God's Redemptive Work

Ephesians 2:1-10

Intro

Thank pastor John for allowing me to be down to share what the Lord has put on my heart to share

Testimony

Grace, mercy, love… That leads us to the text for tonight.

Ephesians 2:1-10

“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. 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 in 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 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.

Pray

CONTEXT

Paul is writing to the church of Ephesus. We know in the beginning of the letter Paul is addressing his apostleship with Jesus. Showing his words bring power and he was directly involved with Jesus. We also see his audience is to the believers in the Church V.1. Paul then is encouraging the church of the blessing we have received through what Jesus has done on the Cross. That Jesus has redeemed us, we are Holy and blameless, and drawing us to Him, and how he has shown his love for us in salvation.

POINT 1….. Apart from Christ we are Spiritually dead V.1-3

V.1- And you is speaking directly to the gentiles of the church. Gentile meaning anyone who is not Jewish. All of us in this room are Gentiles. Gentiles are dead in our trespasses and sins. He is obviously not speaking of a human flesh death, rather that of spiritual death.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

V.2- In which you once walked. Reminder this is speaking to already saved Christians, so he is continuing to remind them who they used to be. They followed the World. They lived apart from Christ and lived in sin, and that sin is brought to us by the fall of man kind. Genesis 3 speaks of how sin entered the World. Satan brought distrust to Adam and Eve in the Garden. They then went and ate from the tree and disobeyed God and that brought separation from man to God.

We follow the world

We follow Satan

We follow our sin

John 8:34 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

Can we do good works?

Hebrews deals with the thoughts of works while people are still living under the bondage of sin.

Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,”

V.3- The passions of our flesh is directly seen in Galatians 5:19-21

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In the dead state before Christ all of humanity lives this way. They live for themselves and do what they want.

V.3 If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, this is who you are.

Talk directly about the fall, sin, and brokenness.

Sin and brokenness entered

Divorce

Abuse

Sickness

Anxiety

A quick google search of the percentage of Gen Z that suffer with anxiety and depression is 18% for anxiety, and 23% for depression. According to the Learning First alliance.

WHAT HAS GOD DONE ABOUT THIS?

HE HAS MADE A WAY FOR US, LETS LOOK AT THE NEXT POINT

POINT 2…. With Jesus, we are made alive V.4-7

Ephesians 2:4-7 “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 in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

V.4&5- But God, is my personal two favorite word put together in the Bible. Even with all of the hard struggles humanity faces with living with the repercussions of the Fall, God still had a plan for humanity.

Mercy- We deserve a penalty. But God withholds the punishment we deserve through the work of Jesus.

because of the great love in which he loved us.

V.6-7- Paul continues to show us that God has done all the work. He shows us that we have been raised with Christ. because of the gospel.

Dead in trespasses and sins! Alive together with Christ

John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Sons of disobedience! Raised up with Christ V.5

Children of wrath! Seated with Christ V.6

Children of wrath! Recipients of generous mercy V.4

Children of wrath! Recipients of great love V.4

Children of wrath! Recipients of rich grace V.5

Children of wrath! Recipients of God’s kindness V.7

This is who we are once we become a follower of Christ.

POINT 3…. In Christ, We are His Workmanship V.8-10

V.8 We are saved by grace through faith.

By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone

once again dead people can not respond. Valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14.

Ezekiel is in a valley of dry bones. They are all dead. God brought those bones back to life.

Free gift of God, not a results of work

Christmas morning. Can not pay off a gift. Given to us. Our works are to not pay off a debt we owe.

V.9- We can not boast, Fully on the work of Jesus.

Not a puffed up chest. Football illustration DB

In our spiritual life that we have seen initially we are dead, but God has given us new life. and it for us to be his workmanship as we see in verse 10.

What does it mean we are his workmanship?

We are the pinnacle of Creation.

Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Psalm 139:13-16 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Now that we have been reconciled back to the Father, we now can live for him and serve. And do unto Him how we intended creation to be. For us to love the Father, serve him, and bring him glory.

Galatians 5: 22-26 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Works are not the basis of salvation. It is the fruit of our salvation that God has granted us.

John 15:8 “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

Good works

Because we are saved, our salvation produces good works.

Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Application

How do we know all of this is true?

The apostles transformation.

Where were the disciples during the crucifixion? They were not Jesus’ biggest cheerleader

Paul. Was a murderer of Christians We see this at the end of Acts 7 where formerly Saul was present and approved of the execution of Stephen.

All of the disciples went on to die for what they saw. We would die for our faith. No one would die for a known lie.

He did this work for us because he loves us…

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

To be on mission for Jesus

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Time of response. Heads bowed eyes closed.

Believer

Be reminded of the gospel.

Love your neighbor as yourself

Remember who you were and what you were destined for. But now in new life we are to share the good news.

Unbeliever.

Dead, walking with the world, are influenced by Satan, and are in bondage of your sin.

Conclusion

Apart from Christ we are dead

With Jesus we have been made alive

In Christ we are his workmanship

Share the gospel

Sin

Brokenness

Christ

Repent and believe

Not a prayer, by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Pray & Dismiss to small groups.