EPHESIANS 2:1-102006 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 2:1-10

You're listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2006. This has been a very exciting week for me. For those of you who know, I quit my secular job and so Tuesday was my last day at paychecks. Praise the Lord, huh? It's amazing. So it's been a year and a half and the Lord delivered me from the bondage I had in Egypt. I'm just kidding.

My first day full-time really here, although, you know, I don't know what you call full-time, but it's always kind of full-time no matter if you have another job or not. But...

Full time here, Wednesday morning, I'm very excited. I get up and of course I'm called in for my civic duty and I have to go to the courts to perform or to be selected for jury duty. And so I was all excited. I'm looking forward, you know, for the past couple of weeks, looking forward to my first week here being full time and being able to be around here. And the Lord had my first day here.

You know how it is, right? You ever get those jury duty notices and you have to call in the day before. So Sunday I call in. Okay, don't come in Monday. Call Monday evening. So Monday evening I call in. All this time I'm like, hey, I don't care if I miss work. You know, it's my last couple of days. I'll go to jury duty. I don't mind. That's cool. But then Tuesday, call in.

Still nothing. Okay, Wednesday, you have to come in. I'm like, come on, Lord, my first day here and now I got to go to be selected for a jury. And I never thought that I'd be selected, which, by the way, I am. I'm juror number two on a criminal case that's going to last until March 3rd. And why do you guys think this is funny? I don't know, but...

I never thought I would be selected. They always said, you know, pastors, they don't like pastors on jury panels. And there was two other pastors that were on there as well. And so I think I was kind of the lesser of three evils. And so they got rid of the other two and kept me. And so I will be serving in jury duty for the next couple of weeks. So you can be praying that the Lord will be gracious on me.

This whole time as it's going through, I just, you know, find it humorous. But I know that it's not, you know, as a result of an accident. But God has a plan in all of this and a purpose for all of it. And so I've been asking, why, Lord? I wonder what your plans are, what you want to do in this. And, you know, of course, I had so many plans and things that I wanted to accomplish and would finally be able to have some time in order to work on those things, like rearranging the chairs so that you could never find your spot. Yeah.

And, you know, I have so many things on my heart that I know that God has placed there, but he's put those on hold for a moment, momentarily, and I've been asking the Lord why. Well, of course, when you're serving in jury duty, and you'll be hearing about that a lot for a while because that's,

Kind of big in my life right now. But, you know, you're sitting there for hours just waiting, just waiting, just waiting. And so the whole time I've been reading through the portion for this morning and studying it and spending time in the Word. And as I was reading over it, the Lord really began to speak to me and showed me something really cool.

Because as we read together, verses 1 through 10, verses 1 through 3 really describe something horrible, something black and bleak. And it's often used and described as a black background in order for God's brilliance to shine. You know, if you ever go buy a diamond ring, you go to the counter and they don't just pull out the ring and set it on the glass counter. No, what they do is they pull out some silverware.

some black like velvet type material that they lay on top of the counter and they put the ring on top of that in order for the contrast to be there so that you can see the brilliance and the beauty of the ring. They have this background that is black, that is dense and dark.

And provides a great contrast for the ring that they are trying to get you to purchase. Well, verses 1 through 3 is just like that. It's this black background in order to show the brilliance where verse 4 it says, But God, and when God comes into the situation, it's completely different. It's completely changed. It's magnificent. And so in order to show the magnificence of God even better, it's

Now, as I was looking over this and meditating on this thought and realizing that I am

called to a case that is not, it's a criminal case and it's not a misdemeanor. It's something that's very serious. It's this black and bleak picture that we have before us this morning. And God is speaking to my heart and he's saying, look, I have you here for numerous reasons, but here's one thing that I want to show you. And that is that this

is humanity without God. This is why you're in the ministry because without God, you or anybody else would be in the defendant's shoes, committing those same crimes, being charged for things that are very serious. Without God, you could be the victim or the criminal, whatever the case may be. But without God, there's no hope. There's no hope for this individual that is on trial.

It's a very sad state to be in. And as I was there as a pastor, I'm there looking and seeing that that is a person that needs Jesus Christ, that needs the love of Christ while performing my civic duty to try to determine whether they are guilty or not. But at the same time, looking with compassion, understanding that is life. That is except for the grace of God. Remember, I shared that with you a couple of weeks. There go I. I could be in that defendant's shoes forever.

Without the grace of God in my life. It's this bleak and black picture. And God says, that's why you're in the ministry. Because when God comes into a life, that bleak and black picture, which is all of us, changes. And it's no longer that hopelessness, but now there is great hope and plans that God has for us. Verse 4 says, but God, the entrance of God changes the whole picture of our lives.

That's why we are in ministry. That's why we are to love those around us and to look for those opportunities that God gives us. Because people are in need. Their life is hopeless. It's dark. It's hopeless without Christ. And we need to share the love of God with those around us. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 paint a beautiful picture of what God has done for us.

We see in verse 1, Paul starts out by saying, And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.

He starts out by saying, and you. Who's you? You are. It's us. He's speaking to us. He's speaking to the Ephesians as well as to us. But if you remember, chapter 1 was all about him. It was all about Jesus Christ. Over 50 times in chapter 1, Jesus, or God, is made reference to him.

But here in chapter 1, he begins by speaking about you, to you, and about you and I. This is every one of us that Paul describes here in verses 1 through 3. He says, you...

He made alive. Now, those words, if you have the King James Version or the New King James Version, they're italicized. And the reason why they're italicized is because they were not in the original text. They were added by the translators in order to give a better sense to the portion, to the verse. But it's not necessarily needed in this case. It's pretty clear. He says, and you were dead in trespasses and sins.

This is the state of us without God. Every single one of us on our own before Jesus Christ.

We were dead in trespasses and sins. Notice the word there, because this is contrary to what we often like to think about ourselves and what the world is trying to tell us about ourselves. He says that without Christ, without God, we are dead. Not that we are limping along, barely making it. No, just having a hard time. No, no, no. We're dead, completely dead, lifeless, dead.

Not being able to breathe. Not a breath in us. There's no life within us at all. Society will try to tell us that man is inherently good. We're basically good and it's just we're a product of our environment. I was kind of doing some research looking around.

reading through some stuff, and a couple of quotes that I found was just kind of funny. One said that if we could just get rid of the negative influences, man would not have any problems. And so the idea was, well, what you need to do is get rid of the negative things in your life. If there's negative people around you or negative situations that you're involved in, then just get rid of them.

Step away from those and keep away from those and then the natural good within you will begin to come out. And not only that, but if you then step towards some good situations and some people that are good influences and have a lot of good in them, then even more of that goodness that's just naturally within you will begin to bloom and to blossom.

That is a bunch of baloney. The Bible says that we are dead in trespasses and sins. It's not about the inherent goodness in us, but it's about the sinful nature that is inherent to us. We are naturally sinful. We are natural sinners.

We're not naturally good. We are absolutely dead and lifeless. The Bible doesn't teach that man is basically good and just needs a little help. No, spiritually, we're dead, without life, without breath, unable to do anything. Now, that's a pretty dark and bleak way to start out the picture. Don't you agree? It's a nice black background we have on this painting that Paul is painting for us.

We're dead. Now, today, Richard wants the Seahawks to win. I think he does anyways. But if we show up, game time, it's 3.30, time for kickoff, and we find out they're all dead, what chance do they have of scoring more points than the Steelers? Pretty much none, right? I mean...

They don't have much chance. If they're dead, they don't have any opportunity, any chance at all. They will not be able to accomplish anything. No offense, no defense, no touchdowns, no passing, no running yards, no kick. Nothing. They will not be able to do anything on that football field. Completely nothing. Now, on the spiritual field...

You and I, the Bible describes us as dead. We're in that state. We're not able to accomplish anything spiritually, not able to do anything on our own behalf. We have no life without Christ, no spiritual life without Christ. He says we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

Now, the word trespass, it sounds or it means just like it sounds. You know, there's signs that say no trespassing. That means you're not to go across this line. You're not to cross over this property. You're not to go over the line of scrimmage until the ball is hiked. Right. No trespassing. This is the line. He says you were dead in your trespasses and that you purposely willfully knew where the line was, knew what you were not to do. But you still do it anyways. You still trespass.

And participate in things that are wrong. Willfully, purposely, even though you know that it's wrong. You're dead in your trespasses as well as your sins. What are sins? Well, sins are the same type of thing. Crossing the line, missing the mark. But it's not intentional, it's accidental. So every single one of us, we have in our lives without Christ, sin. Some of it is intentional, it's on purpose. It's what we do knowingly and willfully intentionally.

But we also have, you know, where we're trying real hard. We're trying to be good, trying to do right. And we mess up and we slip up and we cross the line. We do things that are wrong, even though we don't intend to. Let me use another football example. Let's say you're dribbling down to the other end of the court. No, I'm just kidding. You cross the line. It's accidental. It's not on purpose. That's a sin. Every one of us has that within our nature. The desire to willfully do things that are wrong. And then the

Desire to do what's right, but unable to complete it. We're dead spiritually. We have no hope. Starts out pretty dark, but it gets worse. Let's go on to verse 2. 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. Paul goes on to tell us some worse news in verse 2. Not only were we dead in our trespasses and sins, but we were in the clutches of

In the control of the devil. We were in his power. He says, we once walked according to the course of this world. When you were dead in trespasses and sins, you walked according to the course of this world. And the course of this world is not a good one. It's a course that leads away from God. It's a course of rebellion against God. The world is not getting better and better.

The world is getting more and more corrupt, more and more rebellious against God. The course of the world and the world being the way that it is, it's not by accident. It's by design. Because the ruler of this world, the devil, has lulled the world to sleep. You can see it so clearly within the United States. We're lulled to sleep. And he's got us walking in this course.

As a nation, as society, that is against God, away from God. It's by design. According to the prince of the power of the air. A reference to the devil. A reference to Satan. Jesus tells us in John 12, 31, that Satan is the ruler of this world. He says it again in John 14, 30. Paul calls him the God of this age in 2 Corinthians 4, 4.

It's Satan who is in charge and control of this world. He is the one setting the course. The fashion trends, the politics, the music, the social issues, the movies, the education, the morality, all of that, all of the things of the world, they're set in course by Satan, by the devil. And when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we walked in that course. We were stuck in it. We just kind of went along with the rest of the world and we were...

We were walking the path that the devil had laid before us. Away from God in rebellion to God against the things of God. You were dead. You were walking according to all of that. The devil had you right where he wanted you. And he still has those who have not received Jesus Christ. Who have not received what God has done for them. He is still at work, verse 2 says, who works the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

So you were involved in that prior to coming to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. But he's still working in that same way among those who are disobedient, among those who will not receive what God has done for them. It's pretty bleak. It's pretty dark. We were dead. We were trapped in the course of the world, controlled by, governed by the devil. We were part of the devil's corruption. But it wasn't just us.

That it even goes on. Verse three, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath, just as the others. So not only did we walk according to the course of this world, doing what the world does, but we also walked according to our own lusts, our strong desire for sinful pleasure.

We walked according to our own desires, our own flesh, our own mind, which is by nature contrary to God and against the things of God. So we were trapped in the system of the world. We were in bondage by our own flesh, walking in our own lusts and desires, fulfilling them, completing the orders that the flesh and our mind gave to us. We were powerless against it. Our flesh lusted after something and we would fulfill it.

powerless. And so the result, Paul says, by nature, we were children of wrath, children deserving wrath, because we are continually walking in the course of this world against God and fulfilling our own desires, our own sinful nature, which is sin and contrary to God, just as the others, the

Now, that's important because very often we can look at ourselves and say, well, I'm not that bad. And I can sit in the jury and look at the defendant and say, I'm not that bad. But without God, Paul says, you're a child of wrath, just like everyone else. There's no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We stand on the same level, on the same plane. We can look at each other and try to evaluate and compare, well, your sins are worse than mine.

My sins aren't as many as yours or my good things are better than your good things. But the reality is that we're dead. We're lifeless outside of Christ without God. There's no hope. There's no level. We're all flat on the ground dead. There's no difference. We're children of wrath just like the others. They're deserving of wrath and so are we.

Now, can you get a bleaker, blacker, darker picture than that? We're all dead under Satan's control and bound to, caught up in our own sinful nature, fulfilling its desires and lusts. You don't get much bleaker than that. We're deserving of judgment. We're deserving the hell that awaits those who reject Jesus Christ. But thank God for verse 4.

He starts out with two of the most beautiful words ever put together in writing. But God. See, that is the situation. That is the status of us and of those who have not been born again. Dead, under the control of Satan, in the course of this world, and caught up in the lusts of our own flesh.

So all that we do continually is walk against God and away from God. That's why the scripture says there's no one who seeks after God. No, not even one. Not one of us seeks after God on our own. Our natural course is away from God. That's what...

The Bible teaches. Society will try to teach us all kinds of different things. And we will try to teach ourselves all kinds of different things to make us feel better about ourselves. But the reality of it is, outside of Christ, we are dead. Without God, we are dead. But God comes into the picture, and it's a whole different scene. Now, check it out. But God, verse 4, 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 and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. But God comes into the picture now and it's a whole different picture. He's got the backdrop, that black cloth.

And now he shows the brilliance, the beauty of who God is and what he has done. He says, but God comes into the picture. We were hopeless. We were helpless. We could do nothing to save ourselves. There was no hope for us of spending eternity in heaven. But God came into the picture. And now we have hope of heaven. Now we have hope to spend eternity with God.

To escape the judgment that we deserve. The wrath that is by nature due to us. Verses 1-3 notice used past tense verbs. He says, you were dead. You once walked. You once conducted yourself. It's past tense. You used to do these things, those things. You used to be this way. Now if this is not past tense for you,

then you need to know that you're in trouble. But no matter how dark, no matter how bleak, no matter how black the backdrop of your life and the problems that you've faced and created and are involved in, no matter how bad you think you might be and how black you could paint the picture of your life, if you let God come into the picture.

If you allow God to come in and do for you the things that he desires, if you receive the work that he has done for you, you will see that that backdrop, which is life and the bleakness of it, is just used to show the brilliance, the beauty of who God is and what he has done. If you have not been born again, then God has not come into your life and you are dead in your trespasses and sins. But if you are born again, then all that is past tense.

It's all things of the past, things that used to be. And now the rest of chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, well, verses 4 through 10, describe for us, since that is in the past, what God has done and what he has planned for us, which is a beautiful picture. It says God who is rich in mercy. God is rich. He is wealthy, but not monetarily, although he is that at times.

Money is nothing, but he is rich in mercy. Mercy means not getting the judgment that you deserve. And so God is rich in not giving you and I the judgment that we deserve. He is willing and able to forgive anyone, anytime, anywhere, no matter what, because he already paid the price for sin.

So now he is abundantly rich in mercy. He has plenty of mercy and forgiveness to offer. Plenty to cover all sins that we have ever committed. To forgive us, to cleanse us, completely and wholly. To make us just as if we had never sinned. Justified. He is rich in mercy.

He says, this God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. So not only is he abundantly wealthy in the area of mercy, but he has a great love for us. Now that word love, it's the word agape. You probably know that word well. It's perfect, unconditional love. But it's not just perfect, unconditional love that he loved you with. It's with that great love with which he has loved you.

So even beyond perfect, unconditional love is the love that God has for every single one of us. And it's with that love that he loved us. And therefore, verse five, even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. So because he loved us so much, because he's abundantly wealthy in the area of mercy, even when we were dead, he made us alive together with Christ.

Even when we were lifeless, even when verses 1 through 3 described our life, even if we were the worst person ever possible or whoever walked the face of the earth, he had this great love for us. So he sent his son to pay the price that he could be abundantly wealthy in mercy and he could demonstrate this love towards us.

By impacting and changing our lives. See, he had this great love for us. Even when we were dead. Even when we were rebellious against him and wanted no part of him. Even when the soldiers were beating his face and spitting upon him. He loved them just as much as he loves us. Romans chapter 5 verse 8. Paul talks about this. He says in verse 6. Actually, Romans chapter 5. He says...

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Who did he die for? For the ungodly. He didn't die for the good. He didn't die for those who tried really hard or those who went to church. He died for the ungodly, which is all of us.

Now it goes on in verse 7, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. So he says, well, who would you die for? You probably wouldn't die for a bad person, someone who has hurt you or inflicted pain upon you. You wouldn't die for someone who has caused pain in the lives of others. He says, even for a good man, scarcely would someone die.

It's not common. That's not natural. That's not normal. That's why you have to pay the people in the secret service, because it's not natural. It's not normal to jump in front of the bullet. You have to be trained and paid well to do it. Well, I don't know about well. We could ask Russell later. But scarcely for a good man will someone die. But verse 8 of Romans chapter 5 says, But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So while we were in this state, wanting nothing to do with God, hating every aspect of our God because we don't seek after God on our own, that's when he died for us. That's when he took care of the sin. That's when he came into the picture. It was in our dead state. It wasn't because that we had tried really hard and he saw that we were making a big effort. And so he wanted to help us. And so he sent his son to die for us.

No, he saw that we were completely helpless, that we were dead on the playing field of spiritual things. We had nothing to offer. We were hopelessly lost, condemned to death. And so he sent his son to die for us, to pay the price while we were still dead. Not because we were pretty good, but because we were dead. Because he loves us. He has a great love for us.

And so he sent his son and he made us alive together with Christ. We were dead. Again, it's past tense. But when we allowed God to come into our lives, we were made alive with Christ. We were included with him in his resurrection. And spiritually, where we once were dead, we were made alive. We were given spiritual life, new life. We were born again.

Now that is why baptism is so meaningful. Not that it's required for salvation, but that it's a picture of what has taken place. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Picturing what has really taken place when we receive him as our Lord and Savior. And that God counts us as being included with him. That we died to sin. We were buried.

We were resurrected to newness of life and given spiritual life that we might walk with God and do the things that he has set before us. We are no longer spiritually dead. But in Christ, we have been regenerated. We've been born again. We've been quickened or made alive. And now we are alive to the things of God. We get to experience spiritual life, which is life the way God originally intended it to be. See, when man fell in the garden, when Adam fell,

God said the punishment, the penalty for that would be death. And it was. But it wasn't the instant, immediate, physical death. It was a spiritual death that took place. A separation between God and man. But in the person of Jesus Christ and receiving what he did for us on the cross, that relationship is restored. The spirit is revived and we're able to have relationship with God.

He made us alive together with Christ, included us with him as he was resurrected. Not only that, but verse six goes on to say, and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Now, notice there in verse 5 and 6, every time where it says together, he made us alive together, he raised us up together, and he made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Corresponding with what we looked at last week in chapter 1, verses 19 through 23, where Paul says that we may know this great power that's working on our behalf, which was demonstrated in

and raising Christ from the dead, and seating Him in the heavenly places, and setting Him above all power and principality. We were included with Christ, and His power was demonstrated in the work of Christ, and it's evidence in our own lives, in that even while we were dead in trespasses and sins, He made us alive together, and raised us up, and seated us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. I lost my place, I'm not sure where I'm at now. Okay, with God in our lives,

Heaven is our rightful place. That's where we belong. It's not what we hope to attain now because of what God has done. It's our rightful place. One of the things that the lawyer was talking about, one of the lawyers, the prosecuting attorney actually, was the presumption of innocence. And he used the example of someone, if they committed a murder that was on national TV, they're seen by the world. But according to the court system,

They are presumed innocent until proven guilty. And so if that trial goes to court, the jury sits there, and the prosecution puts forth no evidence whatsoever. That person, according to the legal system, now the world is eyewitness. They know that this person is guilty. But according to the legal system, that person is not guilty because the prosecutor made no case. They're presumed innocent. This is how we are. This is how we are in Christ.

We're innocent. We don't deserve the judgment. And it's not presumed innocent. It's actual innocence because God makes us just as if we had never sinned when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And even though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, even though we were in that state, God counts us as righteous, as righteous as Jesus Christ is. And so our rightful place, God being the judge, sends us to heaven.

Because that's where we belong. That is what is owed to us because we have received what Jesus Christ did on the cross. He made us alive. He raised us up. He seated us in the heavenly places. It's our rightful place. It's the work that God has done. Verse 7, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He has done all of this for us.

And then for the rest of eternity, we will be trophies of his grace. Trophies to show his kindness and his grace. He's demonstrated his love towards us. And for all eternity, we're going to be marveling at that. And amazed, wondering and amazed at God's wonderful work and how good he is. Because we were dead. We were dead. We deserved the judgment. But God came in.

And saved the day. Saved our souls. Gave us life. So your life was like the dead football team. Unable to score anything. Unable to accomplish anything. But then God comes in and he takes care of it. He plays defense. He plays offense. And you got to know that God's better than any football team. He wiped out the work of the enemy. The work of our flesh. Took care of the penalty that was due to us by taking it upon himself.

receiving for himself the things that were deserved to us. And so when God entered into the picture, when he died on the cross for us and we received that, he took all of that deadness, all of that bleak backdrop, and just used it to show the brilliance of his love, of his grace, of his mercy. And for the rest of eternity, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. How wonderful he is in his kindness towards us, towards me.

What an amazing God we serve. He did it all. He did everything. I was dead and he accomplished everything on my behalf. What did I do? What part did I have to play in this? Let's find out in verses eight and nine. He says, 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. Now, these are wonderful verses to memorize. I encourage you to do so.

Because Paul tells us exactly how much we had a part in our salvation and what God has done for us. And the amount of that, how much do we do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a little. It had nothing to do with us. But it was all because of what God did. He says, for by grace you have been saved.

That word grace is familiar to us. We look at it often. It's undeserved favor and kindness. How did God save you? Well, he saved you by showing you favor and kindness that you do not deserve. You're not worth the favor and kindness that God shows you.

And gives to you. You did not earn your salvation or impress God with your good works or your lack of sin or whatever else you might think that is impressive to God. No, it's undeserved favor and kindness. It's by grace simply because God was able to and desired to. He did it without regard.

For anything that we have to offer. Because we have absolutely nothing to offer. We want to think somehow that we're responsible for it. You know, I put my faith in God or I did this or I did that. But Paul says you were saved by grace. Now it was through faith. But then he makes sure to point out that that faith through which you were saved by grace was not of yourself. Look at verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that... What's that?

The faith. The faith that you had, which you placed in Jesus Christ in order to be saved, was not even from yourself. It wasn't your own faith. It wasn't my own faith. It was faith that God had given to us that we might believe in Him. And so the faith that we have, that we placed in God, wasn't even of ourselves. It wasn't of our own flesh. It wasn't of anything that we had to offer. But God gave us the faith to believe in Him. So what part did we play in it? No part at all.

All we do is receive what God has done. He gives us the faith. He gives us the grace. He gives us the salvation. All we can do is receive it and say, thank you. Yes, Lord. Okay. I receive your work on the cross. I was dead in trespasses and sins, but you came into my life. You made me alive, raised me up and seated me in the heavenly places. I had nothing to do with that. I had nothing to

To elevate myself. And now that I'm saved, I can't do anything to make myself even higher. He's already done it all. He's given me the place of prominence. He's given you the place of prominence in Jesus Christ in the heavenly places where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Verse 10. So here's the picture.

We're dead in our trespasses and sins. Then God comes into our life and gives us life, makes us alive, and does a wonderful work in us in delivering us from the course of the world, from the bondage to our own flesh, and gives us the promise of eternity. And he did it all himself. We had absolutely no part of it. We are his workmanship.

That's what Paul says here, for we are his workmanship. Now, if I were to take a piece of marble, marble is dead. There's no life in it. It doesn't breathe, doesn't move, and it can't do anything to form itself into something nice. But if I were to take that piece of marble, if I was a sculptor, which I am not, but if I was, I could take that piece of marble and I could carve something beautiful out of it. That would be my workmanship.

Now, the end product would be beautiful if I was good, but the marble would not be able to boast about any part of it because all it did was sit there while I chiseled away at it and carved out this beautiful statue from it. All that the marble did was sit there. And so now it's a work of art. Now it's a work of beauty, but it had no part in it. And that is exactly the way that you and I are in Christ Jesus. We're dead, lifeless, without life.

But God, being the master sculptor who originally formed man of the dust of the earth, comes and makes something beautiful out of our lives. Makes us into a work of art. We have no part of it. We can't boast about any part of it. We have nothing to offer. All we did was just let God do what he wanted to do. He won't force himself upon us. He doesn't force us to receive what he has for us. And so as we receive it, he does the work.

And then he gets the glory where his workmanship, that word workmanship, the Greek word is poema, which might sound familiar to you. It's where we get the word poem. We are God's poem, his work of art, something that he has put together and constructed in such a way that the end result is a masterpiece. That's a work of art. It's beautiful. That's how God sees you and I.

The beginning of the story is black and bleak and darkness and filth and yuck. But the end result is a work of art when God comes into the picture. A masterpiece, a workmanship. Because he took this dead, lifeless thing and made something out of it. That for the ages to come, he might have this statue on display to show his grace and his kindness. How wonderful and how amazing he is. Isn't God good? Amen?

God is good. We are God's workmanship and we're created in Christ Jesus. Again, there's the focus. It's in Christ Jesus that we're his workmanship, that we're created. We're created in Christ Jesus for good works. Now, we just looked at good works. They don't save us. It's not of works lest any man should boast. But God saved us, made us a work of art that we might be able to do good works, that he might be able to reward us for doing that which he enabled us and prepared for us to do.

He already set the course. He gave us the strength. He made us alive. He raised us up. He did the work. And then he says, okay, here's all these things. He says, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So you get the picture, right? Here we are dead on the course. We're talking football again. Okay, we're dead on the field. God picks us up, lifts us up, gives us life. He says, here's the play. You run here, go that way, cut left. I'm going to throw the ball to you. All you got to do is catch it. You'll score.

You'll get the credit. Well, not the credit, but you'll get the reward for that which I did. Amazing to me, the things of God, the way that God works. As we are born again in Christ Jesus, he makes us alive, raises us up, seats us in the heavenly places, and then rewards us for doing the things that he enabled us to do and set before us.

Now, he set them before us. He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And that's good news too because I don't have to figure out, okay, well, how am I going to impress God today? I mean, I got to think of something good. You know, like when it's your wife's birthday and you got to think of something good. Man, how do I, how do I, what do I come up with? How am I going to impress God? No, you don't have to do that. You don't have to try to figure out, really, man, what good works am I going to do? You don't have to worry about that. All you have to do is,

The only thing that's required, it's already laid out before you. All you need to do is walk in them. All you need to do is hear from the Lord. Say, Lord, what have you planned for me today? What good works do you have in store for me? And then to walk in them, to do them, to fulfill them as you walk throughout your day. It's the part that we get to play. He says that we should walk in them. It's the only part that...

We have a part of. The rest is all God. We receive what he has done. And then now he gives us the choice whether to walk in the plans that he has for us or not. God has a plan for your life. A wonderful plan. A good plan. Plans, a future of hope. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. You should walk in it. It's your choice. Will you receive what God has done? And will you walk in

And the plan that he has laid before you. That's our job. To walk in them. It's what he gives us as responsibility. He's already done the saving work. It has nothing to do with our salvation. But it has everything to do with how much glory we give him. And what crowns we earn. So that we'll be able to cast them at his feet. At the end of all days. And say, King of kings and Lord of lords. It was all about you. From the beginning to the end. We were dead.

And for the ages to come, because of what he did in Christ Jesus, we will show the riches of his grace and his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Everything that God has for us is found in the person of Jesus Christ. And it's through him he made us alive, he raised us up, seated us in the heavenlies, and laid before us a plan, a purpose, a reason to live. A plan that includes wonderful things,

Ways that we can accomplish much for the kingdom of God. Ways that we can help others come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful God we serve. It's often said that every other religion is man reaching out to God. Man trying to attain to God's level. Man trying to attain salvation. But as this portion clearly demonstrates, what the Bible teaches is not that at all. It's not how far we reached or how well we did.

But it's how dead we were and what God has done. You know, you do not need more self-esteem. Nobody does. You need to understand these truths. You're dead without God. But if you will receive him and all that he has for you, he will do a tremendous, awesome work in your life. As we look at this passage this morning, it's so fitting that we come together to the communion table.

The worship team is going to come forward and the ushers are going to come up and prepare for communion. As we come together to the communion table, it's so fitting because it's through the work and the person of Jesus Christ that we have this life and we have these promises from God. It's because of what he did on the cross for us. Remember when he hung there and he said, it is finished. He meant it. It's finished. The work of salvation, it's complete. Your sins are forgiven.

The price has been paid. The judgment, the wrath that you and I deserved, it was received on him. But he received it for it's finished. All you need to do is receive what God has done for you. And you are saved. And if you've done that this morning, I invite you to partake with us. When they pass the cup and the bread, hold your portion, we'll partake together. But partake. Remember what Jesus Christ has done. Rejoice and be thankful to God that he was able to say, it is finished.

He didn't say it's mostly done and there's still some more that you need to do. No, it's done completely. You're saved by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Your sin has been paid for. Grace was given. That black background wiped away. Completely gone. Obliterated. Now you are righteous in Jesus Christ. We were dead, but he has made us alive. And as we worship the Lord, meditate on those things. Share with God your gratitude for what he has done.

If there's areas in your life where you're not walking in the things that He has laid before you, if you're walking and living in sin, if you're walking in areas that you know God has not called you to, as you spend this time, repent. Turn from those things. Give them up to God. Allow Him to do a work in your heart. If you're here this morning and you have never been born again, you're not walking with God at all. If verses 1 through 3 is still present tense in your life, listen, you're a child of wrath. Judgment is due.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved you, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins and my sins. And you can receive this wonderful work of God and find salvation and be considered righteous in God's standing simply by believing in who Jesus is and what he did for you. And I invite you this morning, if that's your heart, if that's what you want to do, and that's your place to partake as they pass the communion through.

Grab the cup, grab the bread, and partake with us, saying in your heart, yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, and I receive what he did on the cross for me. The blood picturing to us, his blood that was shed for us, the washing away of sin, forgiveness and cleansing, the bread, which is his body that was broken, represents to us, reminds us,

of our flesh, of our sinful nature in which we once walked and conducted ourselves, fulfilling every desire that it was broken there at the cross, that we might be able to walk with God, that we might be alive in Christ. So as we partake of communion together, spend some time with the Lord. Thank Him, man. God is so good. Enjoy the grace, the goodness, the kindness of God as you worship the Lord. So let's do that now. Let's worship.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.