Exploring Ephesians #4 - But God

Text: Eph. 2.1-10

Thesis: To prove that God alone has made salvation possible for all men and we can and must

             accept His amazing saving grace.

Introduction:

(1)    Song: Amazing Grace

(2)    Truly, we serve an awesome God who loved us “while we were yet sinners” (Rom. 5.8).

(3)    Oftentimes, we are quick to point out how man is to respond in order to accept God’s grace because of the human erroneous doctrines that prevail concerning the subject.

(a)    Paul himself anticipated such abuse as he wrote, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?  May it never be!  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6.1-2).

(b)    Nevertheless, the abuses do not take away from how marvelous God’s grace truly is.

(4)    We shall look at God’s amazing grace:

Discussion:

I.                   Life before grace (Eph. 2.1-3)

A.    We were dead (v. 1).

1.      Obviously, this refers to spiritual death (cf. Rom. 6:23), which is also thought of as separation from God (cf. Isa. 59:2).

2.      The reason that we were dead is because of our:

a.       ‘Trespasses’ (Gr. paraptoma) – “doing those things which we ought not to have done” (Mitton 81)

b.      ‘Sins’ (Gr. hamartia; ‘to miss the mark’) – “leaving undone those things which we ought to have done” (Mitton 81)

B.     We were enslaved (vv. 2-3).

1.      We walked the paths of this world.

a.       ‘Walk’ (Gr. peripateo) “indicates a way of life, a mode of conduct”       (Mitton 82).

b.      ‘Course of this world’ – “ a godless culture and society” (Liefeld 57)

-          “Their behavior has been determined by the powerful influence of society’s attitudes, habits, and preferences, which were alien to God and his standards” (O’Brien 159).

2.      Our “god” was the devil.

a.       ‘Power’ is better translated as realm or sphere, which “according to the ancient worldview, the air formed the intermediate sphere between earth and heaven” (O’Brien 160).

b.      ‘Sons of disobedience’ – a “Hebrew idiom … means those ‘characterized by’ rather than literally ‘born from’ disobedience” (Muddiman 105).

3.      Our desire was self-indulgence.

a.       ‘Lusts’ (Gr. epithumia) – “strong inclinations and desires of every sort” (MacArthur 57).

b.      ‘Flesh’ (Gr. sarx) – “that self-regarding element in human nature which has been corrupted at the source, characterized by appetites and propensities which, if unchecked, produce the works of the flesh listed in Gal. 5:19-20” (Bruce 283-84).

c.       ‘Desires’ (Gr. thelema) – “wanting and seeking something with great diligence” (MacArthur 57).

C.     We were condemned (v. 3).

1.      ‘Nature’ – “what people are by the habitual practices of their lives” (Foulkes 79).

2.      ‘Children of wrath’ – “Semitic idiom … indicating that wrath is one’s destiny” (Liefeld 59).

3.      What could we do?

a.       We could not save ourselves.

b.      The keeping of the Old Testament law could not save us (cf. Heb. 10.1-4).

c.       We stood condemned for hell.

II.                Life after grace (Eph. 2.4-7)

A.    “But God”

1.      When we stood on the edge of what seemed impossible, then God stepped in and made it possible.

2.      Past examples –

a.       The crossing of the Red Sea

b.      The taking of the city of Jericho

c.       The defeat of the Assyrian army

3.      God made salvation possible.

B.     God had/has the means to make it possible (v. 4).

1.      God is rich in mercy!

a.       One wrote, “There is an inexhaustible treasury of such mercy in the loving heart of God” (EBC).

b.      Mercy is “the emotion roused by contact with an affliction which comes undeservedly on someone else” (TDNT).

2.      This mercy springs out of God’s great love.

a.       He is moved to have mercy “because of His great love”

b.      That moved Him to give all (John 3.16).

C.     God has made us alive (v. 5)!

1.      ‘Made alive’ – “a synonym of ‘to raise’ from the dead” (Barth 1:220)

2.      Note: The parenthesis “draws their attention to the divine initiative” (Lincoln 102)

D.    God has a reward for us (v. 6)!

-          “The position of being seated with Christ in the heavenlies gives the believer a heavenly status with heavenly power to overcome the power of sin and death” (Hoehner 334).

E.     All is this is because of grace (v. 7).

1.      His grace is seen now and will continue to be seen as He continues to bless us.

2.      The reason for this is because of His ‘kindness’ (Gr. chrestotes) as seen in Christ Jesus.

III.             Way to grace (Eph. 2.8-10)

A.    We must accept God’s grace (Gr. charis; v. 8).

1.      The point is clear: We are saved by grace!

a.       If grace alone, then universal salvation.

b.      The Bible says no to universal salvation (Matt. 7.13-14; 21-23); thus, something must be done to accept this grace.

2.      We accept God’s grace by faith (Gr. pistis).

a.       Noah (Grace – Gen. 6.8; Faith – Heb. 11.7; Works of faith – Gen. 6.22).

b.      City of Jericho (Grace – Jos. 6.2; Faith – Heb. 11.30; Works of faith – Jos. 6)

B.     Nevertheless, our acceptance of God’s grace does not take away from the fact that it is only because of God’s grace that we are saved and nothing else!

1.      Our acceptance in no way is an attempt to earn salvation for such is impossible.

2.      Man cannot boast about his salvation because man is wholly dependent upon God for it.

C.     When we accept God’s wonderful grace, then He works on us and makes us what He wants us to be (v. 10).

1.      He is the potter and we are the clay.

2.      We are ‘God’s workmanship’ (Gr. poiema) – God’s “work of art, his masterpiece” (F. F. Bruce’s translation).

3.      The ‘good works’ are “not to secure salvation but as the fruit of salvation”   (Bruce 291).

Conclusion:

(1)    God’s amazing grace is still available to us today.

(2)    What will we do with His wonderful gift?