Salvation: God’s Gracious Creation

Intro:

Review:

1-3 Dead in sins

4-7 Alive in Christ

I. Our Salvation is by God’s Plan (8a)

Ephesians 2:8–10 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

These verses are summary verses. They are a conclusion to all that has been said in v 1-8 about man’s sin and our need to be made alive by salvation in Christ alone. The purpose of this section is by summary fashion, going to tie a bow on the idea that salvation is a work of God’s grace and not by any merit or work of man.

The first idea that Paul wants to communicate is repeated from v 5 of chapter 2. Salvation is by God’s grace. Grace means a gift and favor from God that is given to those who are helpless and in need.

A. His Gift

Paul has already stated the idea that salvation is a by grace or it is a gift from God. To express this foundational truth is important because in context of what has just been said about man’s rebellion in sin, salvation for sinners is inconceivable by a holy God, if not for grace.

What do we deserve from a God who is perfect in holiness and justice? All humanity deserves the fire that is unquenched, the anger of God that never subsides or relents. We deserve his fury but we get his favor. We deserve the dungeons but we get the banquet table.

We see grace gifted by God from the beginning. God gave Adam and Eve clothes from a slain animal to hide their shame, even as he cast them from the garden. His mercy was their escape, his grace was the gift of not only the skins but the promise of a redeemer.

This gracious gift stands in contrast to all other religions of the world that command you to work to please the gods. Give gifts, sacrifice yourself and maybe you will accumulate enough favor on judgment day that you will escape.

For slavation to be of grace, means there is not payment that we could offer that would be accepted. Any payment by sinful humans, is frivolous in God’s eyes. He required a perfect sacrifice for payment in order to salvation to be provided. He provided the sacrifice which was an act of grace and he called his elect in that grace to be his people.

B. His Work

Notice with me the language of v 10,

This act of salvation by God’s grace is described with three important words:

His workmanship

Created in Christ Jesus

Prepared beforehand

All three phrases speak to the creative work of salvation in Christ. Salvation is a work of creation. His plan is to create a people for his possession. Those born in sin are made alive in Christ. Therefore Jesus is the vehicle of new creation work in lost and dead sinners. This beautiful reminder is that is God planned to include you in his project of saving grace.

The next time you start and complete a project at work or home, after you have put in the work and effort, after you stand back and glory in your results, think of God’s work in saving sinners. He is pleased in you because your salvation brings him glory. Your deadness emphasizes his power to bring life. Your hatred for him only casts a light upon His greater love. Your inability to save yourself points to his power to save! Where you are weak and helpless, he is strong and mighty.

Finally consider His TIming!!!!

C. His Timing

As God’s saving work is carried out, Paul reminds the church in Ephesus, both Jew and Gentile, that his work of saving sinners was “prepared beforehand” or it was pre-planned. Paul states this glorious truth in chapter 1 that salvation for the elect was determined before the foundation of the world. How does God accomplish such a inconceivable feat? No human brain can fully comprehend this. But Scripture sepaks of it over and over again.

Romans 9:23 NASB95

23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Ephesians 1:3–5 NASB95

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

2 Timothy 1:9 (NASB95)

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

The work that God began in eternity past, has lasting effects. Paul states in a grammatical emphasis” you have been saved” This structure highlights that God has brought about solely by his divine power a salvation in the past with continuing results. You are saved if you are in Christ. It is what those who belong to Christ possess into eternity because of God’s powerful application of it upon our lives.

This of course affirms that salvation cannot be lost or misapplied by God. God knows whose are His and he therefore daily keeps salvation for all who belong to Him.

“The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace - Spurgeon”

This sovereignty is that which brings about our salvation therefore we rest in Him day and night to not only apply but keep our salvation that was planned from before time began. Nothing is this sure in the world. There are no guarantees that you can have in this life except the promises of God. Only He is faithful to keep His word which says,

John 10:27–29 NASB95

27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Secondly, let’s look at the truth that our ….

II. Our Faith is by Grace (8b)

What is faith? Faith is synonymously described as belief and trust. Faith or trust is in Christ alone to be the sufficient sacrifice for sin. When we trust someone, we are putting full confidence in them over our selves.

Louis Berhof breaks down faith’s definition in three aspects:

Systematic Theology 2. The New Testament Terms and Their Meaning

general confidence in God and Christ; (b) acceptance of their testimony on the basis of that trust; and (c) yielding to Christ and trusting in Him for the salvation of the soul.

Now consider these stages and let us understand what Paul is saying about faith in Christ in regards to salvation.

A. Our Inability to believe (2:1-3)

In context again, Paul draws the contrast in this chapter about man’s inability to choose God against the idea that God chooses man. We have discussed this already in great length but it is important to remember as we look at the aspect of faith in Christ.

Rememeber the words of Paul in Romans 3:10-12

Romans 3:10–12 NASB95

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

So to understand our inability, then we must focus on God’s ability to do something in us that we cannot do ourselves. This is where faith comes in?

Faith in Christ is trusting in him alone for salvation. I like to call faith in Christ- empowered trust!

B. Our Empowered Trust

We come to a challenging phrase here.

For by grace you have been saved

that not of yourselves,

it is a gift of God

not of works so that no one may boast

Now, the line it is the gift of God, in your bibles, make a note somewhere, “it is” is added by the translators. The phrase actually reads, “for by grace you have been saved, that not of yourself, THE GIFT OF GOD.

Scholars like to argue…what is the gift of God? Is it salvation…well of course salvation is a gift of God. That is stated when it says you have been saved by grace. You are saved by God’s gift of favor.

Typically, the last subject is the subject being modified here. That means that faith is the gift of God. If Paul means salvation is a gift, then he is repeating himself for grace implies gift. But if he means to say that salvation is a gift and the means of that salvation is faith in Christ, which is also a gift, that seems to make much more sense. Why? Because of the contrast Paul is making against works or merits of salvation. Faith is not being communicated here as something man does in his own power. Faith is a gift of God so that no one may boast.

Paul also says this in Romans 4:2

Romans 4:1–3 NASB95

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now in what position did Abraham believe in God? He believe God would save his Son from death? What was his position before God in this moment, he already had been called by God to be His child, already entered into a covenant to follow Him. This faith was an expressed action of Abraham’s existing relationship with YHWH, a relationship that Abraham was not looking for.

But his faith on that mountain, when he was called to sacrifice his son was real faith. It was trust in the promises of God. But as we learn from this chapter, its a faith and trust that even God empowers in us to possess.

Does God give faith to all people? This is where reformed theology divides with other baptists because in some, faith is a power that man already possesses in a state of goodness in them. These believe faith is a power of men to choose in their free wills, a free will that operates outside the power and providence of God. Pelagius, an opponent of Augustine and a condemned heretic of the church taught such a view in the church. It was believed that there was no sinful nature and that man was born in a state of “moral equilibrium.” Louis Berkof comments on this view,

Systematic Theology 1. Statement of the Pelagian View

This means that man has a free will in the absolute sense of the word, so that it is possible for him to decide for or against that which is good, and also to do the good as well as the evil

But this is argued from man’s reason and not from the collection of God’s infallible word. Instead the word clearly teaches the inherited nature of sin, its corruptibility to man’s moral choices and that faith in Christ is a gift.

C. Our Responsibility to Believe

The challenge is the responsibility to believe that is placed on mankind. Faith in Christ alone is therefore a requirement for all mankind and to not trust in Christ is a rejection of Him and the good news.

John tells us

John 3:14–18 NASB95

14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John points back to the story in Numbers 21 when disobedient Israel brought judgmnet from God upon them in the form of serpents. The people were being bitten by the serpents and dying. God provided a way of escape by telling Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole. If the people looked up at the serpent they would be healed. This way of escape was told to the Israelites. Their faith was exercised by looking up at the bronze serpent.

Could they have refused…yes.

Therefore the challenge for some is that belief appears to be a power that man possess in the freedom of our wills, but one must ask…is our will free? Actually, according to Eph 2:1-3, we are not free in our state before Christ, nor are we in a state of moral nuetrality. We are enslaved to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of teh air, according to the lust of our flesh. Therefore, Paul’s point is that faith has to be a gift because one clearly cannot choose God.

Man is responsible to choose God, but is unable unless, He or she is elected by God and threfore is given the ability to believe by His power. This empowered belief then lends to the gory of God and not man, just as Paul states in these verses.

But the responsibility remains…you must choose to trust Christ. As John says,

John 3:18 NASB95

18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

III. Our Fruit of Faith (9-10)

Paul finally concludes with what I call the fruit of faith.

A. Humility

“No one should boast”

The first fruit is humility. Faith in Christ is not meant to lead us to boast because faith is beyond our ability. Instead, it leads us to humility when we understand that only by grace through faith are we saved. All of this is through Christ Jesus. This leads us to praise the Lord for NOT placing all his fury on us, for NOT passing us by. Instead, in humlity we recognize all the mercy, grace and love that God has bestowed on us. We ask with the great hymn writer Charles Wesley

1 And can it be that I should gain An int'rest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Friend, the message of the cross, the plan of God to redeem sinners that is fulfilled in Jesus, is a message to which humbles us when we look at our lives and see the violence that we have committed against a holy God. It shatters our ego, our puffed up chest and it makes us realize that without Christ, we are simply enemies of God and rebels of heart.

Because the cross drives us to humility towards God, it should also lead us to be humble towards man. When we look at those in sin, we should be disgusted with the sin that they commit, but yet with a humble heart, showing love to them.

When you go to the zoo, you are amazed by the different animals but you don’t relate to them. There is a distinction. You are nothing like them. But when you see a world enslaved to sin, you should humbly understand and remember where you once were. It takes perspective as you show the love of Christ to even your enemies.

B. Holiness

The second fruit of our faith is holiness. We were created to be set apart from the world and in this new creation, God has made us set apart. While Paul stresses that merit is not that which produces salvation, good works is a produce of salvation. The church is created for good works whereby our changed heart leads changed way of living. Paul calls it the Christian walk because when Christ saves us, we walk in this world with Christ living within us, acting and thinking like Christ.

2 Timothy 2:19–21 NASB95

19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” 20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Paul clarifies for us that our good works are not just good deeds for society but that they are good needs that are “useful for the Master.” Do these deeds like compassion, patience, giving benefit a sinful society, YES. But the believer in Jesus Christ is producing them from a changed heart and mind. He or she is seeking to glorify God with these deeds because they reflect the character of God. Unbeleivers who show compassion are not seeking to honor God’s attributes…which makes their efforts man-centered.

With those good deeds, also come a disdain and hatred for sin. When we come to faith in Christ, we love what he loves and we hate what he hates. Do you hate sin friend? Are you uncomfortable with sin in your life and in this world? Do you overlook your sin and only focus on the sin of the world? When it comes to sin, God intends for us to glance in the mirror before the window.

Boyce Abstract;

Regeneration is a change of heart, wrought by the Holy Spirit, who quickeneth the dead in trespasses and sins enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the Word of God, and renewing their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. It is a work of God’s free and special grace alone.