Ephesians 2:4-10 But God... Because of His grace.

This morning I want you to take a moment and think back to when you were a young kid. I want you to think about Gym class and being picked for the team. Picture yourself lined up as two classmates stand across from you getting ready to pick teams and as you stand their you hope that you will be chosen and put on the team that you prefer or the team that you think is more likely to win. As you wait for them to make their decisions some of the things that might go through your mind are whether or not you’re worthy of being picked first. It’s no secret that when picking teams one will start by securing the better players for their team. They pick the best players first and then work their way down the line until there’s an odd man out and often times being picked last leaves you with that thought that they don’t really want you on the team. It’s not a good feeling but it’s there nonetheless. For some of us we might think back on how we were often picked first and others how we were the ones that were picked last or rejected.

As Christians, when we consider our salvation we will at some point realize that God has chosen us. That He has picked us out of the world and adopted us and we may begin to think of it much like the situation in gym class and hence we wonder why we were picked.

The big question is “why did God choose me?”

Have you ever asked yourself this question? It’s a good question to ask. When we turn to scripture I believe we find quite a satisfactory answer, although if you’re looking for a basis in yourself you won’t find much.

Some people have gone to the extent of saying that God didn’t choose them but they chose God. They made the decision themselves to be a servant of God and to accept His gift of salvation. They stepped out in faith, they were chosen because they first chose Him. That they did something at some point that made them seem like a good fit and perhaps the most beneficial for God’s plans. The problem with that is what we looked at this past week in Ephesians 2:1-3 and the solution is what we are diving into this morning up through v.10

Ephesians 2:1–10 NKJV

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Sinners

Paul describes the state that unbelievers are in and the state in which believers were in before they believed. He describes us as dead in trespass and sins, walking according to Satan, being sons of disobedience, conducting ourselves in the the lusts of our flesh… Paul is making it clear that we as believers were once no different than those who are living in sin today and this doesn’t make their present condition seem any less bad but it makes us consider how bad of a condition we were previously in.

Paul uses the life and death here to describe our standing and relationship with God. When one is dead, they can do nothing of themselves to change that. This is true both physically and spiritually. Dying men would be able to take some sort of action to prevent death possibly, at least cry out for help but dead men cannot. Therefore, as we look at Paul’s description of our spiritual state as believers he is making it known that we did nothing to bring ourselves life because we couldn’t. It was beyond our ability.

The Gospel that we proclaim as believers is being laid out rather clear here… You can do nothing to be saved, you’re already dead, but God… God can do something. God does do something. As believers it’s important that we see what it is that God has done.

But God...

These words “But God…” are signifying the way in which all this sin has been addressed and how it can be for those yet to believe.

In v.4-7 Paul continues on stating what God did in light of us being dead in trespasses and sins. He made us alive. We see here that God’s actions are what makes the difference in our lives. It’s not that we were dead in sin but that we did something, rather it’s that we were dead but God… God is the one who acts here. Just as how one can go and move a dead body and in rare cases actually perform some sort of action to re-ignite life, God acts upon us and He is the only one who can here.

There is such great contrast here though. Contrast between who we were and what God has done.

The most obvious one and the one that I’ve already mentioned the most is that we were dead and now we are alive. We were made alive when previously we were dead.

According to Paul here we were slaves to sin. He doesn’t use this exact term here but rather states that we were conducting ourselves in the lust of the flesh and walking according to the prince of the power of the air. We were slaves to sin and disobedience… But God in v.6 it says He raised us up with Christ to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He has taken us from slaves of sin to a position of honor in His kingdom.

lastly we see that while we were children of wrath, deserving of wrath, God chose instead to show us the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

If you are saved, it is because God has made the difference in your life. It rests upon Him and His actions. His interference.

Interestingly, Paul connects what God has done to us spiritually to that which was done to Christ.

He was raised from the dad as we were made alive, He ascended to the Father in Heaven as we are raised up, and as He sits at the right hand of the Father we are told here that He made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

This correlation is anything but coincidental. Paul is speaking here on what happens in regards to our salvation and it’s more than simply that He has given us a spiritual life but that in giving us life, He took us from where we were to where we are. He took us from death to life and has given us seats in the kingdom of God. Paul doesn’t seem to just be speaking about the future hope of salvation either but the current here and now hope. We are saved and that means that we have this position already. It’s already established.

But the main point that Paul is making here is that salvation does not come from you.

Not works

You did not save yourself. You could not save yourself. As Paul spent the first 3 verses of this chapter making clear, man is sinful, believers are sinful. When we look at unbelievers and their sin, we see that we were in such a position that we had no hope for salvation. We were dead.

If we consider again where we began this morning with us picturing ourselves waiting to be picked in gym class then we most definitely wouldn’t be ones to be picked first. Our qualifications are empty. We’ve proven ourselves over and over again to be not fit for the sport. In fact, one could say that if they were to pick us than we would just sit their scoring for the other team; that is of course if we ignore the fact that our wickedness actually has made us an ineligible player and therefore we cannot be picked. Yet God has chosen us who are the worst of the worst.

When we consider our salvation we have no right for boasting because it doesn’t rest on our shoulders but on His. It is not something that we have earned but have received.

Ephesians 2:9 NKJV

9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

You cannot work your way into the kingdom of God. Many have tried but it does no good. Salvation is not of works.

If not of works then it is of grace.

Grace

Grace is this wonderful, beautiful thing of God that we get to experience undeservedly.

The definition of grace is most simply “unmerited favor”. That means grace cannot be based upon anything that we ourselves have done. You cannot earn grace.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NKJV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

God’s salvation is a gift of grace. It is given to some and not others but it’s not based upon the work that we do. It’s not based upon whether or not we are better people than those around us.

Paul in the book of Romans talks about the justification of Abraham and of David and he says this in chapter 4.

Romans 4:4–5 NKJV

4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

Abraham is accounted righteous because of his faith in God. It’s not because he earned his righteousness or abstained from all sin. If it was based upon something that he did then it most certainly could not be grace because it would owed to him. If you owe someone something and you pay them what you owe them you’re not being gracious, you’re being fair but most certainly not gracious. In fact, it would be wrong if you didn’t pay them their due. But as Abraham had done no work toward his salvation and was yet saved it cannot be that he earned it.

No, it was accounted to him by God based upon faith in the one who justifies the ungodly.

We are saved by Grace alone through Faith alone.

Further on in Romans we read:

Romans 11:6a NKJV

6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

We are either saved by grace or by works, we are not saved by both. It is not God’s grace with the help of your hand and of course it cannot be salvation based upon only your work as it would never be enough. Therefore it is God’s grace alone or not at all.

To quote Jonathan Edwards “You contribute nothing to your salvation but the sin that made it necessary.”

And here in Ephesians, Paul’s emphasis here is that it’s not about what you have done but what He has done. When you look at your salvation and your past sins it should not lead you to praise yourself but to praise God. It should never lead one to a higher view themselves but only a higher view of God.

You are not the reason that you are saved. God is. He’s the one that does the saving and He’s the one that has given new life. All praise be to Him.

But still we might very well ask, why me? Why is it that God chose me? If it’s clear that I am undeserving of salvation then how can I be saved?

Why?

As I keep saying… It’s not because you’re better than the world. Your salvation is not in and of you. There’s no distinct marker to which you will find in yourselves for which God has chosen you. And that’s because you are not the basis in which you are saved. God is.

Let’s look again at v.4 here.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NKJV

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Paul reminds us of the mercy of God and then says that because of His great love… We are saved.

His love is evident. He sent His Son for us.

1 John 4:9–10 NKJV

9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

We are chosen not even because we loved God but because He loved us despite everything we have done. What does that say about our God? It only magnifies His name as it was meant to do.

Continuing on in Ephesians 2:7 it says:

Ephesians 2:7 NKJV

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

We are saved because of His love in order that we might see the riches of His grace and kindness in Jesus.

God wants us to see His grace and mercy!!! He wants us to see and to know who He is and one of the clearest ways to see how great God is is by looking at what He has done with our depravity. The depths of our wickedness only exalt Him we are humbled before Him.

The very point of your salvation is to magnify Him and His grace. It’s not because of you, it’s because of Him and it points to Him and it glorifies Him. When we look at what God has taken us from and the position that He has given to us today as believers we should be in such a position that we cannot help but praise Him. That we cannot help but see the wonders of His grace.

We are saved because of who He is.

We are saved because He is merciful, gracious, kind and with His great love He loved us.

And looking at our salvation, for those of us who are saved, can we not see these things? Can you not see how wonderfully loving God is?

And if He is this loving to you in your salvation, have you any doubt that no matter what you are going through today that He will act in the same manner and same character? God will continue to show you grace, mercy, love and kindness because it is in His character.