But God...
“But God…”
Eph. 2.4-5
I wanted to first of thank you for your prayers for Doug and me while we were away at Shepherd’s Conference this past week. I return with my head filled, my heart softened, and my soul refreshed. I realize that many people go to southern California to vacation and rest. I will admit that I do not feel rested. But I came away with something far greater. I had the privilege of sitting under powerful teaching of the truth of God's word. We had the opportunity to worship with thousands of other pastors and converse with pastors from all over the world!
Let’s pray together before examining the Word of God.
*Illus. – For many years I delivered building materials. And the nature of the job was such that we often worked in pairs because of the size of the material and the demanding labor it required. On several occasions I worked with my friend Jeff. This was great because it frequently provided opportunities to share the gospel. Jeff was quite willing to have such conversations. He was brought up in another denomination and he considered himself a good person. In fact that is what he was relying on for eternity with God – his good nature or result of his good works. In his thinking he wasn’t a bad person. And in my mind he wasn’t the worst person morally that I knew. But despite all my conversations with him, he couldn’t get past the works-salvation mentality. He didn’t have what the Scripture refer to as “ears to hear.”
The problem with such thinking is that he was comparing himself to the wrong standard. The temptation among unbelievers and believers alike is that we are often tempted to look to a lesser standard – and often one another. For the unbeliever, if we don’t see ourselves in light of God’s standard we will never recognize our need for a Savior. For the believer, where is the motivation (and obedience) to grow in the faith if we are constantly looking to another person in the church as the standard? And if truth be told, we are probably more likely to compare ourselves those whom we would consider less mature than us in order to see ourselves in a better light.
But if we remember from Pastor Doug’s sermon last week, there are none who are good before conversion. In fact all are spiritually dead before coming to Christ. Though I think Doug did the right thing by letting up the pressure a bit and offering hope at the end of his message, it does serve us well to linger a bit on our pre-conversion state. Because an accurate understanding of our depravity paints a more glorious picture of the Author of our salvation.
Do you remember the woman in Luke 7 who wet the feet of Jesus with her tears and anointed him with oil? The Pharisee judged her (in his mind remember!) and Jesus seized the teachable moment. He taught a parable about forgiveness of debt and concluded that the one who was forgiven the larger amount would in turn love more. And the one who was forgiven little would love little. I had often viewed that passage with the emphasis on the woman being the greater sinner. But in the context of forgiveness, I think the emphasis may rest on repentance and confession. As she wet his feet and wiped them with her hair, she looked on him as “Savior” and she worshiped! The Pharisees, on the other hand, did not see the need to repent because they didn’t realize their sinful condition. And they did not see Jesus accurately. And that is where our contrast is set up for us this morning.
Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2. And we will pick up with where we left off. However, let’s begin by looking at verse 1. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
“But you, because you tried just a little harder, gave more money to the church, taught Children’s Sunday School, even attended a Wednesday night prayer meeting… You made yourself alive and saved yourself because of your good works.” Is that what it says?? But isn’t the mindset of many? When asking questions of eternity, a common response is directed towards one’s good nature or good works. Now, for some reason the New International Version took the liberty to rearrange the text a bit in this verse. But if you are reading any other translation of this verse, what are the first two words of verse 4? “But God”.
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones says that, “With these two words we come to the introduction to the Christian message, the peculiar, specific message which the Christian faith has to offer to us. These two words, in and of themselves, in a sense contain the whole of the gospel. The gospel tells of what God has done, God’s intervention; it is something that comes entirely from outside us and displays to us that wondrous and amazing and astonishing work of God which the apostle goes on to describe and to define in the following verses.”
My first of two points this morning is that God is our only hope of salvation.
One of the privileges I have had in my conversations with many of you is that I’ve gotten to hear your “But God” stories. We’ve even had a couple of nights here where many have shared their testimonies – our stories of God’s grace poured out in our lives. This is such an encouragement to me as I see God’s hand in transforming our lives. Many were leading lives of alcohol abuse or drug addiction “But God”, sexual promiscuity “But God”, materialism or self-absorption “But God”, and maybe even going through the empty motions of Christianity “But God”.
And it’s true. If we have trusted in Christ alone for our salvation, there has come a time that God has stepped into our sinfulness and given us hope and life with Christ. Because you and me, left to our own inclination, were destined to a life of destruction. “But God”.
Paul informs the saints at Ephesus that before their conversion, they were dead. I was curious about the word “dead” and so I did some research. I found out what the original word means. Do you know what it means? Literally, it means “dead”. “Dead, deceased, without life”. You get the idea. It also has a metaphorical or figurative meaning. You know what it is? “Spiritually dead”. Dead is dead. And Doug reminded us last week you can’t do a whole lot when you’re dead. And it’s not just some who were dead. Remember Paul’s words in verse 3,“we all once lived in the passions of our flesh”, and “along with the rest of mankind”? The playing field is leveled. It’s not my intent to exhaustively discuss the freewill vs. sovereignty discussion this morning. But consider the terms and phrases that Paul uses, “walked” in verse 2 and “carrying out the desires…” They are both active and pertain to all, remember? Left to our freewill, all we are capable of doing is following the course of the world and carrying out sinful desires. Jeremiah tells us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;” We are spiritually dead.
But all is not lost. For Paul mentions here that God is rich in mercy and exhibited great love for us. The contrast again here is unmistakable. He had just finished saying that we were all children of wrath by nature. And then the contrast is God’s nature. Paul didn’t just say that God was merciful. He communicates in terms of wealth or abundance. He is rich in mercy. And this is of utmost necessity to redeem those who are dead and children of wrath! Let me provide a couple of definitions that have helped make a distinction for me between mercy and grace. They do not bring out the fullness of either – but are at least helpful. Mercy is “not getting what you deserve.” And grace is “getting what you don’t deserve.” James Boice expands that definitions and says that “grace is God’s favor to the utterly undeserving” and “there is no cause in us why God should have acted as he did.”
Not only is he full of mercy, but he is full of love. And Paul’s comments here reflect both his character and his actions. Because of the great love (he has) and the love with which he loved us. He is a merciful and loving God who acted on his character. How did he act? Perhaps the words from this song that we sang at Shepherd’s Conference will help us out. It is called The Power of the Cross.
The Power of the Cross
Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day,
Christ on the road to Calvary;
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then,
Nailed to a cross of wood.
Refrain
This is the pow’r of the cross –
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Oh, to see the pain written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin;
Ev’ry bitter thought, ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.
This is the pow’r of the cross –
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head;
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life;
“Finished,” the vict’ry cry!
This is the pow’r of the cross –
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Oh, to see my name written in the wounds,
For through Your suff’ring I am free;
Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.
This is the pow’r of the cross –
Son of God, slain for us;
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.
This is the pow’r of the cross –
Son of God, slain for us;
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.
You know… I am grieved over the many “Greeting Card Preachers” that are out there today. You know those of whom I am speaking. They merely preach a “feel-good” message that tells you that everything is about and for you - even God. What He wants is to give you “Your best life now” rather than your best life that is yet to come. There is no mention of sin or need of a gospel. They are preachers who have seemingly ripped out Eph. 2 from their Bibles. They will never bring you to the 'but God' moment because they will not reveal to you that you are dead in your sin. This is greeting card preaching.
There are doing a great disservice to the cause of Christ and his gospel. If you declare yourself a Christian minister and do not introduce the problem of sin, you are also not introducing the grace of God. And thus no need for the gospel or a Savior. This is not Christian. Many may speak of the cross. But they will only mention it. There is no specificity on the cross. The cross is a solution to a problem - grace unto salvation for a sinful race. And what about all those who believe they are hearing and believing a Christian message. They think they are “saved”. My question is what are they saved from???
But not only are we forgiven because Jesus bore God’s wrath against sin. Our text says that he made us alive together with Christ. He caused the dead to become alive. Who alone can do such things? God created physical life. Genesis 2:7 says, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Adam did not provide life for himself. He was still lifeless.
How about Lazarus, the close friend of Jesus? Remember in John 11 when Lazarus became ill and Jesus purposefully delayed his visit two days longer? By the time he returns, Lazarus is dead and four days in the tomb. The sisters of Lazarus are deeply grieved, as is Jesus. And then he promises that their brother will rise again because He is the resurrection and the life. Jesus proceeds to the tomb where Lazarus was buried and, upon arrival, commands that the stone be moved away. And then he cries out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The text reads in verse 44 that “the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.” This is a story of the power of God to provide life out of death.
John 3:16-18 reads, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And verse 36 reads, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
If you have not believed in Christ for eternal life, out of love I tell you that the wrath of God remains on you and you remain spiritually dead. The good news is that God loves you and He gave His Son. You need to be saved and we here at Squamish Baptist believe in a Savior! If this is true of you, I would encourage you today to approach me or someone else this morning and ask us about Him. God be praised!
As God is our only hope of salvation, Grace is the only provision of salvation
And Paul writes in Colossians 2:13-14, 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
If you remember the Visa commercial that Doug used for an illustration some weeks ago, I think it serves a tremendous picture of grace. Did you see the one where the couple is examining their latest statement and then suddenly all the line items and total equal $0? If you can just imagine your account of insurmountable transactions of sin and then try to tally your good works against them, how do you think you fare?? We’re talking about every thought and attitude and not merely outward action. It’s like owing billions of dollars and trying to pay off that debt earning a minimum wage (if that). I would argue that you are compiling debt exponentially faster than you could imagine. You can’t even put a dent on the interest!!!
“But God” gave you a zero balance. He didn’t just match your payments. He didn’t offer interest free loans. He paid the entire debt. That’s grace!! Why would you want to continue to try to pay off a debt that does not exist?? Yet many do just that.
At the very end of verse five, Paul inserts a summary clause. He says that it is by grace you have been saved. This short clause sums up what he has said in these five verses. This next couple weeks will ensure that we have a grasp on this concept as we continue on to verses 8 and 9. But Paul introduces the topic here and elaborates in the next few verses.
OK. I want you all to take a metaphorical deep breath at this time and prepare for a lesson in Greek grammar. I was warned in preaching classes not to be too technical in my communication. But I will check to make sure that your eyes aren’t glazing over. This nugget is too precious to keep to myself. Like I mentioned, what Paul has been saying here is neatly wrapped up in this short phrase. It is grace alone that saves us. And that is exactly what we needed. We needed to be saved. We needed to be rescued. It is one Greek word that is translated “ you have been saved.” It is a perfect passive periphrastic participle. Say that ten times fast. It is “passive” which indicates that it is God who provides salvation. He is the subject and we are the object of salvation. It is “perfect tense” which indicates it is a past completed action with continuing results. God doesn’t just save us for a moment. He saves us forever. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
And it is a “periphrastic participle” which is not necessary in this sentence. It is a combination of a present tense verb and a perfect participle when translated in English would be something like “you are having been saved.” Paul uses it deliberately to stress the object, cause and effect of salvation. OK. You’re eyes are starting to glaze over. But do you get it?? We, having no merit of our own, because we are dead in sin, God who is rich in mercy and love and providing grace has saved us completely for all time from our sin and eternal punishment. Praise God!!! He gave life from death! So how’s your picture of God now? Before you answer that question, let’s recall the previous chapter. He has rescued us and blessed us beyond comprehension.
Remember Ephesians 1:3-14?
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Why would we not want to serve wholeheartedly a God like that?? Why would we want to continue a self-centered attitude in life? Or even continue a mundane life? I include myself in these questions. I don’t always wake up in the morning with a proper perspective of the God I serve. This does not always pervade my thinking. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Is there really any better thing to do?
There was a progression that was going through my mind as I was looking at these verses. I sort of linked a few short phrases together: Dead in sin, but God, dead to sin. Before God intervened in our lives, we were following the course of the world in sin. After God imparted life to us, we now have the desire and ability to glorify him. That does not mean that we will not sin. I won’t mislead you. But the sanctification process begins – the process of becoming more like our Savior. I’ve noticed a few things that happen in particular. You become more grieved over your sin. If you do not grieve over sin, you need to examine either your heart or your conversion. You also become more aware of your sin. As you encounter God’s truth in His word, you gain a better understanding of what it means to walk in obedience - being controlled by His Spirit. And you also know what grieves Him. And finally, those sins should fall away as you continue to behold the beauty and glory of God. The more you know Him, the more you love Him. The more you love Him, the more you obey Him.
We cannot do this alone my friends. That’s why this book is written to the church and is about the church. We are one body, many parts. I close with the words of Ephesians 4:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
We are called to spiritual maturity. And this happens in the context of the church and to the glory of God.
LET’S PRAY