But God! Series

Ephesians: Finding our Identity in Christ

Ephesians 2:1-10

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

3-08-2026

Present but not Voting

The philosopher Jeremy Bentham left a vast sum of money to a hospital in London. He had but one stipulation - he had to be present for the hospital board meetings.

For nearly 100 years, his embalmed body would be wheeled out for the annual meeting. He would be listed as “present by not voting.”

He no longer is brought out for the meetings but was put on display some time ago, with his head that had fallen off, sitting at his feet.

When it comes to our salvation - we are present but we don’t vote!

From Scripture alone, we learn that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

This morning, we will see that it is grace alone that saved us. It is not grace plus something else.

Review

Last week, we studied Paul’s pray for the Ephesians.

He thanked God for their love for Jesus and love for other Christians

He asked God to give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation that they may know God better

He asked God to give them the spiritual antennae to understand

the hope that God has called them to

The treasure that they are to God

And the incomparable great power, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, that is available to those of us who believe

Today, we are going to see the results of that power - none other than a changed life!

Please turn with me to Ephesians 2:1-10.

Prayer

To Ephesus with Love

Chapter one is a description of salvation from God’s point of view. Chapter two, where I will be camping today, is a description of salvation from our point of view.

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Before we begin, let me remind you of three definitions:

- Justice - getting what you deserve

- Mercy - Not getting what you deserve

- Grace - Getting what you don’t deserve

I’ve told this story many times, but Joshua used to put a pen in the fan and broke the fan. I had told him not to do it and he ran out to the car and said, “Daddy, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do it.”

Justice? He deserved it. He had been warned and put the pen in the fan anyway.

Mercy? Instead of punishing him, I simply gave him a hug and said I loved him.

Grace? Instead of punishment, I took him to DQ for a Blizzard. Did he deserve a treat? Absolutely not! But I chose, out of my love for him, to show him what grace looks like.

Terry Johnson defines grace as the “determination of God to look upon us with favor and deliver us from our folly.”

Let’s look at verses 1-3. Paul, like a lawyer laying out a case, is methodical in his reasoning. He wants to show that it is by grace alone that we are saved.

This is Us

We were:

Dead

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

Paul begins by affirming that we are spiritually dead. We were born into sin (original sin), we have no capacity to respond to

God, obey God, or seek after God:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-11)

We have no righteousness at all, we have no spiritual eyes or ears, and we didn’t want to submit our will to God.

The Scriptures describe us before our salvation as slaves of sin (John 8:34), blind (I Cor 2:14), and completely unable to come to God unless the Holy Spirit draws us (John 6:44).

We were imprisoned by our sinful desire. “Transgressions” means “acts of sin.” The word sin means “to miss the mark.”

“There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…(Romans 3:22-23a)

We are actually going to come to the rest of this verse in a minute.