For By Grace Ye are Saved: A Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent
Ephesians 2:1–10 NKJV
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We now come to the 4th Sunday in Lent, a season of reflection in which we assess where we stand with God. The word “standing” can be used as a legal term. In this sense, a person who petitions the court has to have standing before the court. For example, only attorneys who have standing with the Supreme Court can argue a case there. Another aspect of standing is that the case being brought there is one that the Supreme Court has constitutional jurisdiction over. There are cases which need to be presented to a state or local court instead.
The most important standing one can have is in the court of God, There are many defendants who are brought to court on one charge or another. They stand before the judge and jury,< In American law, these have the right to defend themselves, although it is highly recommended that the person hire an attorney who specializes in the type of case being brought before the court, whether it be criminal or civil, for instance. This attorney needs to be admitted to what is called the “bar” and be in good standing amongst his peers. This idea of representation is so important that the court itself is to provide a competent defense attorney for the defendant if one cannot afford one.
So when charges are brought before God in His court, could we hope to acquit ourselves of these charges? Is there anything we could offer as suitable proof for our innocence? Could we petition God to accept our good works to balance out the bad. Could we find a character witness to show the court that we are good people. these pleas might work in a worldly court. At least we might hope for a reduction of sentence if found guilty. Many think this works with God also. We can see a Pagan example of an Egyptian god who had scales in which one’s good works and bad works were put on opposite sides of the balance. So long as the good outweigh the bad, one is saved. But the gods of Egypt are the figments of man’s imagination. What does the Holy God revealed in Scripture say about this form of justification? We read the bad news in Romans 3:23:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Also in Romans 3:9-17:
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”
This is a stinging indictment against every one of us. We cannot justify our conduct before our God. Whether it be the law of conscience or the Law given to Moses, we stand condemned before God and without hope. We are as good as dead, only waiting for the sentence to be pronounced against us. This is bad news, indeed.
If we are to have any hope before the judgment seat of Christ, we are going to need help. In the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, the intercession of the saints are invoked. These “good and holy people” did more than was necessary to save themselves and their extra works could be applied to another’s account, whose works fell far short, therefore saving them. But is this true? First of all, these saints may have been very good people who did many good works. Let us grant this. But even the saints sinned and fell short of the glory of God. These saints who are now with Jesus did not get there because of their good works. So how could they make any difference to our plight. For the Christian, these saints provided a good example of faith and conduct. It is good to remember them. However, we need something more. One would need one who was perfect and could stand before God in our behalf.
There is a solution to this dilemma. This is brought out in the Book of Ephesians as well in many other places in Scripture. In particular, we are zooming in this morning on Ephesians 2:1-10. Ephesians is a great theological work in which the Holy Spirit used Paul to teach us about God’s plan for His redeemed people. It also clearly teaches us how we can be justified before God. It is based upon the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the lofty rhetoric of the first chapter, the plan of God for our salvation is revealed in His Son Jesus Christ. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. It also says that He predestined our adoption as children. Ephesians was written to the Church, in other words, believers. This predestination was not a universal predestination. the promises here are only for the “elect.” Outside of Jesus Christ, there is no salvation, only the certainty of judgment. Our salvation is based entirely upon the choice of God.
Predestination is clearly taught in Scripture. One cannot avoid this. God, in His free will, by His free grace, and by means of the gift of faith in Jesus Christ offers to the elect His salvation. This truth has been the cause of much controversy in the Church. What is meant by “election” and “predestination?” Are we but helpless robots? We need to deal wit this, as a proper understanding of these doctrines are the means of our eternal standing before God. We read this in Romans 8:29:
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
What is the relationship between “foreknowledge” and “predestination?” Does our predestination result from God who knows all things from the beginning? He know all the choices that will be made in the future. There are many who hold to this. This preserves the idea of man’s “free will.” Do we not have the right and responsibility to either choose or reject Jesus? This is certainly a valid argument as far as human argumentation and sense of justice demands.
I am not here to argue one way or another on this. But it is necessary to establish the fact that only God has free will in Himself. In this, I mean that God is the only one who is free both to do and to make His will come to pass. Whatever “free will” humans have, it is derivative. We might will many things, but cannot make all that we will happen. Our knowledge is also limited. For example, the weatherman in his forecast might say that there is a 50 percent change of rain in a given place or time. He looks at all the variables such as approaching fronts, humidity, temperature, pressure gradients, and satellite maps to inform his forecast. In other words, the weatherman has no perfect knowledge and can only base his opinion from the facts at hand. The truth is it will either rain or not rain. God, who has perfect knowledge of all matters, does not need to rely on chance and probability. Not only this, but the omnipotent God ordains whether it will rain or not. God’s free will has a completely different basis than man.
One must also understand that whatever choice we might have to accept or reject Christ is based upon the fact that God has chosen first. apart from this offer of God, there can be no valid choice. Rather than glorying on what “choice” we have made, we need to instead glory in the choice of God. He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world and predestined us to be conformed to the image of Christ. We, who have limited power and knowledge, should we not rather put our trust in God rather than ourselves. We cannot change ourselves much, nor be perfectly obedient. But we trust in Jesus who was perfectly obedient and fulfilled the will of God.
It may seem that we have taken a long time in developing the exposition of the text. But now we can come to it with a better understanding. Ephesians 2:1, we learn two things. First, we learn that we were dead in trespasses and sins. Note the past tense “were.” This is no longer true of the Christian. Also, this “death” is not the same as physical death but rather that we are dead with respect to sins and trespasses. Dead men are incapable of doing anything. The dead cannot raise themselves to life. If one suddenly falls dead, his only earthly hope is that someone come and perform CPR. Here, we are talking that the Christian has experienced a spiritual resurrection. The believer is made alive in Christ. It is also true that God will raise our mortal bodies at some point in the future after we die physically, but this is not the point Paul is making here. Our resurrection is based upon the physical death and resurrection of Jesus. But in part, we have been raised in Christ. We are adopted. We are heirs of eternal life. We do not yet have the full measure of our salvation, but we are fully saved. The Holy Spirit has been given as a down payment of our future full salvation.
Paul goes on to remind the Ephesian Church where they had come from. In this time of Lent, it is good to reflect on this also. If we look at the Old Testament, we read in Exodus 20:1-2
And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
It is important to remember where we came from as well as to remember correctly, there is a tendency in humans to nostalgia, thinking of past times as the “good old days.” In the tough times in the wilderness, Israel looked back to Egypt in the wrong way. They remembered that they ate leeks in Egypt, whereas now they were hungry. They had forgotten the harsh slavery to which they had been subjected. We are also tempted to turn back to Egypt. We forget the grace of goodness of God and wander off from the flock as it is said in “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” it says: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”
Our previous life was bound to worldly pursuits which act as a means of enslavement. It is not that things like family, food, shelter, and other such things are bad in themselves. But we are prone to misuse the gifts of God and become slaves to our lusts. Paul tells us that e were enslaved to the princes and powers of the air. These Satanic influences enslaved us and determined our conduct. This is the land of death, even as the cult of the dead in Egypt. We were hopelessly trapped. We WERE dead. We were under wrath just like all unbelievers still are.
Sometimes, the most important word is the word “but.” especially when we read “But God.” These words lead us to the merciful nature of God. He is rich in mercy. If this were not so, we would have no hope at all. Here we are directed to who God is, another thing we contemplate at Lent. What does this mean? It is based on God’s love for us, a love we do not deserve. God has made us alive in Jesus Christ. He raised us together. And He has made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ. Note it does not say “will make us sit together in heavenly places. This is a present reality based upon a previous event. This implies a change in our conduct, that we should abide in hope, even when we are in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. There is a future and greater reality for us as Paul refers in the ages to come in which we will even more fully understand this kindness shown us in Jesus Christ. But we are not without current witness.
We come now to the words: “By grace you have been saved.” This is so important that Paul says this twice, once by itself in verse 5 and we read again in more detail in Ephesians 2:8:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,"
How many of the major Bible verses begin with the word “for.” The word “for is used to provide additional information about the current topic. It kind of sums things up. It sums up the goodness, love, and kindness of God in a single word, “grace.” In this context, grace is demonstrated in the work of Christ. This is the basis of our salvation. The perfect tense of the Greek verb here (You have been saved) tells us that we are saved based upon this previous work of Christ who died for us and rose again. It is also in the passive tense. We did nothing to earn this grace. It is based upon the free grace of God who chose to save those who believe in His Son. Verse 8 make it even clearer “that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Also added is the agency of faith which itself is the gift of God. The word “grace” and the word “gift” are closely related in Greek. our standing is entirely based upon grace alone, by faith in Jesus Christ alone. No person has a right to boast about anything, except in the Lord.
There is another important aspect of this verse. this is the plural “ye.” It does not say “thou hast been saved” but “ye.” Why is this important? The Book of Ephesians as we have noted is the greatest exposition of the church. I am not saying that we are not individually saved by our own personal faith in Jesus. This is true. Church membership of itself saves no one. But we are not saved unto ourselves. Our relationship with Jesus is that we become part of Christ’s body. This is why we must assemble together, As Paul later brings out, we are not complete in ourselves, We have been given individual gifts as God has distributed for the purpose of bringing us together into the unity of the faith. This is why we must assemble ourselves together. Christ is head, and we are individual parts of His body, a body He wants to be united in Him
Paul finishes this section in verse 10 by reminding us that WE are His workmanship and are created in Christ Jesus to good works, those whom God has ordained for US, Note the plurals. This is not to say that we as individuals are not to do good works, but rather the emphasis is that the Church work together to do our appointed work.
Let us review what we have learned in this lesson. First, we take some time to reflect upon where we came from and draw the right conclusions that we can not stand before God on our good works. Even the good works we do that are truly good are the work of God in us. We must not boast in ourselves, Secondly, we remember that our standing is based solely upon God’s grace, especially revealed in Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we have been raised from death unto life. This means that we no longer live as we once did. We need to act as ones who are seated in the heavenlies with Christ. Lastly, we realize that we are together Christ’s body of which Christ is head. We need to work together to perform the mission to which God has called us. It would do us well to remember this.
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