INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• WOW, that would be a strange experience to endure.
• Today as we continue with our Masterpiece in Progress series, we are going to focus in on the concept of restoration.
• When God created the universe, it was perfect, when He created mankind, mankind was perfect.
• Then sin entered into the picture and did a great deal of damage to creation.
• Today, we are still suffering the effects that sin has had on creation.
• Adam’s sin ushered in physical death; my sin causes my spiritual death.
• Something needs to happen so I can have the opportunity to spend eternity with God.
• Something that we should notice when it comes to the issue of restoration that restoration requires an outside force.
• My mother-in-law used to restore furniture, and she was good at restoring old junky looking furniture to something to behold.
• One thing I always noticed is that for the piece to look good again, Mary had to put her hands on it and work on it.
• Not one single piece of furniture restored itself, it required her hand and her skill to make the piece something of value, something that others would want.
• In the CNN story, whether it was a defibrillator or the hand of God himself, the county coroner called this episode a miracle.
• In any event, dead people becoming alive people is an act of God.
• But God doesn’t just do so for those who are physically dead. God reconciles us to himself by making us spiritually alive when we are spiritually dead.
• Today we are going to see how this restoration thing works.
• SLIDE #2
• Ephesians 2:1–3 (CSB) — 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Old life.
• A couple of technical notes concerning this passage. Verses 1-7 are actually one long sentence in the Greek text.
• Second, Paul will refer to YOU and WE. YOU refer to Gentile Christians, whereas WE refer to Christians with a Jewish heritage as Paul had.
• The OLD self was DEAD.
• The death Paul refers to is SPIRITUALLY.
• When your spirit is dead. It ceases to direct our souls and bodies, so we end up walking to the course of this world.
• When we reach the point where we understand what we are doing (some call the age of accountability), the difference between right and wrong, our personal sin results in the death of our spirit.
• God designed us so that our spirit would function. If our spirit stays dead, this will result in one suffering another kind of death, eternal death separated from God.
• What causes this death? Trespasses and sins.
• Trespass is defined as falling aside, to deviate from the truth. Now for the Gentiles, what truth did they stray from? Romans 1:18-32 explains that God made Himself evident through what He has made.
• The word Sin means to miss the mark, a failure to be what one ought to be and could be.
• The word in the Greek language was used of a spearman missing the target he was aiming his spear toward.
• When we allow this to happen, we are living life the way the devil wants us to live.
• Verse two tells us the old life was marred by this deceptive practice.
• We gain a spirit of disobedience, or our bent is toward disobedience.
• The old standard that the old life followed was the standard of the world, the values of the world and the ways of the world.
• Everyone locked onto the old life is outside of Christ and is dead spiritually and is walking according to the course of this world.
• In verse three, Paul acknowledges that the Jews, before they were converted were living life this way also.
• We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
• A life that is living by worldly standards will allow themselves to be driven by their appetites.
• We give into physical desires, evil thoughts, and purposes which Satan stirs up within us.
• This ties into slavery to sin which we used to live by.
• We see something, and we pursue it with no regard for what is right or wrong or what would please God.
• Then what happens is because of the continual and habitual practice of sin and disobedience, our nature turns from God toward what the world desires us to follow.
• We become by nature, children of wrath.
• Wrath is God’s settled displeasure with sin. Wrath expresses itself both in temporal (here and now) punishments as well as possible future eternal punishments if we do not accept Jesus.
• This is the bad news.
• We are that old piece of furniture that needs to be fixed.
• SLIDE #4
• Ephesians 2:4–6 (CSB) — 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
• SLIDE #5
II. Restored life.
• Here is what is GREAT about God!
• Mercy! When we sin, we sin against God, we are not living to the potential we have in Him.
• We mock Him, we insult Him, we put His Son on the cross, yet here is God, standing there with open arms ready to offer His mercy to us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died on the cross. ROMANS 5:8
• Mercy is kindness, generosity, providing relief to those in misery or act of treating an offender with less severity than one deserves.
• We are told that God is RICH in mercy. We all know what rich means. God has an unlimited supply to offer to those who think they are the worst of sinners, as the Apostle Paul saw himself. 1 Timothy 1:15!
• The reason God does this because of His GREAT LOVE!
• The word for love, AGAPE, denotes deliberately doing what is spiritually best for the other person.
• God gets a bad rap when it comes to this. People equate the evil in the world with God not loving people.
• Evil happens because of sin, not because of God. Life is life, and we have to choose to love and follow God in spite of what this life offers.
• It breaks God’s heart to see what happens in this world, but let me tell you, one day, evil will be vanquished, and all things will be perfect as they were intended to be!
• God’s love did three things for us in this section of text.
• First! HE made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Verse 5.
• Once we were dead (spiritually) in our transgressions. Now when one is in Christ, our spirits are made alive again!
• This happens by God’s grace! Grace is unmerited favor! When we are baptized into Christ, our spirits are made alive again!
• SLIDE #6
• Colossians 2:12–13 (CSB) — 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
• The second thing God did for us was He also raised us up with him
• This is also found in Romans 6:4 and the Colossians passage on the screen.
• Christ was raised from death and left the tomb—an act accomplished by God’s power alone, as Paul explained in 1:20. Believers have also been “raised.” In addition to assurance of physical resurrection and glorification at the end of the age, believers participate in a new “resurrection” life from the moment they believe (see Colossians 2:12). Barton, B. B., & Comfort, P. W. (1996). Ephesians (p. 43). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
• He also seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus!
• The believer who is “in Christ” becomes a participant in the eternal sphere of being. He is “seated with Christ” in the heavenly realms (see 1:3), but is also involved in the struggle. While this enthronement is a present reality in the church, it also awaits a more complete fulfillment in heaven. Boles, K. L. (1993). Galatians & Ephesians (Eph 2:6). Joplin, MO: College Press.
• Made alive, Raised and Seated!
• SLIDE #7
• Ephesians 2:7–10 (CSB) — 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
• SLIDE #8
III. Future life.
• Now that we are restored, the question is why and what are we to do with the gift of restoration?
• All that God has done has the purpose of giving evidence for all to see precisely how gracious and loving He is.
• Why is this important? So that others who need salvation can trust that they can come to Him!
• God made those in Christ alive to display His love, mercy, and kindness!
• We are told we are saved by grace and that this salvation is a gift from God.
• For you are saved by grace through faith
• To be recipients of God’s salvation, we must meet the condition, that condition is faith.
• Faith is habitually doing what God says. Faithfulness is what God looks for.
• One thing we see is that salvation is a gift from God that we cannot earn, God is the author and designer.
• Therefore, since salvation is a gift from God, we cannot brag or boast.
• For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
• Works in this context points to man-made religion and rules based on some other plan other than what God has revealed as He made known the mystery of His will.
• If we could invent or devise our own way of salvation, we could boast, but we can’t, and we can’t!
• Verse 10 offers the answer question, what do I do with this gift of restoration?
• 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
• The word HIS is EMPHATIC in the Greek! The word we translate WORKMANSHIP is the word POIEMA. We get the word POEM from this word.
• It was used of the product of an artist’s labor. Of the chair which is the workmanship of the carpenter.
• If our being made alive, being raised up and being seated are all God’s workmanship, or salvation is not a work planned and executed by man, we are GOD’s WORKMANSHIP!
• When Paul speaks of being created, he is speaking of all that happens to us during the restoration process, when we are made alive again in Christ!
• So, our purpose is to do God’s will.
• Good works are deeds and action which God Himself has determined He wants saved people to do.
• This should be our response to the great gift we have in Him!
• A new lifestyle and behavior for Christians is a part of God’s plan for you.
• God has not predetermined any course of action in your life, but He has proclaimed that the life all of His family must be filled with good works!
CONCLUSION
• FOLKS, IT IS TIME TO QUIT LIVING LIFE AS DEFEATED VICTIMS OF THE ENEMY!
• You are created in Christ Jesus to live a life that pleases Him!
• You are God’s WORKMANSHIP!
• YOU do not belong to the devil, he does not own you, you have defeated HIM in Christ Jesus! GLORY TO GOD! AMEN!
• CLAIM VICTORY, EMBRACE VICTORY, LOVE VICTORY, LIVE IN VICTORY!
