EPHESIANS 2:1-10 WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR ME2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 2:1-10 What God Has Done For Me

You are 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 2020. Well, as we look at Ephesians chapter 2 this morning, I've titled the message, What God Has Done For Me.

And so today I'm not going to talk about you. This message is all about me, okay? But it's also about you. So you can personalize it. What God has done for me, what God has done for you. Ephesians chapter 2 really outlines the work of salvation that God has accomplished on our behalf.

Now the book of Ephesians, as Paul is writing this letter to the church in Ephesus, he spends the first few chapters really going deep into doctrine and establishing the truths of salvation, the truths of all that God has done for us.

And then in the latter chapters, chapters 4, 5, and 6, he dives into the application. And so as we're reading through, we're in chapter 2 today. In chapter 3, we'll get a little bit more doctrine. But then we'll be reading through the part where Paul then takes these things and says, okay, now, since all of these amazing things are true in your life because of what God has done for you,

Now this is how you should walk. This is how you ought to live. This is now you're enabled and equipped by God to live out a life that honors God and glorifies God. But before you can really dive into that application and seek to live a life to honor God, you have to go back to the beginning and remember what it is that God has done. And I think it's important for each of us this morning to stop and reflect what God

God has done for me. And remember in your life the things that he has accomplished specifically in regards to salvation. And so there's four points for us to consider. Four points for us to remember what God has done for us. The first one we'll find here in verses one through five. Here's point number one this morning. God made me alive with Christ.

What God has done for me, one of the things that Paul addresses here, the biggest thing really for us to consider is he's given us life. He's made me alive with Christ. He doesn't start there with the life though. He starts really with our condition before life. And that's found in verse one. He says, and you, he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.

You he made alive, he says. Now, if you're following along in your Bible, you might notice the he made alive is italicized. And that's because it's not in the original text. It was added by the translators to try to help bring clarity to the passage and what Paul was talking about.

And so it's kind of a spoiler alert because he will say a little bit later in a few verses, he made you alive. So it is accurate. It's part of the context. But Paul's like building up to that and he's leading up to that life. But before he talks about the life, he wants us to consider our condition before that life. And so perhaps you can consider this morning your condition before life in Christ.

If you take out that added portion of the verse, verse 1 would read something like this, The emphasis of Paul here is our condition before Christ, our condition outside of Christ. And that is a position of death. He's talking about spiritual death.

That we are spiritual beings, but we also have a body. We also have a soul. And you can kind of dissect that, you know, however you want. Some people divide it different ways. But you're alive without Christ. You were alive without Christ physically, emotionally, mentally. But your spirit, Paul says, was dead. You were dead in trespasses and sins. I was dead in trespasses and sins.

And the thing that Paul is emphasizing here is our absolute helplessness in regards to our salvation, in regards to spiritual life on our own before Christ, we were dead.

He doesn't say, you know, hey, you were kind of limping along and barely making it, and then Jesus just gave you that little boost, you know, that you needed just a little bit extra, you know, to get you moving forward, to get you going. No, the reality is you were lifeless. You had no spiritual life. You weren't just having a hard time. You weren't just kind of scraping by. You were dead.

And as we consider that this morning, it brings us to the point where I must acknowledge my own sinfulness. I must acknowledge my condition. I must acknowledge that without Christ, I have no life spiritually. I have no hope of eternity. I have nothing good that I can do. Without Christ, I am hopeless.

Without Christ, I am helpless. And at the same time, without Christ, I'm not a victim. And he'll go into that in the next verse. We'll see that in just a moment. It's my own sinfulness that brings this death into my life. Paul says, you were dead in trespasses and sins. Sins and trespasses are related, but a little bit different.

The idea of a trespass is to purposefully step over a line, just like when there's a property that has a no trespassing sign and you jump the fence, right? That's trespassing. That God has set boundaries, he's set borders, he's set directions, and we deliberately violate those. That's the trespassing. Sin is similar. It's still crossing the line, but it could be accidentally. The word sin speaks of missing the mark.

And the idea is like in archery, you know, you're aiming for the bullseye, but you missed the bullseye. You might be trying to hit the bullseye. You're not trying to miss. You're not trying to cross the line. But accidentally, because you fall short, because you have a sinful nature, you do cross the line. And so in our failures, our sins, in our rebellions, our trespasses, Paul says we were dead in those trespasses and sins.

He wants us to take a moment and remember our condition apart from Christ. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, the unbeliever is not sick, he is dead. He does not need resuscitation, he needs resurrection. All lost sinners are dead. And the only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay.

The only difference between one sinner and another is the state of decay. And this is true for every human being. Outside of Christ, we are dead. It's hard for us perhaps to acknowledge that sometimes because we compare ourselves with others and we feel like, you know, I'm not so bad. I look at Roman, I go, you know, I'm a little bit better. I think God is pretty happy with me compared to Roman, right?

And I forget that I am dead. Now, those of you who know me, right? I was raised in a Christian home. I've known God for as long as I can remember. I've known about God. I've heard about God. And yet at the same time, there had to be a point in my life where I came into my own relationship with God. And there's a transition. They're even raised in that perfect environment. Mom and dad are watching right now. So that's why I say the perfect environment, right? Raised in that perfect environment.

Still, I was dead in my trespasses and sins until I came into my own relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. Zach is a pastor's kid. Until he had his own encounter with the Lord in that way, he was dead in his trespasses and sins. Even after that in my own life, you know, there's been times and seasons where I have decided to pursue things of the world and experience things

A little bit of life, a taste of life apart from Christ and the misery that is there, the death that comes from trespasses and sins. Paul says, look, this is our condition. This is what you need to know. Acknowledge your position apart from Christ. It is completely spiritual death. You have no life. And that's why works cannot save you. That's why good things and good deeds, you know, really don't do anything because God

you're dead, right? There's no good works that you can do from that position, from that standing. You have no spiritual life. And so Paul says, this is where you were. Now he builds on this case in verse two and three. Now he says, "...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."

Here Paul says, not only were you dead, but you were walking according to the course of this world. You were walking in sin. When he talks about the course of the world, he's not just talking natural physical things. He's talking about the spiritual forces that

rule this world. That's why he says, according to the prince of the power of the air. He's talking about Satan, the enemy, who has dominion for the time, for the moment in this world, and he's working out sinfulness amongst society. And we were caught up with that. Dead in our trespasses and sins, walking along with the rest of the world in our sinfulness, and

But again, not victims, not in the sense that we have, you know, no excuse, because in verse 3 he says, look, we conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh. We chose to pursue the things of our flesh. We chose to pursue actions of sin. We chose to chase after those things. And so Paul, as he outlines this, his intention is to paint a very bleak picture. It's a dark picture. We were dead, walking in sin.

conducting ourselves in sinfulness. And as a result, in verse 3, we were by nature children of wrath. We were children of wrath as a result. That is, we were subject to and deserved to receive the wrath of God. The Bible does not teach that man is basically good and just needs a little help. The Bible teaches that I am

apart from Christ, am dead spiritually, lifeless, without breath, unable to do anything, and deserving the judgment of God. And Paul wants us to come face to face with that again this morning. And we need to be reminded of that when we become self-righteous, when we become really impressed with ourselves and how spiritual we are and how good we are. We need to come back and remember the truth. Remember the reality. I was dead.

And I walked according to the course of this world. The devil had me right where he wanted me. Hopeless, helpless. It's a bleak picture. Paul knows how to paint this dramatic scene, right? It's this dramatic scene. It's this dark picture, dead under Satan's control, caught up in our own sinful desires. And if it was a movie, this is the point where it would look like tragic end is certain. All the heroes are defeated. All the strategies failed.

Vader's got his eyes on Luke's ship and he's running down the trench, you know, about to blow up the Death Star, but Vader's about to take him out. All the other ships and his other defenses are all gone. He's about to be just destroyed. And then, whom comes in the Millennium Falcon, right? That great scene. It's like certain doom is there. It's a tragic end just about to happen. And then here swoops in the hero. In this case, it's not Han Solo. It's Jesus Christ.

We were dead, we were lost, we were completely hopeless and helpless. But then, verse 4, So it's this dark backdrop, this dark picture to introduce the light. Here we were in this miserable condition, but then God, who is rich in mercy, said,

Because of his great love, even though we were dead, he made us alive together with Christ. This is referring to what Jesus called the necessity to be born again. In John chapter 3 verse 3, Jesus told that man Nicodemus, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

This is why there is that necessity of that regenerated life, that state of being born again, because we are dead spiritually. Before Christ, apart from Christ, we're lost, we're dead, we have no life. And so we must be born again. We must be given new life in order for us to see the kingdom of God. And this is what Christ has done for us. By faith in Jesus Christ,

by believing in what Christ has done for us and receiving the forgiveness of sins that he offers to us. Here's what God has done for me. He made me alive with Christ. I was dead. I had no hope, but he swooped in and gave the offer, gave the opportunity to have life by faith in him. And so it's important to reflect, Paul says, on what we were, where we were before Christ and

to appreciate the work that God has done for us, to help us not to go back to those things once again and live that old life. Now, as you look at these verses, notice that it's all past tense. You were dead. You used to walk this way. You used to live in this way. This was your condition. And if you have believed in Jesus Christ, that is accurate. It's past tense for you. That's your old condition. It's important that we understand that, we remember it,

But at the same time, if you have not believed in Jesus Christ, if you have not been born again, it's not past tense for you. This is your current tense. You are dead spiritually without Christ. You are caught up in the course of this world. You are caught up in sins and trespasses and without hope for eternity. But God has made a way. And that's the point that Paul is making here. God came in and made the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.

This is what God has done for me. He made me alive with Christ and he can do the same for you. Well, moving on to verses four through seven gives us point number two this morning. And that is that God showed me exceeding kindness. God showed me exceeding kindness. Notice again in verse four, but God who is rich in mercy said,

because of his great love with which he loved us. Now, as we walk through these verses, there's four things that Paul is going to mention, four things really that I'll highlight from what Paul mentions, and that is God's mercy, God's love, God's grace, and God's kindness. God's mercy here, he says in verse four, that God is rich in mercy. Mercy is the withholding of judgment that is deserved. The other day, I was on my way to work,

My workplace moved recently, and so now we're just down railroad a bit, just a little bit before it turns into Surface Club. And so I was on my way. I was headed down railroad, and I was maybe going to touch over the, you know, there's a sign that's posted that says a number, and, you know, you're kind of supposed to stay around that number not to go too fast over it. I was going a little bit over that number, and I came around a bend, and right there was a motorcycle cop with a radar gun pointed right at me.

And he dropped the gun. He looked at me and I looked at him. I deserved a ticket. I knew it. He knew it, but he was merciful. He didn't start up his engine and fly after me and pull me over. I don't know why. I can't explain it, but he showed mercy. And I'm thankful for that. Well, in a similar way, you and I, we deserve judgment. We deserve, we're children of wrath apart from Christ. God knows it. And if we're honest, we know it.

But God is rich in mercy. That's abundance in mercy. That is more than enough mercy. He's able to withhold his judgment no matter what sin we've done, no matter what we've committed, no matter how bad we've been. He swoops into this dark, bleak situation. He's rich in mercy. And he says, because of his great love with which he loved us. So he has abundance in mercy and he has a great love for us.

And so he swooped in. He provided this way of salvation because of his love for us. Now, why does he love us? Pastor David Guzik says, every reason for God's mercy and love is found in him. We give him no reason to love us. Yet in the greatness of his love, he loves us with that great love anyway. We give him no reason to love us, Guzik says. In and of ourselves, we are not the reason why Christ loves us.

We're not the reason why God loves us. He loves us because he has chosen to love us. He's not chosen to love us because, you know, hey, you're so talented and amazing. Boy, it'd be really great if you could be on my team, you know, and so I'm going to love you so that I can benefit from, you know, the greatness that you are. We don't add anything to God, but he wants us to be a part of him and to be part of eternity with him. And so he has chosen to love us.

He's chosen to be good to us and to show mercy to us. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5 that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And that is the demonstration of his love. That is that we hadn't done anything that would earn or deserve God's love. We haven't done anything to earn or deserve God's goodness towards us. He's just chosen to. Well, it's the next thing to consider, and that's his grace.

Grace is favor and kindness that we do not deserve. We have the mercy of God where he withholds judgment that we do deserve, but then we have the grace of God where he does kind things for us, good things for us, even though we don't deserve it.

And so even when we were dead in trespasses, in verse 5, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And he raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He united us with Christ. As we believe in Jesus Christ, there is a spiritual resurrection that takes place. And we're alive together with Christ. There's a promised future in that we sit together in the heavenly places in Christ together.

That we're promised that eternity in heaven where Christ is. And then verse 7, he says that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And so here we get the kindness. We don't really understand how much kindness God has shown us. Even as we look at these things and we can be amazed at that bleak picture of our condition of sin before Christ,

In this lifetime, we're going to be very limited in our understanding of really how much we needed salvation and how much kindness God has shown to us. But God has shown kindness to us to such a degree that he says in verse 7 that in the ages to come, he's going to be showing that. It's going to be revealed. It's going to be revealed.

It's going to be understood better and better as we enter into eternity. And as we enjoy eternity, we're going to understand more and more the extent of the kindness that God has shown to us. According to the exceeding riches of his grace. He has abundant mercy, exceeding grace, and he gives it to us. God has shown me exceeding kindness. His mercy, his love, his grace, his kindness that he extends to me.

not because of who I am or what I do, but because he's chosen to reach out and rescue me. And that brings us now to verse eight and nine. Here's point number three. God gave me salvation as a gift. Again, as we're thinking about what God has done for me, God has made me alive with Christ and he has shown me exceeding kindness and he's given me salvation as a gift. Verse eight 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. Paul makes it very clear here. He is saved by his grace. Again, grace, it's favor and kindness that we do not deserve. He says, for by grace you have been saved. The gospel message, the message of Jesus Christ is a message of grace.

It is not a message of us doing our best and working really hard to reach out to God and connect to God and know God, make things right with God. It's us responding to what God has provided for us in his grace. Salvation is a work of God that we do not deserve. In the book of Romans, it talks about God's constructing of the whole concept of salvation, that he arranged it, he designed it,

to be by grace so that it would be accessible to all by faith. So that it wouldn't require, all right, here's a list of 25 things you have to do in order to be saved. It would simply require the faith to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus does not just mean to make an intellectual acknowledgement that Jesus existed or that he, you know, died upon the cross, but it's a

believing in Jesus in a way that now you base your whole life upon the truth of who Jesus is, receiving the forgiveness that he extends to you, and now living out the life that he calls you to. It's really about that relationship with God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. And so it's by grace that you have been saved, not your good works, not your good looks, not anything that you can offer or provide.

It's not of yourselves, Paul says. It's a gift of God. It's a gift. It's not wages. Wages are something that you earn. It's not a trade. God says, all right, I'm going to give you salvation and in exchange, no, it's a gift. It's not works. It's not wages. It's not a trade. He says, it's not of works lest anyone should boast. And so if your understanding of salvation gives you anything to boast about, you have the wrong view of salvation. If you have anything to say, well, look at, you know, how impressive I am.

in regards to salvation, then you have it wrong. That's not the salvation that God has provided. For by grace you have been saved through faith. It's a gift of God. It's not of works. We have nothing to boast about because God has done the work from beginning to end. Well, that brings us now to verse 10 and the final point to consider this morning. And that is that God crafted me for good works. And there's a distinction here. It's not good works for salvation, but

But in this rebirth, in this new life, we find this mastermind in God and that he crafts us artistically, strategically for the life that he sets before us. Verse 10 says, We are his workmanship, Paul says.

This idea of workmanship, it speaks of a work of art, a work of art like a poem. The word is actually poema, where we get the word poem, but it doesn't have to be a literary type of art. It could be a sculpture type of art or any other form of art. But the point is, we are his workmanship. You, me, we are God's works of art. And that's important to understand. First of all, I'm not my own workmanship.

You know, I didn't build my own life. I'm not my own man, right? That I accomplished these things. No, I'm God's design. I'm his masterpiece. If you're a sculptor and you take a piece of marble and you sculpt it, you understand the marble itself isn't responsible for the sculpting, for the finished product. The marble is dead. It's lifeless. It's unable to shape itself into a beautiful statue, right?

But the master sculpture can give it that beauty, can work out those things. And in a similar way, that's us. We are his workmanship. God is shaping me into a masterpiece out of the materials that I am. My personality, my physical capacity, my talents, my spiritual gifts, my culture, my history, who I am. God is using all of these things, bringing them together as his workmanship and

created in Christ Jesus for good works. Now again, there's a distinction here. It's not good works for salvation, but it's a new creation in Christ for good works. Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way, good works are not the roots from which salvation grows, but the fruit God intends it to bear. Good works are not the roots from

that causes salvation to grow. No, that's grace. That's what brings forth salvation. But good works are the fruit then that God desires and designs for us to bear. And so we're created in Christ Jesus for good works. We're created and designed by him, masterfully put together in a way that we will be able to do good things on his behalf and honor him in the way that we live.

He says, these good works God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And notice the word should there. You should walk in them. It's something important to consider. It's not automatic that you walk in those good works. It's not automatic. It's not done for you. But there's the opportunity for you, seeing what God has done for you, to look for those occasions and those opportunities to then do the things that he's designed you for.

to live out the life that he has prepared for you. It tells us here that God has prepared good works beforehand. And so I don't have to figure out how to do good works. I don't have to figure out, you know, how to generate opportunities for good works. Really, my responsibility is to hear from God because God's already prepared them. He's already planned them. He already knows the opportunities that are best for me. And so really my job is to stay close to God.

to hear from him, to listen to his direction, and then to step forward as he opens doors and lays opportunities before me. That's what you're responsible for. He's given you the ability. He's given you the plans. He's given you everything that you need. Now you just need to walk in it. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, you have been raised and seated on the throne.

Practice your position in Christ. He has worked for you. Now let him work in you and through you that he might give you an exciting, creative life to the glory of God. As you consider all that God has done for you. Again, he made you alive with Christ. He made me alive with Christ. I need Christ just as much as everyone else does.

There is no difference. We all, even if you think about, you know, like the sweetest, who's like the sweetest old lady that you know? Apart from Christ, she is dead in sins and trespasses, right? There's not like that one good person that doesn't really need Christ that much. You know, they're a moral person, really good, kind, sweet, you know, that doesn't exist. Apart from Christ, we are all in this condition. And yet God, even though there was this great depth of sin, this great darkness in my life,

God made me alive with Christ and he showed me exceeding kindness. He gave me salvation as a gift. He just gave it. He said, here, it's free. Just believe and you can have life. You can be born again. And not only that, but I'm going to craft you. You're going to be my masterpiece designed strategically to be able to accomplish good for the kingdom of God, to accomplish good that has eternal value.

Paul says, this is what God has done for us. It's the great reminder of how much we need God, how great he is and how good he is towards us and how we have the opportunity to then live out the life that he has prepared for us. And so let's allow God to lead us. Just as Zach was sharing earlier, you know, he's going back and he believes God's put upon his heart to come back here. There's a life of good works, a life of good things that God has in store for him. But

Zach's not that special. You have that same plan that God has set before you. It's a different path, different works, but you have good works. You have ways. There are ways that God will use specifically who you are and all the things that are unique to you. He has designed and brought together in a way that you can be part of his kingdom and you can bring honor and glory to him. And it's an appropriate response.

to who he is and all that he's done for us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your goodness towards us, your abundant mercy. Lord, your exceeding riches of grace, how much, Lord, we are undeserving and yet how much more you are giving and working in us. Thank you, God, for your goodness towards us. I pray, Lord, that you would show us those good works that you set before us, the path, Lord, the steps that you want us to take.

Help us, Lord, to receive the plans from you, not to just live by our own plans and make our own ideas and our own agendas, but help us to hear from you what it is that you desire, Lord, that we would walk with you in this life that you've set before us. And so, Lord, may we honor you and glorify you. It's the only reasonable response as we understand what you have done for us. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

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