Alive in Christ by Grace through Faith
Grace Alone
Ephesians 2:4-10
In "The Sound of Music," Maria (Julie Andrews), bewildered by the captain's sudden attraction to her, sings, "Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good." People have a tendency to think of salvation in those terms. There must be something I have contributed to my salvation. God must see something good in me or accept something good from me in order for me to be saved.
In the medieval church just prior to the Reformation, there was a popular slogan. They said, “God will not deny His grace to those who do what they can.” It sort of sounds like “God helps those who help themselves.” The Reformers, following Scripture, rejected this idea because sinners do not have the ability to do anything. They are dead, helpless, blind, and enslaved to sin according to the New Testament. The slogan sola gratia was shorthand for saying that salvation is completely by grace alone. God doesn’t save us because of anything good in us or any good we perform. He saves us by His free, undeserved grace.
In Ephesians 2:4-10, we see that God, moved by mercy and love, raises dead sinners to life in Christ to display the lavishness of His grace by which they are rescued when they trust in Jesus Christ. It is a breathtaking passage. Let’s look at it more closely.
I. God raises the spiritually dead to life in Christ (vv. 4-7).
A. God raises the dead to life.
1. God is the subject in these verses. It is God who is
acting in His power to save sinners. The dead cannot
self-resurrect. God must give them life.
2. The motives of God’s saving activity are mercy and
love.
a. Mercy = compassion for the helpless and
pitiful. So we were. God sees our pitiful and
hopeless condition and has mercy.
b. Love = personal affection and kindness. Love
goes beyond mercy.
B. God raises the dead to life in union with Christ.
1. Remember, we were dead in transgressions.
2. God gave us spiritual life in union with Christ.
a. Three key verbs in vv. 5-6 begin with the
prefix sun, meaning “together with.”
b. The phrases “with Christ” (v. 5) and “in
Christ” (v. 6) also emphasize union.
3. Three things happen to believers because they are
in union with Christ.
a. God makes them alive together with Christ.
b. God raises them together with Christ.
c. God seats them in heavenly places together
with Christ.
d. Note the parallel with 1:20.
e. All these verbs are past tense indicating that
when God made Christ alive, raised him, and
seated him, He also did the same for us.
There are two senses in which we can think of union with Christ. The first is the representative sense. Adam is our representative in relation to our sin. When Adam sinned, all who are in Adam fell with him. That means all of us. In the same way, when Christ was raised from the dead, all who are in Christ were also raised to new life.
The second sense of our union with Christ is our vital union. It is sometimes called our mystical union with Christ. This refers to the fact that we are joined to Christ by faith and we are part of His body, the church. By faith, there is an organic, living union between Christ and the believer.
So, because we are in Christ, what has happened to Christ has happened to us. He was made alive from death, so were we. He was raised, so were we. He was seated in the heavenlies, so were we.
C. God raises the dead to life in Christ to display the riches of
His grace.
1. God’s grace will be eternally displayed in the saving
of sinners. “In the coming ages” means for all the
ages to come, i.e. eternally.
2. God’s saving work in Christ puts on public display
His lavish grace toward those who are in Christ.
ILLUSTRATION: Jonathan Edwards in a sermon entitled Glorious Grace pressed home to his hearers how they should personally marvel in the grace of God shown to them in Christ. He stated, “Surely, if the angels are so astonished at God's mercy to you, and do even shout with joy and admiration at the sight of God's grace to you, you yourself, on whom this grace is bestowed, have much more reason to shout.”
APPLICATION: Why is Paul telling us this? Why has he taken us from the depths of despair in describing our sin to the heights of joy in describing God’s salvation? He has done it so that we might shout with joy at the sight of God’s grace. In 2007, Wesley Autrey, a construction worker in NYC received national acclaim for his selfless act of saving another man from death in the subway tunnel by shielding him from the oncoming train. What sort of acclaim belongs to Jesus Christ for shielding us from the oncoming wrath of God? What sort of acclaim belongs to God for bringing dead sinners to life in Christ by His grace? It is lavish, rich, superabundant grace which ought to grip our hearts with undying praise. When you realize the depth and danger of sin, you then realize the reach and the richness of grace.
TS – With the introduction of the idea of displaying God’s grace, we now see that…
II. God rescues the spiritually dead on the basis of His grace, not their
works (vv. 8-10).
Four key ideas are in view here.
1. Grace is the basis of our salvation.
2. Works is not the basis of our salvation.
3. Grace comes to us by faith.
4. Saving grace produces good works.
A. Grace is the basis of our salvation.
1. Grace is the free, unobligated favor of God toward
the ill-deserving (not just undeserving).
2. We are saved by grace. That is, grace is the basis of
our salvation.
3. Salvation is a gift from God. The phrase “that not of
Yourselves” refers to the whole salvation process. It
includes the faith but is not limited to it in context.
B. Works is not the basis of our salvation.
1. It is clearly stated in the text, “not as a result of
works.” Works refers to human merit or effort.
2. Works here contrasts with the term “gift.” There is a
clear contrast here between something we receive
from God with no connection to merit and something
that is earned through merit or effort. (Rom. 4:4,5;
Titus 3:5).
3. The phrase, “so that no one may boast” also makes it
clear that human effort has nothing to do with our
salvation. No one may boast because no one
contributes to his or her salvation by their efforts.
C. Grace comes to us by faith.
1. The instrument that brings us access to God’s grace
is faith.
a. Faith is trust in Jesus Christ as the crucified
and risen Lord and only Savior.
2. Sola Fide, by faith alone. Not faith plus effort.
D. Saving grace produces good works.
1. Every believer is a creation of God. We are His
Workmanship created in Christ. By the way, this
is another reminder that salvation is God’s work
alone. We cannot self-create. God must create us.
2. God created us for good works. In other words, when
we become a new creation in Christ, good works will
naturally flow from God’s saving work.
3. Thus, good works are the fruit not the cause of our
salvation. Good works are the evidence not the
reason for our salvation.
ILLUSTRATION: Philip Yancey recounts this story about C.S. Lewis:
During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith.
They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.
The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace." After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. (Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?)
APPLICATION: Beloved, grace is the unique message of the Christian gospel. Man’s religions all operate on the principle of works. In Buddhism, you must follow an eight-fold path to enlightenment. In Hinduism, you must live a good life and overcome your karma. In Islam, you must submit to the five-pillars to make it to heaven. All of these religions assume you have the ability to do something good. You must exercise this ability to reach whatever the religion describes as heaven. Work hard and you will pass the class and go to heaven.
But the Christian gospel is totally different.
The gospel tells you that in spite of your best efforts, you have miserably failed the class. You have no hope of making the grade. You cannot earn heaven at all. So, how will you get there? Only by a gracious gift on the part of God.
God sent His perfect Son to this earth. He lived a perfect life and fulfilled all of God’s righteous requirements. He then died in the place of sinners to pay the debt of death their sin required. He took God’s wrath in their place. He then rose from the dead to seal forever His victory over sin and death for all who would trust in Him.
How does this gracious gift become mine? Again, not by earning it through works. It comes to you only by faith in Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION: I love what Steven Curtis Chapman said. He said, “In the gospel, we discover that we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved than we ever dreamed.”
Christian friend, aren’t you reminded of that truth after looking at the first ten verses of chapter two? Oh, how our hearts should be flowing with gratitude today. How we should bow in worship and praise to the God of our salvation! How can we be cold and lifeless in our affections toward God when we have experienced such lavish grace! How can we be indifferent about spiritual things when we have been shown such mercy? Shouldn’t we be eager to serve with love the One who so freely saved us from spiritual death?
Dear friend, if you do not know Christ today, you are far worse off than you think. You are more helpless than you know. You are in more danger than you are aware of. Please stop and realize what the Bible says about you. Stop and recognize your situation without Christ.
But, with Christ, in Christ, you will be far more loved than you ever dreamed. You cannot begin to sound the depths of God’s eternal love. You cannot begin to exhaust the infinite riches of His grace. Abandon all hope of earning God’s gift. Turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ. Believe that He died on the cross for your sins. Believe that He rose from the dead. Cast your life upon Him, place all your hope in Him. He alone can save you.
