Reading: Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1-10.
Ill:
Grace. A word used in a variety of ways.
• It is a word that has been used as an alternative term for prayer.
• e.g. “Would you say grace?”
• It has been used to describe the way a person moves.
• e.g. “Did you see how she danced? She has so much grace in her steps”.
• It has also been used by many parents to name their daughters.
• e.g. All of probably know someone who is called Grace.
When talking about God’s Grace we mean something completely different to those descriptions:
Quote: Church Pastor and author A. W. Tozer said:
“Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits on the undeserving.”
Quote: The late Reformed scholar Louis Berkhof is more to the point when he says:
“Grace is “the unmerited operation of God in the heart of man, effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit”.
• I guess the key word in what both these great minds have said is this,
• “Unmerited” – grace, is a quality that is completely undeserved;
• Therefore it leads to the obvious conclusion;
• That grace is in essence a free gift given to us by God through Jesus Christ.
Quote:
• Someone has said,
• “Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.”
Ill:
• I have never really gotten into computer games;
• Partly because if I enjoyed them then I know I would get addicted to them.
• But both Kathy and Arlo have a number of computer games.
• The great thing with computer games is this.
• No matter how bad you are!
• No matter how many times you fail in trying to complete a task!
• No matter how many times you might lose your life in the game.
• The greatest thing about computer games is that the game always restores you.
• No matter what happens, you can always start all over again.
• The game always puts you back together again;
• And places you on the starting line ready to try once again.
• To me that is a great picture of God’s grace.
• God always restores us – he puts us back together again;
• And places us on the starting line ready to try once again.
• “God’s grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.”
Notice:
• That chapter 2 follows on from chapter 1.
• Although that is an obvious statement –
• I want to point out that there is a correlation of thought between chapter 1 and chapter 2.
Note: The correlation:
• Ephesians 1 gives us the past, present and future of God's great plan of salvation.
• Ephesians 2 gives us the past present and future of the people whom God saves.
• Ephesians 1 gives us God's perspective.
• Ephesians 2 gives us our perspective.
• Ephesians 1 starts with God's election prior to the creation.
• Ephesians 2 starts with our lost condition prior to salvation.
• Ephesians 1 ends with all things in subjection to Christ.
• Ephesians 2 ends with the church being built up into a dwelling of God.
Now in chapter 2,
• Paul is going to focus upon God's plan of salvation from OUR perspective.
• To do this, he begins by going back to look at a time when we were lost.
• We were outside of Christ.
• ill: Pilgrims Progress ‘Christian’s’ original name was ‘Graceless’.
Now I ought to give you a warning:
• The picture painted in chapter 2 of unconverted human beings is not a pretty one.
• But it is honest and it is true!
• I guess Paul paints this uncomfortable picture for us;
• Because you can never fully appreciate the salvation that God has provided;
• Until you see the hopeless condition out of which you were delivered.
• If you ever forget where you WERE,
• Then you will not be able to appreciate where you ARE.
• In verses 1-3 the apostle Paul describes the way we were;
• And there are four aspects to this description.
(1). We were DEAD:
• Verse 1:
• “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins”.
• This is speaking of spiritual death.
• Notice that death does not indicate inactivity, but separation.
• You may have been very active in your spiritual death - most unbelievers are.
• But you were spiritually dead.
• In other words there was nothing in you that was connected to God.
• Too many times we think of unbelievers as being spiritually sick.
• Give them a "spiritual pill" and they'll get better.
• But the Biblical picture of mankind's condition is much worse than that.
• He is dead. He doesn't need a teacher. Or a guide. Or a doctor.
• He needs a miracle. He needs a resurrection.
Now don’t forget the correlation:
• In chapter 1 verse we read of the power that raised up Christ from the dead.
• Now we see the importance of that power!
• It was necessary because YOU were spiritually dead.
• The same power that raised up Christ from physical death;
• Was necessary to raise you up from spiritual death.
(2). We were DISOBEDIENT (vs 2):
“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.”
• In verse 1 that we were described as DEAD.
• Here in verse 2 we see that we were among the WALKING dead.
• We were zombies.
• And we walked in a set path.
• And that path was not in the path of obedience toward God.
• Ill: Before we were converted most us (in fact all of us)
• Lived to please ourselves and not God.
OUR PATH WAS IN ACCORDANCE TO TWO COURSES.
• First, we walked in the way of the world.
• The world in which we live is in rebellion toward God.
Ill:
• Have you ever noticed what it is that your kids tell you;
• When you tell them that they can't do something.
• They use that classic expression:
• "But everyone else is doing it!"
• They are appealing to the course of this world.
• And although they do not realise it - it is an appeal to a sinful standard.
• Secondly, we walked in the way of the devil.
• Although he is not called the devil in this passage;
• (he will be so identified in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11).
• Instead, we see the devil described with two other titles.
• He is called ‘The prince of the power of the air.’
• And, “The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient”.
• We are disobedient to God because the evil ones activity is not merely in the past.
• He and his spiritual forces are still working today.
• His work, his influence, his character is seen in every disobedient act.
(3). We were DEPRAVED (vs 3a):
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.”
Notice
• Up to this point,
• Paul has been speaking in the 2nd person plural – ‘all of YOU’.
• But now there is a change.
• Now he switches to the 1st person plural – ‘WE’.
• If verses 1-2 Paul has been speaking to the church at Ephesus.
• This Church was predominantly made up of Gentiles – most of who were raised as pagans,
• Now in verse 3 he relates to those who like himself had a religious upbringing.
• To those in the church at Ephesus who came from a Jewish background.
• Now notice that they too needed a saviour!
• In fact BOTH groups were dead in their sins.
• That will be reiterated in verse 5 when he says:
• "Even when WE were dead in our transgressions..."
(4). We were DOOMED (vs 3b):
“Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath”
• Before our conversion to Christ:
• Notice what we were BY NATURE.
• Instead of being children of God, we were "children of wrath."
• We were on a road to judgment!
Ill:
• An evangelist once preached on the topic;
• “Why your dog does what it does”.
• And many dog lovers came out to hear him preach.
• What he shared was obvious but so often overlooked;
• “A dog behaves like a dog because he has a dog’s nature”.
• If you could somehow transplant into the dog the nature of a cat;
• Then the dogs nature would change radically!
• The reason that unbelievers act like unbelievers;
• Is that they are unbelievers by their very nature.
• It does not matter if they are religious.
• They are just as lost as the most lost pagan - It is their nature.
This is why it is useless to talk about reform without regeneration.
Ill:
• It is like taking a pig and washing him and dousing him with perfume;
• You can dress him up in a suit and a tie;
• You can even put little shoes on his feet and giving him lessons in etiquette.
• But let that pig alone for five minutes near a pile of mud and slop;
• And you will see him acting the part of a pig.
• Question: Why?
• Answer: Because he has a piggy nature.
That is why in Christ:
• We are given new nature.
• We are given the promised Holy Spirit.
• He gives us the desire and the power crucify that old nature;
• And to live for Christ in the power of the new nature.
Question: How has God done all this?
Answer: By his grace! (verses 4-7):
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Ill:
• A chess master student was walking through an art museum;
• When he came upon a painting entitled, "Checkmate."
• …..The chess master set out the board back at his home;
• Suddenly, he was heard to cry out, "Wait, there is one more move!"
Transition link:
• So it is with us. In the first three verses of this chapter,
• God shows us the hopelessness of our former condition.
• We were dead, disobedient, depraved and doomed.
• But then the Master points out that there is still one more move.
• And it is one that makes all the difference in the world.
• This move involves God’s grace!
Notice:
• In verse 4 this section is introduced with the conjunction, "BUT."
• We were dead, BUT God made us alive!
• We were disobedient in following after the world and the devil,
• BUT God raised us out of the world and out of the domain of the devil!
• We were depraved,
• BUT God seated us with Christ and gave us a new nature!
• We were doomed,
• BUT God showed us the surpassing riches of His grace.
• With this simple conjunction, we are transported from death to life;
• From the darkness of the grave to the light of everlasting life.
(1). Your Salvation is caused by God's LOVE (vs 4).
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ…”
• God saved us because He loved us.
• His love is the motivation for His being rich in mercy toward us.
• ‘God is love’ that is his very nature;
• But love has to be demonstrated in practical terms.
• And God’s love is shown practically towards us in those two expressions – i.e. ‘Grace & Mercy’.
(2). Your Salvation is by GRACE (vs 5).
“…God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
• The parentheses at the end of verse 5 is an important one.
• It tells us that your salvation is on the basis of grace and grace alone!
As we have already seen from verses 1-4:
• Not one person deserved to be saved:
• Because we were Dead, Disobedient, Depraved and Doomed.
• God’s grace means we can be saved even though we ARE guilty!
• Verse 8 picks up on that.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
(3). Your Salvation is COMPLETE (vs 6).
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
• Question: What does it mean to be seated?
• Answer: It means that the work is finished - That the victory is complete.
Ill:
• In the Old Testament when a priest went into the temple,
• The one thing that he never did was to sit down.
• He was always standing in the presence of God.
• Even when the animal sacrifice had been offered, he still stood.
• Because the next day there would have to be another sacrifice offered.
• And then another. And then another etc.
• It was never-ending.
• But Jesus was the final sacrifice.
• When He died upon the cross, He said, "It is finished!"
