Not Us, But God

Ephesians 2:1–10 (ESV)

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 for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Here we can see 3 different stages of this passage.

I. Dead, Sinful, children of wrath

II. Christ is sent and we by grace saved

III. In Christ we are God’s trophy. saved by grace through faith.

Have you sinned? Of course you have.

Have you lied, have you looked at someone in the wrong way? Gossiped, hated, thought evil of your sibling or friend? Disrespected your parents? None of us are blameless.

Paul in the first three verses shows us that we are all with sin. We are born in nature as children of wrath. He tells us of deadly things that we follow in our sin, things that lead us astray and are by our nature the rulers of our sinful heart. What are these three specific things that as sinful man we fall pray to?

I. The world

II. Satan

III. The flesh

How does the world affect us?

Look, it may sound corny and very youth pastor-ish, but truly how healthy is Social Media? I know when I scroll through it there are things that are not Christlike. consuming these things are not healthy, if you are tempted, put it down! Take a break, give your mind a rest and devote that screen time to Scripture, family and the church. What about friends? Do you tend to be a different person around your friends or classmates than you are at church? Do you think God condones your words or actions you may say around them?

How does Satan affect us?

Satan utilizes the things of this world, he has no true control in the believer but he can lay out traps for the sinful. He holds sway over the hearts of the disobedient. He uses whats in front of you to tempt you towards it. He doesnt bring anything new, he merely twists and distorts things and lures you in with sinful passions to things in this world. C.S. Lewis in chapter 22 of the screwtape letters says:

“He's [The Lord] vulgar, Wormwood. He has a bourgeois mind. He has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without His minding in the least—sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, loving, playing, praying, working, Everything has to be twisted before it's any use to us. We fight under cruel disadvantages. Nothing is naturally on our side.”

How does our own flesh affect us?

We have an enemy within ourselves. Paul also says in Romans 7:21-24

Romans 7:21–24 (ESV)

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

And in Romans 8:8 he says that “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Within our naturally sinful heart we lust, we have anger and envy and idolatry of daily things. Do not believe that you yourself are not at fault for your sin, it is not just the world and the prince of the power of the air— it is you, too! And that means you deserve His wrath! Man in itself is depraved, that means we are not good throughout our whole being… That is what it means to be by nature children of wrath— but notice that— by nature, does that mean things have changed for us? Are we no longer children of wrath, as believers, has that changed?

Here we come to the great central point of the passage and the Gospel as a whole— and it starts with two wonderful words that in such succinct wonder display the love of the Lord.

“But God.”

Before, we saw man’s state in his nature of sin. Alone we were without hope. Later on in these verses we see the wonders that we have being saved by Grace, but those two words transition it over to that. By ourselves we can do little if anything at all. But God, in his mercy and love forsook His wrath on us, but for whom? How wonderful is that? God cared enough for us, as His creation, despite our lawlessness and debased nature since the fall, that He would nevertheless grant us an undeserved mercy. And this was through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Paul hammers it in again in verse 5, that we were dead in our trespasses. He wants us to know how bad we were before dropping a wondrous truth. We were dead, but we are now alive with Christ. We came out from doom and destruction into the marvelous light via Christ’s sacrifice. And this alone was by His grace. God does not allow those that are his image bearers to destroy that image.

In this we can see both God’s divine mercy and wrath— these attributes are coeternal, they both exist in God at the same time. The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God in the New Testament, but that wrath was poured upon the Son instead of us. Seeing it in that light helps us appreciate the Lord’s grace even more! That wrath still exists, But God(!) is rich in that mercy still!

Exodus 34:6 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Titus 3:5 ESV

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

That word regeneration is important.

In verse 6 we see ourselves raised up from that death in sin and seated with Christ Jesus. Picture Lazarus, laying dead, raised again by Christ, coming out of the tomb and rejoicing in the grace and life given by the Lord. Remember that word regenerate? It is important, because we can become confused with our state as a Christian. We tend say “I am a believer” based upon our own actions and religious practices, but is your heart not evil? Things of your own accord are by nature of destruction. But in Christ you are a new person. 2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

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

You are no longer that child of wrath, but a new person, a new being, and free from the bondage of sin. Christianity is about being regenerated by the saving grace of the Lord through faith! Any man can do works and still be a degenerate sinner. You by faith have recieved grace from degenerate to regenerate! From death, to life! You are unified with Christ.

Can you notice the three postures or states we are in in verses 5 and 6?

Alive with Christ, Raised with Christ, Seated with Christ.

Now being seated does not mean we are divine, but that the wages of sin and death has no authority over us as believers. We are not subject to the flesh any longer, we are redeemed and under constant sanctification. Being made more like Christ every day in this life as a believer. And all of this is due to the grace of God.

Now how is that grace recieved, you may ask? How have I, the sinner I am, son of wrath, recieved this grace from God? Well, it is a wonderful thing— faith has brought us grace. Faith that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, imputing upon himself the wrath of God, and raised again three days later providing us eternal life in heaven. That we might be trophies of God! Now it is not faith that is the savior but the grace, through faith that has brought us salvation. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon said,

Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation and faith.

So faith is the conduit in which we receive grace as a fountain. Spurgeon continued with,

Faith is the aqueduct along which the flood of mercy flows down to refresh the thirsty sons of men.

So faith is a necessity in attaining the grace of God but not the saving factor.

Now remember regeneration— it is not the works or the practices of the person but the new being that they have become through our union with Christ? Paul brings us to that, as in verse 8 and 9 we see him say,

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

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.

So then we have no need to brag of our worldly works or how religious we are, for the saving factor alone is from God! Look then at verse 10, and we can see not only why we should not boast but of God’s ultimate goal for us as the redeemed, as new people in Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We were made by God, and through our faith made regenerate people in Christ by Grace, and through that faith in the grace of God and of a regenerate heart, we produce good works out of love of the Lord that we might glorify God as his workmanship. God’s own workmanship, us, the children now not of wrath, but of God, do good works not of our own accord, but to reflect the grace and riches of mercy that was given to us. We are to reflect our love of God through our actions that is produced by that faith and love in Him. What a glorious thing, that despite our wicked state, God has given us salvation merely by the aspect of His own mercy! What security is that? That we need not trust in our own understanding, but in what God has provided to us. Let us give thanks to God in prayer now.

Oh Lord God, how wonderful you are. That despite once being a child of wrath, your unconditional love and mercy has provided for us the gift of life through your Grace. Praise be to the Father for sending His Son, praise be to the son for taking our sins, and praise be to the Holy Spirit for moving in us and letting way to our regenerate hearts. Lord, let us pray that our hearts stay situated towards you— let us not be tempted by the flesh or the world or the deceiver ,— but to live in gladness and constant remembrance of the gift of the cross. It is a security that is unmeasurable in its comfort. Let us go out, with hearts of gladness, speaking your truth and acting with good fruit in the world that we may exhibit your attributes. Thanks and glory be to God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.