But God

Christopher Lindsey

Ephesians 2: 1-10

Preaching in view of a call to Macedonia Baptist Church

MPT: Paul is writing to the Ephesians to remind them of their past condition, being dead in trespasses and sins, and their new life in Christ, so that they would love their savior more.

MPS: As disciples of Christ, remember your past condition without your savior so that you may rejoice in your present position in Christ.

Summary:

Outline:

Past Condition 1-3

Dead in sin and trespasses

Walked following the course of this world

Walked following the prince of the power of the air

Lived in passions of the flesh

Present Position 4-10

But God

Rich in mercy because of the great love in which he loved us

Made us alive with Christ

By Grace you have been saved

Raised up with Christ

Seated with him in heavenly places

The purpose of salvation

God might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus

Gift of God not of works

Created by God in Christ for good works

Prayer

Merciful and loving Father, thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for salvation from our sins. Thank you for saving a sinner like me. Please Lord, fill us with your spirit, so that we may understand the riches of your grace here today. Fill me that I would preach not of my own word, but your words for your people. Let me decrees so that you may increase. In Christ Name, Amen.

Introduction

The Christian’s testimony can be expressed in several different ways. All our testimonies if we are in Christ begin with our lives before we knew Christ, and what God has done for us through Christ. Our lives previously are different from our lives now. Our loves before Christ were different than they are now. There is a major fulcrum from which our lives have been changed, from where we went from being dead in our trespasses and sins to being alive in Christ. This fulcrum is and can only be described in the phrase that we have in our passage today. But God. For the Christian here today, we can rejoice in such a statement. Such a statement can only be rejoiced in if we properly see how bad our past condition really was. In the bigger picture, Paul is writing this letter Ephesians to remind the church in Ephesus of the eternal purpose of God and how God is working to bring it to fulfillment through his son Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this particular section to the church in Ephesus to remind them of their past position before Christ. Furthermore, Paul uses this foundation to show how Christ is the means in which the church is built and how Christ is the foundation for all things in life and practice. Where we enter the text before us today, Paul has prayed for the believers in Ephesus to have wisdom in the reality of their hope, that they would seek the riches of their inheritance and the power that comes from Jesus Christ’ resurrection and exaltation. This morning we arrive at a glorious meaning of redemption for those who are in Christ.

Paul in writing to the church in Ephesus is reminding the church of their past condition so that they may rejoice in their present position in Christ. For us today, if I were to sum up my sermon into one main point it would be: As disciples of Christ, remember your past condition without your savior so that you may rejoice in your present position in Christ.

Past condition

“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 and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Paul writes that you were dead in the trespasses and sins. This word for dead nekros in the Greek literally means dead or lifeless. There is no life at all inside the person. Dead means dead here. This is not a literal dead but a spiritual dead. IF you remember in the book of Genesis, God told Adam and Eve if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil they will surely die. Their disobedience to God’s command is the reason that they died spiritually. They sinned against God and he cast them out of the garden and separated himself from them. Paul describes those who were dead as a result of being in trespasses and sins. God’s command was simple and yet they disobeyed, causing them to die. Their death, just like the Ephesians are a result of our disobedience to God. Paul describes them as being dead in their trespasses and sins. These words apart are two different ways of describing sin, the first, trespasses mean missing the mark, like in an Artery competition, you pull the bow string back and let the arrow loosed and it misses the mark. This word for sins means a falling from the way. What way is this? What way did you fall from? The way of God, God’s way for humanity was to live in perfect obedience to his law and statutes, and when we don’t, we fall from the way, we sin. Together these words display a conscious and willful action that has been accomplished against God’s holiness and righteousness.. God's standard for living is seen in himself and it is revealed in the law. The ten commandments were given to the people of Israel to show the standard for living as the people of God. It showed God’s standard for holiness, and how we as sinner were not able to keep it. We kept falling from the way and missing the mark. God commands us to not have any other God’s before him, yet we place ourselves as God of our lives. God commands not to take the Lord’s name in vain, yet we do things that are not honoring to him and say that they were done in his name. God commands us to honor our father and mother, yet we don’t. God tells us do not murder, yet we have anger in our heart, God commands us not to commit adultery yet we lust, God commands us not to lie, yet we do. God in his law requires perfect and perpetual obedience. We all have failed to meet the perfect obedience that God required. For God alone is perfect and righteous and his standard for each of us is perfection. When we fail to uphold God’s righteous standard, we sin.

This is why Paul writes in romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. All of humanity has not lived up to this righteous standard that God requires, therefore we are all dead. We have all died spiritually because of our transgressions.

Note here that that Paul doesn’t say that you were sick, and all you had to do was take this medicine. Paul also doesn’t say that you were mostly dead. Paul doesn’t say that you were drowning holding onto the brink of life. Paul said that you were dead in your trespasses and sins. We have died spiritually, and we are in this condition until something happens. A dead man cannot wake himself up or make himself undead. For the Christian this is in the past tense, “you were dead”, however, for those who don’t know Christ, this for you is in the present tense, “you are dead.”

Paul goes on to describes three ways that our spiritual deadness shows itself in our lives.

First, following the world.

Paul says that those who are dead in their trespasses and sins walk following the course of the world. Paul here is making a claim that those who are dead are following the standard of the present world. They are not concerned about what God has commanded all they are doing are living to please themselves in this world now. We can see this in our culture today. Materialism, humanism. People are obsessed with what is happening in the world today and not the eternal consequent that come from our actions. Because of Sin we make ourselves god and we want to do what we want to do. We look to the world for guidance, the world is our standard that we want to replicate.

Furthermore, the world holds the spiritually dead person captive to the social and values that are around them, which are hostile to Christ. They are slaves to pop culture, the media, post-Christian morals, and man centeredness. They are the ones who delight in the homosexuality and defend abortions. They are the ones who give way to degrading Christians and uplifting everything else besides the truth of the gospel. They try to usurp the gospel any time they can and they try to make the Christian seem like a bigot because of the true words that they are speaking.

Second, Paul describes our former spiritual deadness as Following the devil.

Paul describes the dead as those who follow the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Jesus describes Satan as the prince of demons and the ruler of this world. Paul calls him the god of this world in 2 Corinthians 4. The devil is the one who controls the spiritually dead, he wants them to stay dead in their sins. He is at work. 1 Peter describes him prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He is active and working, especially in the sons of disobedience. Those who disobey God, Satan is at work. He is their ruler. And Paul describes those who are dead as Sons of disobedience. Those who are dead are children of their father the devil.

In John chapter 8 Jesus is in the conversation with the Pharisees and Jesus tells them, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” This concept is not new, all of us are created to be followers and disciples of something. We are being discipled by the world, by the father of the world, or each other if we are still dead in our trespasses and sins. Satan has control over the world, he is the prince of this world, and those who are spiritually dead are his children.

The spiritually dead condition can be described as following the world, following the devil, but also living in the passions of our flesh

And Lastly, lived in passions of our flesh.

. Paul writes, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. The dead are not only walking around in the world following the devil, but they are also corrupted from inside. People may sin under the devil’s influence, but they sin because they are sinners. We are all born unto sin. We are not born good. We are born in sin. This is why a child will lie about taking a sucker from the candy bucket. It wasn’t the devil that made the child do this, it wasn’t the world that caused the child to lie. The child lied because they are spiritually dead just like you were apart from Christ.

We apart from Christ are all by nature sinners. Paul describes that we follow the desires of the body and the mind. Both of these desires are contrary to God’s plan, contrary to the way that God requires from us. Our desires are different from God’s because we may want money, influence, tiktok followers, or as the kids these days call clout. We desire to binge on Netflix, or social media, thinking that we are becoming smart, but we are continuing to show the depravity of the human nature in the full body and mind. We were created to love God with all our heart, our mind, our body, our soul. Paul is showing here once again that we have missed it.

This missing the mark, or falling from the way, reveals itself only through the wrath of God. We all are children of God’s wrath. God’s wrath is being poured out upon those in disobedience. We all have sinned with Adam and therefore we are guilty of sin against God. We all are deserving of God’s wrath upon us. Look at the last five words of verse 3, “like the rest of making”. Paul is making sure that he is encompassing both Jew and gentile, male and female, you and me. The rest of mankind in this assessment of the spiritually dead provides for the Ephesians and for us no way out from this description of the dead person. All of mankind is dead, sinners, and children of wrath. You and me, and Billy down the street, were born into following the world, following the devil, and living in the flesh. While God’s righteous, perfect, just, wrath is being poured out upon us. John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Sons shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” There is only one way to remove the wrath of God from the spiritual dead. It is through Jesus that we can be saved from the wrath of God, it is through Jesus that we may be able to change from being dead and brought into life in Jesus. Paul reminds the Christians of their previous condition, to make these next two words much sweeter. But God.

Present Position

Paul has reminded the church in Ephesus of their past condition, but now he reminds them of their present position because of God. He writes,

“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 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 the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in 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 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.”

These two words for the Christian should be some of the sweetest word that are in scripture. Brothers and Sister, we were dead in our previous condition, but God has made us alive together with Christ. Paul describes the acting power of God through Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus Christ that we have been made alive. See what happened on the cross was a work of mercy, love, and grace to those who were dead in their trespasses and sins. I’m sure that you have heard both mercy and grace defined this way. Mercy is god not giving us what we do deserve; grace is God giving us something we do not deserve. Paul describes God’s mercy as being rich, wealthy, or in abundance. A mercy that will never run out. I think it is attributed to Richard Sibbs who said there is more mercy in God than sin in us. God saw his creation dead in their sins and trespasses and a mercy that flowed from his love was poured out upon us so that while we were dead he made us alive together with Christ.

Jesus upon the cross took the wrath of God that was held for the children of wrath, you and me, and was placed upon himself. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Christ died on our behalf, to give us his righteousness. He fulfilled all that the law of God required so that through his death burial and resurrection we might be brough to a place of right standing before him. That through Christ we would be granted his righteousness. This is great news for us. Jesus went to the Cross and took the full penalty that we deserve as Children of wrath. He faced death so that we may have salvation. The story of Jesus does not end with him dyeing on the cross. Where there is a Friday, Sunday comes soon after. He rose again. This resurrection life has been provided for those who are in Christ by God’s grace and mercy.

God provided his son for a people who loved everything else besides him. God provided his son for a people who followed a Satan. God provided his Son for a people who loved the desires of their flesh. God provided his son for us. So that we may be made alive in Christ Jesus. That same resurrection that happened to Christ, has happened to those of us here who are followers of Jesus. We have been raised from our dead state and now we have a new position. Through the salvation of Jesus Christ, we are born again, salvation has been brough to us, we are a new people for God’s own glory. And notice how Paul describes this raising with Christ and new life, “for by Grace you have been saved.” The human sinfulness and spiritual death could not have been taken and delt with apart from God’s grace. He provided salvation to a people that did not deserve it. He has raised us up to a new position by his grace.

What does our new position entail?

First, we were raised with Christ.

As I mentioned earlier, we have been raised from being spiritually dead, and united with Christ. We who were dead have been made alive in Christ. This is why we participate in baptism; it shows that we were buried with Christ, and raised with him, and now we are united with him. Our hearts have been changed, no longer do we follow the world or Satan or our flesh, but all has been made new. Our union with Christ means that when he returns or the resurrection happens we shall be united with him in the resurrection. Romans 6:6-11 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has dies has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all but the life he lives he lives for God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Because of what Christ has done we now have a new master. One who has made us alive in himself. He must now be our Lord. Our minds are now attuned to God and his desires, we no longer desire sin, but we fight it, so that we may be holy and we may be like him.

Our position is seen in the fact that we have been raised with Christ and Secondly, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

See the contrast from the dead to the alive in Christ. Before we walked following the world, walked following Satan. Now we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Through Jesus’s defeat of sin and death and by the fact that he was raised and exalted, brings us as one writer says, “from the deepest hell to heaven itself.” For the Christian, the world is not where we live, the desires of our flesh does not control us, we are no longer controlled by the prince of this world. But we are citizens of heaven, we desire to do the will of our father in heaven, we are controlled by desires to see God glorified in this world. We desire to love others as Christ has loved us. We desire true life that is found in Jesus. We are aliens to this world, we are but passing through, we are but exiles in the wilderness, awaiting the promise land.

This whole purpose that we have been raised and seated with Christ, the whole purpose for our new position is as verse 7 declares, “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” The whole purpose for our new position in Christ is so that God might show his grace and kindness toward the Ephesians, to the world, and to us. One writer puts it this way. The work of kindness located in Christ Jesus is the wonderful salvation wrought by him and not by us. Because we are located in Christ, we were made alive with him, raised with him, seated with him in the heavenly, hence the kindness of God toward us. Our own efforts would have been rejected by God, but we are accepted because we are in Christ.

God is going to continue to demonstrate this kindness and grace not only now. while we still battle with our sinful flesh but also when we are with him, free of our sinful body, free from the effects of sin, free from this world, free from the efforts of Satan. It is a continued pouring out of the grace that he has showed us, he continues to show us presently, and will show us for all eternity when we are with him, worshiping at his feet.

Our new position in Christ is one that is raised with him, seated with him and

Finally, our position in Christ is though salvation by Grace.

Verse 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.”

Paul here elaborated on the statement from verse 5. He is reminding us that Salvation is not because of works. For if salvation is from god’s grace it cannot be from works. If it was from works, our sinfulness would cause us to boast about it. We would wear our own works on our chest like a boy scout, showing all the ways that we have granted us salvation. We would say, I am an active member in my church. We would say I serve at the soup kitchen, or I gave 5 bikes away last Christmas, or I walked 3 old ladies across the street last week. We would tell everyone we know about what we have done to earn our salvation.

We cannot do anything to add to our salvation, we cannot do any work to bring about our salvation, Christ is the reason. It is through the objective work of God’s grace upon the believer that they are saved. This word for saved here is in the perfect tense. That means that there is a completed action that has happened and will never go away. Our salvation is completed in Christ and there is nothing that you can do to grant you any more merit. You are saved by God’s grace. How is this salvation made available for us? It is through faith. Faith in Jesus’s death for our sins, Faith in his resurrection, faith in the fact that salvation has only been offered by God through Jesus Christ.

If there is anyone here that doesn’t know this saving faith in Jesus, if there is anyone here that may not know Christ. See today that you are dead in your trespasses and sins. See today your need for a savior, see today your need for God’s saving work in your life, and place your faith in Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. Turn away from the sin that holds you so tightly and turn by faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift, a perfect gift out of mercy, love and grace. Nothing that you can do will ever provide salvation for yourselves. If you are here and you have held your salvation based on the fact that you come to church each week, or you tithe 20 percent, or your parents are Christians. Hear the good news of Christ. If you have believed the lie that you can do something to earn your salvation, see Jesus today. Jesus calls all those who labor and are heavy laden to come to him and he will give you rest, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. He offers you salvation today. Paul makes it clear; Today is the day of salvation. Repent and believe in Christ. In a moment after I pray Pastor Chris is going to come up here for a time of invitation, If you would like to know more about what it means to follow Jesus come and talk to me or Pastor Chris we would love to talk with you more about following our savior. If that is too intimidating Grab someone you know, im sure that they would love to talk about Jesus also.

For us in Christ, who have been saved, Paul gives us clear understanding of the work that we do because of Christ here in the last verse. “for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” We are God’s workmanship, salvation is brough to the believer because of God’s work in us where we are brought from dead to life through Jesus Christ. We are a new creation in Christ. And as a result of our new salvation in Christ, our new life, our faith in Jesus we have been changed so that the results would be good works as God has purposed them, Titus 2, reminds us of this “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” This work that we were created for in Jesus is our sanctification. It is the process in which God is taking the believer and making them more like Christ. Sanctification is a necessary act of the believer where we grow in holiness and godliness in our lives.

Therefore, brothers and sisters let walk not according to the world, the devil and our flesh, but let us walk zealous for good works that are found in Christ Jesus. This means for us as a church, we do all things, all activities, all missions, all programs, all ministries, for God and his glory. When we serve, we remember that we are not serving based on our own merit, but we are serving so that we may show others Jesus, and they may see him in our lives. Our relationships at home should reflect this also, Husbands and wives remember your past position before Christ, remember that you have been shown unimaginable grace, mercy and love. Likewise, you should show the same grace, mercy and love to one another. This is how we should live in our relationships, being zealous in showing the grace mercy and love to one another. Let us seek for holiness and remove ourselves that look anything like our past condition. Let us seek to bring glory to our savior who has saved us in Christ Jesus and has made us new.

Brothers and Sister, much has been given to us through Jesus Christ. However, we still live in a world that is full of spiritually dead people. Take this good news of the gospel to them, tell them of the saving work of Jesus Christ, Tell them that he is their only hope for salvation. Call them to faith in our savior. It is up to us all in the church to do the work of the evangelist. It is not just the pastor’s role but it is the role of all those in Christ Jesus. Spread the word of the gospel at work, at home, at baseball games, anywhere and everywhere the gospel is needed.

This passage this morning should give us hope, we have been raised with Christ, we have been made alive with Christ. Let us remember our past condition without the grace mercy and love of our savior and rejoice in the fact that God has made us alive, rejoice that God has provided for us a new position in Christ.

Lets Pray.

Father, We thank you for a salvation that is by your Grace, we thank you for new life, we thank you that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Help us take the truths and apply them to our lives, seeking to glorify you in everything that we do. In you we have salvation, You have lavished your grace upon such a wretched people. Be with us today as we leave, in Christ Name Amen.