Saved by Grace to Walk in Good Works (Part 1)

One in Christ  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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BLANK SLIDE TO BEGIN RECORDING (Please don’t wait for Matt to be on podium.)
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Introduction and Scripture Reading

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Ephesians answers the question:
what does it mean to be in Christ, and what does this demand of us in our daily living?
Let’s remember where we’ve been before considering where we’re going.

Where we’ve been

Paul praises God’s eternal purpose for blessing us with salvation.

In chapter 1 Paul praises God as he unfold God’s eternal purpose in choosing those who are predestined to be adopted as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. God didn’t simply purpose this before the foundation of the world, He accomplished our redemption through Christ Jesus and gave us the guarantee of God’s intention and ability to carry our salvation to completion by giving us the Holy Spirit as a deposit (down payment) for all the future blessings we have in Christ.

Paul unpacks the doctrine of our union with Christ.

As Paul is worshiping God in the opening of his letter to this small group of Christians, he begins unpacking the Christian’s union with Christ. This is an important doctrine of the church which informs everything we do, but especially how God positions us in Christ which is central to our understanding of what God will for us through sanctification (the process of increasingly becoming more set apart for Christ, or more like Christ in our daily living).
And we see this in how Paul then prays for them and, by extension, us.
He begins by thanking God for their faith in Christ and their love toward all the saints. He continues by asking God to give them spiritual wisdom and to open their spiritual eyes (the eyes of their hearts) to know and understand:
the hope, or promise of the fulfillment of our eternal life, God has called us to;
the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and
the immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe.
How do we know how great this power is? Because it is the same power God used to raise Christ from the dead and to position him as the greatest authority above all earthly and spiritual realms, giving him the name that is above every name.
That should give us great confidence for our ability in the Holy Spirit to:
overcome every temptation we face, and
endure every trial we face with victorious joy through faith that God is using it purposefully even now.
Our struggles are not simply about us, but God is using them in our lives and in the lives of others in ways that we sometimes see, while at other times do not see now.

Where we’re going

As we move into chapter 2, the Apostle Paul expands on our position in Christ as individuals (vv 1-10), and then describes what that means for our position in Christ as the worldwide body of Christ (vv 11-22). This week and next, we’ll see from vv 1-10 that:
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Proposition

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

Scripture reading

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Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV
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 for Illumination

Heavenly Father, you alone are glorious and strong to save. Through the illuminating ministry of your Holy Spirit, help us see more of you as we look into your Word to us this morning where we see the Living Word more clearly so we can walk with Jesus more steadily. — In Jesus’ name, amen.
The Apostle (God’s messenger) Paul shows us that: Salvation is all by God’s gift of grace through faith, so He will get all the glory as we walk in Christ.
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I. Remember what God has saved you from (1-3)
II. Celebrate that your salvation is all by God's grace (4-6)
III. Cling to what God has saved you for (7-9)
IV. Work for what God has saved you to (10)
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I. Remember what God has saved you from (1-3)

Right out of the gates we have a challenge to overcome, and we’ll see it rear its head more than one time, but with slight variations. The challenge here is that we see ourselves as being in need of help, rather than in need of life.
And in another sense we’re aware of this which is why we often spiritually hide from others.

God has saved us from spiritual death.

Every person is born in sin, meaning he is born to death. We don’t become spiritually dead because we sin; we are spiritually dead because by nature we are sinful. Except for Jesus Christ, that is the condition of every human being since the Fall, including every believer before he is saved. It is the past condition of believers and the present condition of everyone else.
This is the doctrine of original sin: as a result of Adam’s fall, every person is a sinner by nature, having a propensity to sin that underlies every outworking of sin, whether secret to us and others or visible to others.
This is what Paul speaks to in Rom 3:9 when he says that “...all, both Jews and Greeks (in other words, everyone), are under sin...”
While we have a will and the responsibility for our action that comes with it, our will is influenced and shaped by our heart, or that which we love and worship.
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Mark 7:21–23 ESV
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Jeremiah 17:9 ESV
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
This means we are “enslaved to sin” (Rom 6:6) and “unable to please God” (Rom 8:8).
So when Paul and other biblical authors describe us as dead in sin, we not only lacking freedom, but even life, which Paul draws out here (Eph 2:1).
But this slavery cannot be the sort of slavery that removes responsibility from individuals; we are willing slaves.

We are dead “in” transgressions and sins, not because of transgression and sins. Our spiritual death is revealed by our sinful living.

“transgressions” = false step, a blunder, a crossing over a known boundary;
the word translated “sins” = missing the mark, falling short of a specified standard;
Ernest Best makes this important observation: “The idea is not that people are born alive and slowly die through sinning and are then made alive again at conversion. Still less is there any suggestion that people begin by being spiritually alive and then die because of sin.… [Paul] does not have in mind a process of slow dying or moral degeneration.… He is not indicating that there is a certain point in the development of human life at which ‘death’ takes place … People are born dead and remain so until they come to believe.… Those who are dead in this way cannot come to life of their own accord; only God can make them live; so the passage goes on to speak of the way God gives life (vv. 5, 6)”

God has saved us from following the prince of the power of the air

Ephesians 6:12 ESV
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Illustration

We’re not floating in the ocean in need of a lifeguard to throw us a lifesaving ring.
We’re at the bottom of the ocean in the darkest place in need of someone to dive in, swim to the bottom, carry us up to shore, and revive our dead hearts.
This is what Christ has done. It is all by God’s grace.
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II. Celebrate that your salvation is all by God’s grace (4-6)

The number of contrasts we see in this passage is striking:
living in transgressions and sins (1) versus living in good works prepared by God (10);
this world (2) versus the heavenly realms (6);
death (1, 5a) versus life (5b-6);
sinful nature (lit., “flesh”) (3) versus union with Christ (5b);
wrath (3c) versus mercy (4a) and salvation (5b-c);
under the “ruler” (2b-d) versus seated with Christ (6-7);
by nature (3b-c) versus by grace (8);
not from works (8a, 9a) versus through faith (8-9).
In his Systematic Theology, Louis Berkhof defines union with Christ as “that intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and His people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and salvation.” There are a number of passages throughout the Scriptures that reveal believers are joined to Christ: We are the branches and Jesus is the vine (John 15:5); Jesus is the head and we are His body (1 Cor. 6:15–19); Christ is the foundation and we are living stones joined to the foundation (1 Peter 2:4–5); and marriage between a husband and wife ultimately points to the union between Christ and believers (Eph. 5:25–31).
Transition statement: We’ll spend next week on these remaining verses so I will only mention it briefly now.
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III. Cling to what God has saved you for (7-9)

Transition statement:
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IV. Work for what God has saved you to (10)

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 by
I. Remember what God has saved you from (1-3)
II. Celebrate that your salvation is all by God's grace (4-6)
III. Cling to what God has saved you for (7-9)
IV. Work for what God has saved you to (10)
John Stott says well that, “...Paul...paints a vivid contrast between what man is by nature and what he can become by grace” (Stott, 69).
Friends, we must never lose sight of either of these truths.
If we neglect God’s saving grace and become obsessed with the depravity of the human soul we will fall into despair and cynicism.
If we focus on grace and forget the condition from which we have been and are being delivered we stand in danger of living licentiously and with a lack of a godly repentance for the sin in our lives.
Both are ditches we must avoid.

Conclusion and Transition to Communion

This is why considering our lives humbly is important as we come to communion. Paul warns of eating and drinking this bread in an ungodly manner, which would actually bring judgment to us if we do.
Christian brother or sister, eat and drink with thankfulness in your heart. Confess you sin to the Lord and come to the table with joy.
Friend, if you don’t know God through a personal relationship with Jesus, continue learning and come to a place of saving faith before taking communion. That salvation may happen in your heart today if you realize your need for a Savior, and recognize that His name is Jesus. He has purchased your salvation if you’ll trust him in faith today. You add nothing to the equation, for it is all of God’s undeserved kindness.
There is no better gift God could offer.
Let’s commune together.
(Explanation)

Closing Prayer

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