can't truly appreciate Ephesians 2.8.9 unless you understand the context. Anyone knows anything about literature or storytelling? You know that. You can't understand the punchline unless you know the context. You can't understand the purpose of what someone is saying unless you understand the context. And so the Apostle Paul, before he ever gets to Ephesians 2.8 and 9, he lays out context for his believing audience. He wants to remind them of where they once were. And by the way, he's so overwhelmed with this grace that even as he's explaining to them, remember where you were, he inserts himself in the middle of it. This is where we were. This is what life was like for you and for me. Then he describes the unimaginable love of God. In the process of describing it, he talks about God's mercy. He says God is rich in mercy. Ah, but when he gets to verse seven, he talks about God's surpassing riches of his grace. Here's what verse seven says before we get to the rest of the text. So that in the ages to come he might show, demonstrate, some of you translation say, the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Now, this word surpassing is the word from which we get our word, hyperbole or hyperbolic language. That is, it's over and above, it's over the top, it communicates more than really needs to be communicated. Not so here. In fact, the scholars and teams of scholars who translate the word of God into the English struggle, struggle to adequately translate this phrase. New American Standard says this, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The New King James says this the exceeding riches of his grace. The NIV says it this way, the comparable riches of his grace. The Christian Standard Version puts it there, the immeasurable riches of his grace. The Good News Bible goes all out. The extraordinary riches of his grace.

The Flashback: Dead And Disobedient

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Is this the best word? Is this the best phraseology? Is this the best way to put it? Are we communicating yet? People need to know. Are we handling this text as best we can? Thousands upon thousands, millions of people are gonna read how we translate this.

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Can't even imagine the struggle.

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And as we study this, we're gonna find at least four things that he highlights that are part of this surpassing riches of his grace upon us. But before we even get there, we gotta look at the flashback. I'm gonna read verses uh one through ten, and then we'll break it down. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them. Now, before we even get into the riches of his grace, the surpassing riches of his grace, we've got to deal with this flashback. You know, when uh when Susie and I are trying to find a movie to watch, that's the closest we come to having a knockdown, drag out fight. Because, see, I want action. That's what I look. You know what I'm saying? I mean, Die Hard After All is a Christmas movie. You do understand that, right? But what she's looking for is a character arc. I didn't even know what a character arc was until Susie taught me. You know, somebody who's in one place at the beginning of the movie, the beginning of the story, but lands in a whole nother beautiful, happy ending place. But you don't really rejoice in the happy ending unless you know from whence they have come. And so he highlights for us. He says, You were dead in your trespasses and sins. That's where you are, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world. This world system had completely won you over. You're gonna think like the world, you're gonna live like the world. But he presses in, he says, the spirit, the power of the air. That's how we lived, according to literally the prince of darkness, if you will, the evil one. We were under his radical control. He says we also walked in the indulgences of our flesh, never satisfied, always needing more. This is the unvarnished truth. One scholar put it this way, summing up these three verses. Without Christ, we are dead, disobedient, depraved, doomed. We were actually under the very wrath of God, and rightfully so. We were in the kill zone. That's where we were. Any military man or woman will tell you what the kill zone is. It's a it's an ambush area where the person coming in doesn't even know they're walking into a circle of death. And as soon as they get in there, we're gonna lay out the hate. And we're gonna wipe them off the face of the earth. It's the kill zone. Where were we? We're in the kill zone. We're just in the kill zone. We're in the dead zone. You know, not that long ago, I was trying to talk to my son. You know, he and I had called me, and I was uh uh he was on the road, and all of a sudden we'd be listening to each other, and all of a sudden he'd go dead. Couldn't hear him. We in a dead zone. Cheese were trees were in the way, or maybe the hills were in the way, or maybe

But God: Mercy And Great Love

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it got too far from a tower. It's not that communication wasn't happening, it was happening. But something was interfering in me hearing it.

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God's love was being communicated constantly. But I was in the dead zone. Which left me in the kill zone. The evil one's desire was happening in my life. Living according to the world.

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We're born that way, you know. You have a child, and your hope is little competition. Will will he say mom or dad first? No, his first word is mine, mine, mine. That's his first word. Why? Still has to deal with that principle of the flesh. The selfishness, the self-centeredness. God's not even in the picture. He gives us the unvarnished truth, and then he gives us his unimaginable love. Verse four. But God, we could stop right there. Many of your preacher would entitle this message, But God. But God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Now, it's just it's almost unimaginable that in spite of who we were and where we were headed, that God would love us. In fact, the apostle Paul so struggles over this that when he's writing to the Romans and he uses that, but God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us. Well, first you got to hear the context. Here's the context, verse 6 of Romans 5. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. That's you and me. For one would hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man, someone might dare even to die. What'd you say? Look, there might be few and far between some God that is so stellar that maybe somebody out there might risk his or her life for that person. Maybe. But extraordinary love of God while we're yet sinners, using his name to curse others. But God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we're yet sinners, not when we cleaned ourselves up and started acting right, no, while we're wallowing in our sin and transgressions, God sent his only begotten Son that Christ would die for us. This is his mercy. Now, mercy is mercy is not giving us what we deserve. That's what mercy is. Here's how the psalmist puts it He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. That's mercy. He didn't give us what we deserved. Better than I deserve. Peter puts it this way You, believer, once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. But he not only expresses mercy, he expresses grace. If mercy is not giving us what we deserve, grace is giving us what we don't deserve. Verses five through seven, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he 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 ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The surpassing riches of his grace. Here's four things you ought to take away today. The first is he's given us a new pulse.

Surpassing Riches Of Grace Unpacked

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We have a new heart. We have a new life. Look what he says in verse 5 Even while we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. John 10 10, Jesus puts it this way: the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that there might have life and have it abundantly. How did we get that life? What happened? Well, he told us in the first chapter, in verse 13. Here's what he says In him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Listen, knowing about Jesus doesn't save anybody. Trusting Jesus saves. There came a point when finally their ears were opened and they began to listen to Jesus' testimony about himself, that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by him, that he is the giver of life. And all those who trust him, he gifts eternal life. The first of the surpassing riches of his grace is that he's given us eternal life. We have a new life. In fact, that's why in 2 Corinthians 5.17 it says this if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. At that very moment that you place your faith, your trust in Christ, you're his forevermore, he's yours forevermore, you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But now, now you have the opportunity to walk with him and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And new things have come day by day. New things, new things, new things. You read his word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit within grabs a hold of it, and it becomes part of who you are.

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And you become changed. People notice something different about you. What is it? What's going on?

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Susie was telling me a story, my precious bride, about one of her sisters who had seen Susie and one of the other sisters be transformed through faith. And she was asking God, how come they have it? How come I don't? So she decided to pursue it. And she went on a retreat, and everything changed. She finally heard and embraced the grace of God.

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People notice.

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And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have a new perspective. This is not all there is. Philippians 3.20, Paul puts it this way for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. While everybody around you is losing their minds, and somehow you're able to stay calm in the midst of whatever tragedy it is. They want to know, explain to me the hope that you're expressing here. Got a new perspective. This isn't all there is. I know it seems like it is, but I promise you, this is not all there is. That's why the Apostle Paul tells the Colossians, if then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. A new life, a new pulse, a new perspective. This is not

New Life: A New Pulse

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all there is.

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A new power.

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Look at the second half of verse six. He seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now that that makes you want to go back to chapter one. Chapter one, he talks about Jesus being above all power and authority, seated at the right hand of the Father, the strength of the Father. That's what Jesus Christ is. And he says, but now you, through faith in Christ, you too are seated in heavenly places. With Jesus Christ, that's where you are. Well, what is he talking about? You have a new authority. In fact, just last week, Paul teaches the theology. It's so high and lofty and says, I don't think you're getting it. So I'm going to pray for you that the eyes and ears of your heart would be able to listen and see the reality of what I'm telling you to be true. And so he prays. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. What is he saying? Listen, if you understand where Jesus is and you understand where you are now with Jesus, you'll understand you have authority in heavenly places, in the spiritual realm. Part of the surpassing greatness of his riches is that you have spiritual authority. I wonder if every mother and father who is a believer could fully grasp the surpassing greatness of this grace that is ours in Christ when their son or their daughter turns to the right or to the left.

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Wonder what they would do. Fall to their knees.

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Heavenly Father, in Christ Jesus, by your authority that you bequeath to me, I pray that you will ruin every relationship my child has that's swaying them in the wrong direction. Heavenly Father, by the authority that you have bequeathed to me in Christ Jesus, I pray you would surround my precious Son with those who know you and love you and who walk well with you. I wonder, I wonder if a husband with a wayward wife understood the authority that is his in Christ Jesus in the spiritual realm, wouldn't fall to his knees and say, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, would you surround my bride with those who love you, who had counseled her, who had set her heart aright? Would you ruin every relationship that tempts her away from walking with you? I wonder whether a bride who has a wayward husband, if she would fully embrace this, I wonder what she would do. Would she not fall to her knees to say, Heavenly Father, by the authority that you have bequeathed to me in Christ

New Perspective: Seated With Christ

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Jesus, would you ruin every relationship that my wayward husband has that is tempting him away from the truth? And would you surround him with those who know you and love you and who would come alongside of him and steer him back to walking well with you?

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The surpassing riches of his grace upon you and upon me. A new life in Christ, a new pulse, a new perspective.

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This is not all there is. A new power, fully understanding that we need not cower anymore. In fact, in Romans 6 14, the New King James says this for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. When you're tempted, you don't have to give in. You don't. You have the power to say no. You also have the power to say, Yes, Lord, I will walk with you. In fact, in Philippians 2.13, it is God who is at work in you, believer, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It's not something you can do in your own strength, and it's in the strength that God provides. This new power that is yours by the power of the Holy Spirit, gifted to you, bequeathed to you in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why 1 Corinthians 10 13 says this to the believer No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Do you know this power, this new power that is yours in Christ Jesus? Do you know this new perspective that is yours in Christ Jesus is not all there is? Do you know that you have a new life? And that life is intended to be abundant to the full as you walk well with Jesus. Not in your own strength, in the strength that He provides. God's desire is that you and I would understand what it is we have in Christ Jesus. Finally, it talks about a new purpose. Not only have you been given a new pulse, a new perspective, a new power, you've been given a new purpose. You know, I was watching this show on the Marines recently. It's a documentary, and uh they were interviewing some of these young guys, 18, 19, who'd gone into the Marine Corps, and they were talking about the purpose in their lives. They were struggling for purpose, and they were going in all kinds of bad directions until they finally landed on their purpose. Their purpose was to be strong that they might protect the weak.

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You and I have been given a new purpose.

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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a gift from God, not as a

New Power: Spiritual Authority

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result of works that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them. For seven verses, he's rehearsed from where we once were. And now he comes back and says, I'm I'm gonna distill this all down for you. My my youngest is an attorney, and he's uh he's working for a judge, federal judge in Florida. He loves this judge. Thinks this judge is one of the smartest people he's ever met. And he said, This guy's intelligence is off the charts, it's at a whole different level. Never met anybody like him. And this judge is constantly critiquing his work. He's giving him things to write, and then he brings them in, and the judge says too many words. You gotta be succinct. I'm being too verbose here.

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Sharpen it up. Tighten it up. So Paul says, okay, I've given you the verbose version.

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Now I'm gonna give it to you tight. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves is a gift from God. Not as a result of works that no man should boast. You getting it?

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Do you understand you can't earn grace?

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My name is um Barkef, funny name. I know. You think I don't know? You know how many Barkefs I've met in my life? Used to go, you know, where you go to these places and they have all these keychains and all these names, and I'd get to the bees. Still hadn't found one. There's no Barkef hanging on there. It's also my father's name. But my mother made sure that I understood I was named after my grandfather. She wouldn't let me take a nickname. No nicknames. In fact, uh, my cousin came over when I was probably six or seven, and he said, Hey BK. Anything wrong with BK? Burger King? I don't know. My mother whipped around, I didn't even know she was anywhere near, and she said, His name is Barkef. And you will call him Barkef. So later I, Mom, what's going on? Your name means gift from God. You're named after your grandfather who saw his father martyred for refusing to bow the knee to Allah. The Armenians in 1918, the warming up of World War I, were being overrun by the Muslim Turks, taking their territory. And they evangelize a little different than we do. They evangelize by the sword. And my great-grandfather was a tribal leader. So they grabbed my great-grandfather and said, You will bow the knee to Allah. That way, everybody in the village will follow. And he refused. In A.D. 301, Armenia was the first nation to proclaim Christianity as its national religion. For his defiance, all the males were brought before him and were beheaded right in front of him, and then he was beheaded. My grandfather was whisked away as a young boy, although he witnessed this martyrdom. He eventually survived and made his way to the United States, where he met my grandmother, had two children, Joy, Joycelyn, and Barkeff Jr. My mother, a good Irish Catholic, met my dad, and so they had twelve children. There are five girls, and then me. I'm the oldest boy. My brother's names are Jimmy, Billy, and Pat. Thank you very much. All Irish names. They only had one Armenian name, I got it. The rest got the Irish names, named after our uncles. I went to Armenia some years ago with some of our folks here and uh had a chance to preach in an Armenian church. By the word, the genocide of the Armenians, the word genocide was invented to describe what happened to the Armenians. When Hitler asked, was asked, how

Freedom From Sin’s Dominion

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do you expect to get away with the genocide of the Jews? He said, the world knew about the Armenians. They didn't say anything.

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So I'm in Armenia and I tend to preach a sermon.

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I've prepared a sermon. I'm in a church of about 700. And there's a translator there. But first the pastor wants to meet me, and through the translator, I'm meeting this pastor who had been through horrible things in Russia. And he was well known because of all that his he had survived through the Russian heavy boot. But he was talking to me through the translator. He said, You know, I think it's more important that they know the man before they know the message. So I'd like you to tell your testimony first. So that's what I did. So I'm telling my testimony. And I have a little college-age gal who's translating for me. In the middle of my testimony, I'm using these verses. Ephesians 2.8.9. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourself is a gift from God, not as a result of works of works that no man should boast. Now, if you know anything about speaking with a translator, you say a phrase and wait, and you say a phrase and wait, and that's what I was doing, and suddenly the translator said, Barkef. And I said, What? And she said, No, no, Barkef. In the Armenian Bible, the word Barkef is there in Ephesians 2, 8, 9.

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Gift from God. Now I'll tell you all this to tell you this.

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You have been given a gift from God. And God's intent is that you be a gift from God to those around you. For we are his workmanship, literally, masterpiece, poem, the word from which we get our word poem. You're his workmanship, his masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for good works that he prepared beforehand, that you would walk in them. Jesus put it this way: you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light shine in such a way that others will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

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The surpassing riches of his grace.

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The exceeding riches of his grace, the incomparable riches of his grace, the immeasurable riches of his grace, the extraordinary greatness of his grace. How shall we then live?

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How are we going to respond to that?

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When you know the grace that is yours, everything in you wants to share it with others. And he tells us how to do it. Don't operate in your own strength. Operate in strength that God provides. Let him use you in the lives of others. See how many more people might join us in his forever family. Now, if you just stumbled in those doors and you were just you saw a sign, thought, well, let's try this one out. You're probably heading over to fellowship and you thought we were that. We're their cloakroom. Probably heard Jesus' name long ago. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come to a church. When I ask you this question, I'm not asking you if you know about Jesus. That's not the question. Do you trust him? Have you placed your faith, your trust in Christ alone to save you?

New Purpose: God’s Workmanship

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Have you in your heart of hearts said, Lord, I believe you at your testimony about yourself, and I embraced the eternal life as a gift paid for by you. If not, don't leave this building today without doing it. John Stott tells a story. He says he's a famous theologian from England. In Ridley Hall, Cambridge, the Reverend Paul Gibson was one of his professors, and he was retiring, and so they commissioned an artist to do a portrait of him that would be put in the hall there for all to see. It says his professor was so overwhelmed with the portrait, he gave the greatest compliment he could to the artist. And he said, The day will come when others will look at this and they won't say, Who's that man?

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They'll say, Who's the artist? Who painted that man? He goes on.

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Now in our case, God has displayed more than skill. A patient after a major operation is a living testimony to his surgeon's skill. Even as a condemned man having been pardoned is a living testimony to his sovereign's mercy. We're both exhibits of God's skill and trophies of his grace. I can't believe it's been uh almost twenty-six years since the movie Gladiator came out. One of my favorites. Russell Crowe. Plays a general in the army, Maximus.

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And uh he's about to lead the Calvary into battle. And he says, faith, I'm sorry, strength and honor. And then he begins to lead them into battle. The last thing he says before they start running with the horses, what we do in this life will echo in eternity.

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The horses take off, they're rushing into battle, and you hear him say, Stay with me.

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Stay with me, men, stay with me.

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For by grace you've been saved through faith. And not of yourselves as a gift from God, not as a result of works that no man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that he prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Let's stay with him. Would you stand and pray?