I Am Saved

INTRO

Have you ever received some really good news?

like life changing news…

news that doesn’t just make you smile

doesn’t just change your day

but changes everything

There’s good news that can change our day, right?

you find out you passed the test you swore that you failed

coach tells you there’s no conditioning today and it’s an easy practice

you come home after a hard day to your favorite meal or family saying they are going out to eat

If you are my son walker… then I can change his day with the good news of

we are going to the park

or we can go get a treat

The kind of news I’m talking about is different… I’m talking about:

The family member who has cancer and it’s not looking good

good news: it’s gone and they are healed

Your parents have been fighting for months and it seems like divorce is inevitable

good new: they sit you down to explain that they are actually working it out and are going to stay together

That friend or family member who is caught up in some bad bad life choices

good news: turns their life around and escapes that lifestyle

Those are examples of life changing news…

you feel the difference?

Because in every one of those situations something was really wrong first

TENSION

See, this is the tension of receiving good news

The depth of the bad news determines the weight of the good news

Small problem

small relief

Big problem

massive relief

And here’s why that matters for tonight:

If we don’t understand how bad our situation was then we will never understand how good the news of Jesus really is

So when we come to Ephesians 2 tonight

Paul is about to show us something:

Our situation was worse than we think and God’s grace is better than we could ever imagine

TRUTH

Let’s see how Paul describes our situation before salvation…

Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…”

Not struggling

not trying

not almost there

dead…

Before salvation you were spiritually dead while physically alive

You were breathing

walking

going to school

going to practice

most of you showing up to church

but on the inside

you were dead toward God

What Paul is expressing here is what we call Total Depravity

Total Depravity is not that you are are as bad as we possibly could be, but that every part of us is affected by sin

Meaning before salvation

your mind didn’t think rightly about God

your heart didn’t love God the way it should

your desires didn’t naturally want God

your choices didn’t honor God

there is nothing in you that went untouched by sin

And this is where many of you check out, just like I often did at you age

because you’re thinking:

“I’m not that bad…

I don’t do drugs

I’m not sleeping around

I’m a pretty good person

But that’s not what this is about…

you don’t have to be rebellious on the outside to be dead on the inside

Paul says that before salvation we were doing 3 things:

following the world

the enemy

and our own desires

AKA… You weren’t neutral

you were being led

And if you were left to yourself

you would never drift toward God

in fact, you would continually drift away from Him the longer you lived

Then Paul says something even heavier…

“We were by nature children of wrath”

That means this isn’t just what you did

it’s who you were

And because of that, God didn’t owe you acceptance

he owed you justice

you were completely deserving of His wrath and judgement for all of eternity

not a little slap on the wrist that only hurts for a second

eternal, never ending, torment

And imagine if that’s where the story ended…

there would be no hope

we would be doomed

But Paul continues…

“But God”

Verses 1-3 might be some of the most condemning words in the bible…

dead

enslaved

guilty

children of wrath

and then two words change everything

but God

Not but you fixed it

Not but you tried harder

Not but you got your life together

But God

The turning point of your story was not you

It was Him

Verse 4 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us…”

Why would God step in like this?

Not because you were impressive

Not because you were trying

Not because you deserved it

But because He is rich in mercy and great in love

God didn’t respond to your worth…

He responded from His character

Verse 5 says, “Even though we were dead…”

Again…

Not when you started trying

Not when you cleaned yourself up

When you were still dead, He made us alive together with Christ

God doesn’t make bad people better. God makes dead people alive.

But He doesn’t stop there…

He raises us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

This means that what happened to Jesus now counts for you

He rose

so now you’re alive

He reigns

so now you’re secure

Your identity isn’t defined by your past, it’s defined by your position in Christ

And don’t miss this, because a lot of us have heard bad pictures of salvation

Like you’re drowning in the ocean and Jesus throws you a life raft, and all you have to do is grab on

That’s not what the Bible teaches…

The reality is you weren’t drowning

You were already dead at the bottom of the ocean because of your sin

And Jesus didn’t stand at a distance and throw you something

Out of His mercy, out of His love, He dove in

He came all the way down to where you were, picked up your lifeless body, brought you to shore, and gave you life.

Your salvation is not part you and part Jesus

Your salvation is all Him

And here’s what makes this even more crazy

Jesus didn’t just save you from a distance…

He didn’t just snap His fingers

He didn’t just send angels

He didn’t just say, “you’re forgiven,” and move on

While you were dead

while you were His enemy

while you were living completely against Him

He came for you

He stepped off His throne in heaven and entered into this broken world

He lived the life you couldn’t live

and then He died

not just any death but the death for your sin

the very sins you committed against Him

He took the wrath you deserved

the justice meant for you fell on Him

and three days later He rose from the grave

Verse 7 tells us why: “so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus”

God saved you to show you off

not in a prideful way

but as a display of how good His grace really is

You were dead…

but God stepped in

made you alive

lifted you up

and gave you a new position

That’s not improvement

That’s salvation

Paul continues: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.”

After everything we just talked about…this makes sense, doesn’t it?

If you were dead

if you were enslaved

if you were an enemy

what are you going to boast in?

your sin?

Because that’s all you brought to the table

You didn’t bring righteousness

You didn’t bring effort

You didn’t bring anything that made God say, “yeah, I’ll save them.”

In the words of Jonathan Edwards, “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

and God brought everything else

That’s why Paul says you are saved by grace

Grace means you didn’t earn it

you didn’t deserve it

and you couldn’t achieve it

It’s God grace which comes through faith

Faith is not you doing something for God, it is you trusting what Jesus has already done for you

So even your response isn’t something you boast in

you don’t stand before God and say, “look at my faith.”

You say, “look at my Savior.”

Because at the end of the day, salvation leaves no room for pride

only worship.

You don’t boast in yourself

you boast in Christ

and His grace that saved you

Yet, again Paul doesn’t stop there

Verse 10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

Don’t miss this…

You are His workmanship.

That means you are not random

You are not an accident

God has done something in you

the same God who created the world… is now recreating you.

and it says you were created in Christ Jesus for good works

You were not saved by good works…you’re saved for good works

Meaning good works are not the reason you are saved…

they are the result that you are saved.

Before Christ,

you walked in sin…

In Christ

you walk in freedom and with a purpose

God has already prepared a life for you to live

A life of freedom from sin

A life that reflects Him

A life that honors Him

APPLICATION

So here’s the question…

Do you see how radical your salvation is?

Do you actually think about it?

Because for many of us… there was a moment where we saw it

we saw our sin for what it really was.

Disgusting

Heavy

Real

we saw what Christ did…

and it was incredible

it was overwhelming

it changed everything.

But now?

It’s just… normal

We don’t wake up in the morning and stop to think:

“I’m forgiven.”

“I’m free.”

“I was dead… and now I’m alive.”

“I’m a child of God.”

Maybe we think about it on Easter…when we hear the crucifixion story again

But most days?

It doesn’t really affect how we live.

And tonight, I hope you see… that your salvation was never meant to become normal

You were dead… and now you’re alive.

You were a child of wrath… and now you are a child of God.

That is something we need to be reminded of daily

Because if we don’t, we forget

And when we forget…

we start living like it never happened

But if it really did happen

It should change everything

And that leads to the second question…

Are you living like it?

If you actually think about your salvation… does it affect your life?

Does it affect your daily habits?

The way you talk…

The way you treat people…

The way you interact on social media…

What you listen to…

What you watch…

How you see others…

How you serve others…

Because this kind of salvation does not produce passive people

It produces changed people

So don’t leave here tonight just saying, “that was a good message…”

Ask yourself:

Do I actually see how radical my salvation is?

And if I do…

Does my life reflect it?

CONCLUSION

Growing up hearing an analogy about salvation preach so many times

The pastor would say,

“Salvation is like if I lined up brand new car keys across the stage and told everyone, “if you want one, just grab it on your way out…

then they would say, “and if you didn’t, you’d be an idiot.”

The point was that salvation is a free gift, so why wouldn’t you take it?

But the problem with that picture is that it completely misses what we just saw in this passage

Because according to Ephesians 2…

it wouldn’t be like offering keys to a room full of people

it would be like walking through a graveyard holding out keys saying, “Who’s going to take them?”

No one

Why?

Because they’re dead…

They couldn’t, even if they wanted to, and they don’t want to

That’s why in my office I have a post of a quote by Martyn-Lloyd Jones that says, “I don’t preach decisions—I preach regeneration.”

It serves as reminder for me that as I write my sermons I am not writing to persuade people to make a decision

i am write to present the gospel in the clearest way possible from the text

so that through it some who is dead may become alive through it’s power to save

And tonight I want it to serves as a reminder to you as well

If you are an unbeliever tonight, it serves as a reminder that…

what you need is not to try harder

you don’t need to make another decision to “do better.”

you don’t need to clean your life up and then come to God

you need to be made alive

y need faith

not in yourself

not in your effort

but in Jesus Christ and what He has done for you

And when you trust in Him, God does what only He can do

He brings you from death to life

So don’t walk out of here thinking you just need to be a better person

you need a new heart

you need new life

and that is something only God can give

And if you are a Christian in the room it serves as a reminder that…

you didn’t grab the keys

you didn’t figure it out

you didn’t save yourself

God did

Which means there is no room for pride in your life

there is no room to look at someone else and think,

“I’m better than them,”

or “why can’t they just get it together?”

because the only difference between you and them is the grace of God

So what should that produce in you?

not arrogance

but humility

not pride

but gratitude

not distance from people

but compassion for people

Because they’re not just making bad decisions

they’re dead

And they need the same thing you needed

they need the gospel

they need to hear about Jesus

because it is the power of God that brings dead people to life

You were dead…but God made you alive

so if you don’t know Him, trust Him tonight

and if you do know Him, live like it