Faith part 2 - Eph 2:8-10

!!!PRAY!!!!!

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”

***SLIDE 1***

Are we walking in Christ ?

-- Is what we say with our lips what we do in our life?

-- For the believer there is a struggle that wages between the desires of their flesh and the Spirit of God that dwells in them.

-- It is God's will for our life that we live in the Spirit, living in Christ.

-- In fact God has prepared things for us to do as we are living in Him.

-- It can be easy for us to focus on us rather than on Jesus.

-- Like the second son in the parable above we can be quick to say Yes with our lips but slow to allow Him into our hearts.

-- Our understanding of who God is and who we are in Christ, is the most important thing in our life.

-- As we live in our earthly bodies we can often focus on earthly things and our own goals not recognizing that we are God's chosen people created for a special purpose.

-- Ephesians 1:3  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,

-- God has ALREADY blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

-- In His eyes we are the righteousness of Christ through the blood of Jesus.

-- This can be one of the most difficult things for us to wrap our minds around

-- We are often struggling with cycles of shame and guilt.

-- God wants us to know in the depths of our heart that He has set us free and when He looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Jesus.

***SLIDE 2***

Biblical faith.

-- Faith is confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead.     -- There is NOTHING we can add to what Jesus has already done for us. The work of salvation is finished!

-- Jesus is the only and final sacrifice for sin pleasing to God.

-- Now we who believe in Christ have the privilege of understanding that and growing in the knowledge and grace of what Jesus has already done.

***SLIDE 3***

Ephesians 2:8-10  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.

-- It is verse 10 that I want to focus on today.

***SLIDE 4***

For we are his workmanship

-- "the thing that was made"

-- "the product of creation"

-- It is a word that emphasized the thing created

-- a material thing or object.

-- Everywhere this word is used in the Scripture it is used to refer to the physical creation.

-- Romans chapter 1 vs 10 Paul is describing ... since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

***SLIDE 5***

As I continued to study I found in the Septuagint (which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament), this word is used in Ps, Eccl, and Isa to describe the physical creation.

-- I believe that Paul is intentionally teaching that we are both God's physical and spiritual creation.

-- Specifically God has given us the ability to believe and trust in the gospel message.

--Paul is bringing together the concepts that we are God's physical creation, and when we believe in Jesus we are now a new spiritual creation created in Him.

***SLIDE 6***

It isn't a mistake that believers are called a new CREATION.

-- God is the owner of all things visible and invisible.

-- Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

***SLIDE 7***

When we heard the word of truth, the message about Christ and believed in our hearts, we became a new creation.

Just as His Word created mankind physically, so His Word through the gospel created you spiritually.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come

Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

As we just read in Collosians we are to put on the new creation and put off the old.

***SLIDE 8***

Sometimes a brother or sister can be caught in or blind to sin in their lives.

-- All who have put their trust in Jesus are growing in the knowledge and grace of what He has done

-- Everyone has blind spots and issues that they have to work through.

-- Just as we read in Colossians when this happens sin begins to compound itself.

-- People can lie to one another to cover up their sin rather than be honest receive the healing that comes through confession.

-- Because people can try to justify their sin rather than understand the power of God's grace, the apostles spoke to the issue directly.

-- Here are just a few of the Scriptures to remind us that God's grace is the power of God that allows us to get back up when we fall and move forward into the light.

Rom 6:15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

***SLIDE 9 ***

James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

***SLIDE 10***

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

***SLIDE 11***

One of the mysteries Paul speaks about being revealed in the New Testament is that under the New Covenant, the believer now has God living in them.

-- The Holy Spirit will be working out their salvation

-- This is also referred to as sanctification.

-- Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

-- 1 Thes 5:23  Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-- This process of sanctification and working out your salvation is ongoing for the life of the believer.

-- Scripture describes it as putting off the old man and put on the new creation, the one created in Christ Jesus.

-- When I was young in the faith, I received some advice that helped me through some personal misunderstanding which came in part from my lack of patience.

-- When I trusted my heart to the risen Jesus Christ I had an expectation that God would just take over and purify me in quick order.

-- A brother in Christ understood my thinking and simply told me to look back at my life after five years and see what the Lord had done.

-- In hindsight, I was seeing that God was revealing issues and goals so big that I was thinking, once God works this out, things will be smooth sailing.

-- Then over time God would renew my mind and open doors only he could open and then suddenly... God began to reveal the next step in my sanctification which was bigger and built on my last step.

-- Admittedly, I can be a slow learner but eventually, I began to see that my sinfulness was much deeper than I ever understood and God would always have new plans for me.

-- Praise God for his patience, for his kindness, for his discipline and ultimately for His Holy Spirit working out our lives. That we would be made more and more into the image of Jesus.

Lets head back to Ephesians where Paul moves us into this idea of walking in the Spirit by teaching us we are  ...

***SLIDE 12***

created in Christ Jesus for good works    -- What we do is to be a continuation of giving our heart to Christ Jesus    -- This is walking in the Holy Spirit

-- When we first gave our hearts to the Lord we began a journey of surrender.

-- We offered our hearts to a new master, the Savior Jesus Christ.

-- Often we are still living in our flesh living according to our old habits, our old behaviors, many times not even realizing what we are doing.

-- How do we see where we are blind? One of the primary ways we do this is to renew our minds.

***SLIDE 13***

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As we present our lives and purify our bodies as a living sacrifice God will reveal to us what is His will.

***SLIDE 14***

which God prepared beforehand,

-- When we submit our will to the will of God, He has things for us to do.

-- As Jesus taught us during his most difficult trial in the garden of Gethesemene "Not my will Father but yours be done"

-- As we just spoke about earlier, our surrender to the will of God began when we trusted in Jesus as our Savior but that was only the beginning.

-- Now as a child of God. Your Heavenly Father loves you more than you could know and has plans just for you.

-- Consider the relationship between an earthly parent and their child.

-- If the parent has a wonderful blessings planned for the child

-- The blessings will come as the child learns responsibility and obedience, yet the child refuses to listen and constantly insists to do things their own way.

-- What happens to that relationship?

-- First the work the parent had for them would have to be done by someone else

-- Second the lesson was never learned by the child

-- Last the child never receives the blessing the parent so desired to give them.

One of my favorite quotes from CS Lewis - "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

When a child of God begins to see Jesus Christ in their daily life, they begin to see that events in their life have long been prepared for them to live out God's kindness and forgiveness.

***SLIDE 15***

that we should walk in them.

-- What does this look like practically speaking

-- For starters we need to confess to God that we have a tendency to take things into our own hands and that we want to yield to Him.

-- Second we need to take Romans 8:28 to heart.

-- Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.    -- We should start our day in God's Word and prayer, so that we can being the day surrendered to His plan, listening to what He may have for you.

-- Stay alert, when you are ready for God to work, the devil will be right there tempting you.    -- Your present circumstances are part of God's plan for your life, be content with what God has given you.

-- When things go sour and people are cruel and hurtful, remember God is good and you are his child, this is opportunity to show God's forgiveness.

-- It is very easy to want to fight or run away. But to speak gently yet with conviction in the face of anger is God's way.

-- Make Christ the focus of everything you say and do. Bring Christ into every area of your life.    -- The focus of your work, the focus of your family, the focus of your play time.

***SLIDE 16***

Our surrender to Christ began at salvation and should continue through out life.

-- As we continue our journey being lead into all truth through the Holy Spirit,

-- Remember that God has special plans just for you every day.

--Jesus said  Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

-- And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen