Saved by Grace to Walk in Good Works (Part 2)

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not 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, that we should walk in them.

Prayer

Father, you are the author of life and you’ve spoken to us marvelously through creation, telling us that you are the one true God who is eternally powerful. And yet you’ve gone even further than this general, amazing communication/revelation.

In your Word, which we hold in our hands and can amazingly carry with us in our pockets on our devices, you have shown us everything that everyone needs to know to worship you, and live a life that pleases you through repentance and faith. There is no problem in our world that your Word does not speak to at its root cause and with specific, relevant, special revelation.

Knowing this, would you build our confidence in you through your Word this morning? Would you open blind eyes today? Would you heal broken hearts? Would you enlighten our minds, through the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit, to truths that are beyond us by our nature, yet accessible to us with your help? And may we fix our eyes on your glorious grace and as you grip our hearts in love.

I pray this with confidence, knowing that you are quick to help those who cry out for it

SLIDE

III. Cling to what God has saved us for (7-9)

Last week we briefly saw that God’s purpose for saving Christians is beautifully tied to the pursuit of His own glory through grace. God does this by showing us, according to Eph. 2:7,

SLIDE

Ephesians 2:7 ESV

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

One practice common throughout the ancient pagan world was to dedicate statues and trophies won in battle to the gods. To enter a temple in antiquity (assuming it had not been plundered at some earlier point) was like entering a museum displaying various dedications and spoils of victory from old battles.

The church is God’s prized possession through which He displays his one-of-a-kind holiness and grace through which he has overcome all of his enemies.

SLIDE

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

God proclaims this in eternity, and for our part he uses us to proclaim it now. This is why we must cling to the reality that salvation is all of God’s grace.

Salvation is by grace

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 2

God’s favor upon those who have transgressed his law and sinned against him. But grace may also be understood as a “power” in these verses. God’s grace not only offers salvation but also secures it.

Salvation is through faith

Paul assumes this two-sided nature of faith in his discussions of salvation. Faith is relational, describing reliance on a reliable God. Faith is a covenant word, expressing the commitment and trust that bind two parties together. Throughout Scripture, God by his grace makes promises and commits himself to his people. They in turn are to trust those promises and live in light of them. God shows himself faithful and people are to respond in faithfulness. To say “I have faith” does not so much say anything about oneself; rather it says, “God is a trustworthy God.”45

People who believe do not merely assent to certain ideas; they are bound to God and live in response to him. Paul’s frequent use of phrases such as “with Christ” and “in Christ” show his conviction that faith joins them to Jesus Christ so strongly that they are in him and that what is true of him is true of them. Christ’s past is their past, and he determines their present and future. Faith has an adhesive quality to it;46 it binds the believer to the one who is believed. Salvation does not come from believing ideas or an emotional decision, but from being bound to Christ.

Faith is not our own doing; it is the gift of God

Not a result of works. Why?

So that only we can only boast in Christ.

SLIDE

IV. Work for what God has saved us to (10)

We are His workmanship

Just as God created the universe out of nothing by the word of His power, so God created us in Christ Jesus by His mighty power.

The Greek word translated, “workmanship,” occurs in only one other place in the New Testament, where it is translated, “what has been made.”

In Romans 1:20, Paul writes, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Paul is referring to the original creation. Just as God powerfully brought that creation into existence for His purpose and glory, so it is when He saves a soul.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

If you think that I have been emphasizing this point too much in the past few weeks, it is only because Paul emphasizes it repeatedly in these first two chapters. Paul knows how prone we are to take some of the credit for our salvation. If we can’t claim any reason to boast in our salvation, then we’ll try to boast in our good deeds after salvation.

But Paul is saying that the entire process is from God. It comes from His eternal, sovereign choice to save us and from His mighty creative power.

Just as the physical creation cannot claim any grounds for boasting in its beauty, so neither can we who are God’s new creation in Christ claim any grounds for boasting in our salvation or in our good works.

“In Christ Jesus” (see the same phrase in 2:6, 7) shows that everything God has done for us comes through Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, we have nothing. In Him, we have every blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). He gets all the glory.

Many Christians confuse making a decision to accept Christ with genuine salvation. Certainly, everyone who is genuinely saved receives Christ or decides to trust in Him. But, not everyone who makes a profession of receiving Christ or trusting in Him is genuinely saved.

When God genuinely saves someone, that person becomes a new creation in Christ. God changes his heart of stone for a heart of flesh that is obedient to Him (Ezek. 36:26–27). He changes the bent of our lives from hostility towards God to submission to Him (Rom. 6:17–18; 8:1–13). While genuine believers do sin, they hate it and fight against it.

If there is no change of heart, then the person needs to question whether he has been created anew in Christ Jesus.

God’s workmanship is not achieved by good works, but it should result in good works as God has purposed them (Titus 2:14; 3:8). The works, here, are described as good. They have a moral and beneficial connotation.

In other words, “...we are created in Christ Jesus for works that are morally and beneficially good for us, for those around us, and for God.” (Hoehner)

God prepared these works beforehand.

This word (προετοιμάζω) which we translate as “to prepare beforehand,” is used in the NT only here and in Rom 9:23 both of which have God as the subject, indicating that God prepared these good works before the believer was created in Christ Jesus, most likely as a part of his plan in eternity past. (Hoehner)

This is grace from beginning to end, which Paul addresses next.

We are saved to a life of conduct which contrasts with our life before we were saved.

Worship and obedience are the only proper responses to God’s call.

Evangelism needs to be a conscious activity, but it does not need to be forced. Evangelism should be the natural expression of a life joined to a loving God, the sharing of a faith worth having.

As we increasingly focus on that reality that:

SLIDES

Salvation is all by God’s gift of grace through faith, so He will get all the glory as we walk in Christ.

I. Remember the depth of depravity from birth God has saved us from. (1-3)

II. Celebrate that our salvation is all by God's grace. (4-6)

III. Cling to what God has saved us for. (7-9)

IV. Work for what God has saved us to. (10)

Conclusion and Transition to Communion

Conclusion

A famous actor was once the guest of honor at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the Twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor’s recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis, for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher’s voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, “I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.”

Salvation does not come from knowing about the truth of Jesus Christ but from intimately knowing Christ Himself. This coming alive can be accomplished by the power of God because of His love and mercy and supernaturally leads us to walk in the good works he has prepared for us beforehand.

Communion

Closing Prayer

Related Media

Related Sermons