WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Last week, Steve opened up Ephesians for us all and showed us the greatness of God, 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:15.040 the wonderful and lavish spiritual blessings that are for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:22.600 Being adopted, being redeemed, forgiven, lavished with spiritual wisdom and understanding, 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:31.280 the Holy Spirit, power and a guarantee of a future for all those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:00:31.859 --> 00:00:40.100 That small word in, we were reminded, means for those who are connected by faith to Jesus. 00:00:40.939 --> 00:00:43.880 What a great beginning to a letter. 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:52.380 We could nearly stop there and be able to meditate for weeks and weeks on all that one chapter gives us. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:54.359 There's great truths. 00:00:55.020 --> 00:01:02.039 And in this chapter that we're looking at today, in chapter two, it follows as for you. 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:08.560 Giving the hint that there is something important that is about to be said. 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:11.980 A contrast is set before us. 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:14.980 It's a before and an after contrast. 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:23.500 It's a little bit like the before and after pictures that you see in magazines and on TV. 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:30.900 You know the ones where people are really overweight and they take some special pill and then they're very, very slim. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:38.460 Or if you have watched a particular show, which I suspect none of you have watched, but I must confess I have. 00:01:38.459 --> 00:01:47.599 A show on TV that transforms an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:54.000 A woman who looks as if she's not clean to teeth nor her hair for many, many weeks. 00:01:54.559 --> 00:01:57.640 That she's in very daggy clothes. 00:01:57.739 --> 00:01:59.479 She's not wearing any makeup. 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:03.400 She's looking like something that the cat had dragged in. 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:09.159 And she puts herself into the hands of a style gurus. 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:11.640 Well, multiple style gurus. 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:15.519 She goes and has her teeth straightened and whitened. 00:02:16.079 --> 00:02:18.339 She is put on a better diet. 00:02:18.519 --> 00:02:20.699 She has a gym instructor and a routine. 00:02:21.399 --> 00:02:24.379 She sees the hair and the makeup stylist. 00:02:25.119 --> 00:02:27.019 And they do their wonder. 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:31.159 And then a whole new wardrobe of clothes is bought for her. 00:02:31.659 --> 00:02:33.500 And she is stunning. 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:37.319 The transformation is radical. 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:45.699 You're hard pressed to recognise the woman is the same person from the before and the after. 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:49.000 If you've ever seen that show, it's absolutely amazing. 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:58.359 Well, Paul gives us a similar radical transformation picture for us in this passage. 00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:01.900 Maybe not a swan, but something heaps better. 00:03:03.799 --> 00:03:06.740 Verses 1 to 3 is the before picture. 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:10.519 What one was before knowing Christ. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.099 And the after picture is in verse 4 to 7. 00:03:14.859 --> 00:03:19.539 That's the transformation after coming to Christ. 00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:27.939 He then brings it all together in verses 8 to 10 and tells us what the goal of this comparison is to be. 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:32.519 The before picture is actually not very flattering. 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:37.219 In fact, it's hard to imagine that it can get much worse. 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:40.879 The first word Paul uses is dead. 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:44.319 It doesn't get much worse than that, really. 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:52.599 Apart from Christ, in our pre-conversion state, we are spiritually dead. 00:03:53.299 --> 00:03:55.000 That is the result of sin. 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:57.340 Sin kills, it destroys. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.319 Let's read those first three verses again. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:16.079 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:27.240 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:32.479 Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:47.540 You name the sin and I bet I could probably give you an example of it somewhere where it's been glamorised and made to look appealing and normative. 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:53.300 Lust, you could look out on billboards out in the street. 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:54.439 You could look on buses. 00:04:54.660 --> 00:04:56.180 You can look in the magazines. 00:04:56.180 --> 00:05:03.079 Greed, well, greed, our economy is based on greed, built on greed. 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:11.879 Self-centredness, well, movies and televisions and magazines are all based around self-centredness. 00:05:12.460 --> 00:05:18.280 Self-help books have as a theme someone trying to get what they want. 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:23.639 I could go on, but I'm certain that you get the picture that I'm trying to build. 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:30.759 And I love how J.B. Phillips, great theologian, paraphrases Romans 12 too. 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:38.360 The familiar verse that says, do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world. 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:45.659 And Phillips says, do not let the world squeeze you into its mould. 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:52.180 Paul means here more than sexual sins when he says flesh. 00:05:52.180 --> 00:06:13.300 In Galatians 5, 19 to 21, he mentions sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:23.939 But let me say, one person's sin or sin weakness might be different to another person's sin or sin weakness. 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:30.180 One person might struggle with their own body and have sexual temptations. 00:06:30.840 --> 00:06:33.519 Another might be ambition and pride. 00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:36.319 Another might be jealousy and greed. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:43.639 The flesh is anything in us that gives sin a chance. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.579 It is human nature without God. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:49.680 Broth is a strong word. 00:06:50.659 --> 00:06:56.120 It's God's holy anger against sin and the judgment that results. 00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:06.079 And that is the word Paul uses to describe God's response to our sinful state prior to coming to Christ. 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:11.939 God's wrath is not something we like to mention, but it is real. 00:07:12.780 --> 00:07:17.740 Often when talking to friends, we prefer to talk about God's love. 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:30.120 I am absolutely convinced and certain that when I've talked about God, if I was going to look at percentages, I talk about God's love far more than God's wrath. 00:07:31.259 --> 00:07:34.240 But in fact, the two are not opposites. 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:36.579 They actually need each other. 00:07:37.259 --> 00:07:45.620 God cannot be completely loving if he does not hate the things that rob us of knowing full lives. 00:07:45.620 --> 00:07:52.120 Similarly, he cannot be wrathful if he didn't care about us. 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:55.540 Because if he didn't care, he would be ambivalent. 00:07:57.399 --> 00:08:03.519 Now, many of us do not think of lost people as objects of God's wrath. 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:10.459 For many people, the truth of the gospel has been watered down. 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:20.719 We think that people are generally moral and God is just, so maybe it won't really matter and won't be so bad on judgment day. 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:32.079 Many feel more comfortable believing that being a good person will be enough for God to love them and to accept them into heaven. 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:35.019 Well, that would be absolutely wrong. 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:43.559 God's wrath says that they are dead, enslaved by nature objects of wrath. 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:44.799 God's word, sorry. 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:48.659 That doesn't mean without any value, though. 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:56.519 If lost people weren't invaluable to God, he wouldn't have sent Christ to die for us. 00:08:56.519 --> 00:09:07.220 No, it's because of how valuable they are that this state of death, slavery, wrath is so wrong. 00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:16.600 And understanding the true state of people without Christ must motivate us to share the good news with them. 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:25.100 A friend just this week, at the launch in actual fact, he's just retired, and he said to me, 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:31.980 I have come to the realisation I have less years ahead of me than I have behind me. 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:42.080 He said, and so because I have less years ahead of me, it has made me more passionate to share the gospel in a more passionate way now 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:43.940 because I only have a little bit of time. 00:09:43.940 --> 00:09:49.900 Now, for a few of you, you might have more years ahead of you than behind. 00:09:51.060 --> 00:09:54.540 But for the bulk of us, we actually are in that category. 00:09:54.680 --> 00:09:59.840 We have less years ahead of us, and so we need to be passionate about sharing Jesus 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:03.760 because those who do not know Jesus are under God's wrath. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:11.620 The harsh reality is that they will perish eternally. 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:18.759 People we care about, people we love, desperately need to know the truth. 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:22.279 Let's read verses 4 to 7. 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:30.899 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, 00:10:31.319 --> 00:10:33.819 even when we were dead in transgressions. 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:36.740 It is by grace you have been saved. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:44.480 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:55.840 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:01.320 Verse 4 begins with one of those great words in Scripture. 00:11:02.280 --> 00:11:02.960 But. 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:13.040 Don't you love it how we can be reading along, starting to feel hopeless, helpless and discouraged, 00:11:13.780 --> 00:11:17.519 overwhelmed by how far we are from God's standard, 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:21.579 and then we come to this little word, but. 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:29.659 All I have just said is true, but you are not without hope. 00:11:30.199 --> 00:11:32.039 But there is more. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.360 But God. 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:39.799 The next three verses describe the change that comes through Christ. 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:46.719 This is the after picture, contrasting and demonstrating the change that takes place. 00:11:47.620 --> 00:11:57.879 The first verse in this after section, verse 4, places the focus squarely on God, where it needs to be. 00:11:58.459 --> 00:12:05.439 It's God's great love and it's his rich mercy that we are made alive and raised with Christ. 00:12:06.079 --> 00:12:07.399 That is our testimony. 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:14.579 Once we were spiritually dead and now we are spiritually alive. 00:12:15.259 --> 00:12:21.340 The very same power we saw last week in chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, 00:12:21.819 --> 00:12:29.059 that raised Christ from the dead is the very same power that transforms you and me 00:12:29.059 --> 00:12:33.460 from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive. 00:12:33.460 --> 00:12:42.180 And I hope that excites you to know that the very same power that has risen Christ is what is the power within us. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:43.780 How wonderful is that? 00:12:44.500 --> 00:12:48.920 Remember, we all have all the spiritual blessings that God gives us. 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:54.440 And yet, so often, we think that God is holding out on us. 00:12:55.160 --> 00:12:56.860 He's forgotten us. 00:12:56.860 --> 00:12:59.500 He's not helping us. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:07.360 We're going through trauma or change, broken relationships, and we say, where is God in all of this? 00:13:08.139 --> 00:13:16.539 And frankly, I have to say to myself, how dare you even question God with everything that he has given you? 00:13:16.800 --> 00:13:17.779 How dare I? 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:31.740 How amazing and how absolutely wonderful is that? 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:39.600 God has raised us up with Christ and all the power that Jesus controls is ours to access also. 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:49.779 It is no wonder that Paul began this picture in chapter 1 that we saw last week with a focus on the great love and the rich mercy of God. 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:55.519 Who are we to sit with Christ around his throne? 00:13:56.460 --> 00:13:58.060 Well, we are God's children. 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:01.060 We have been raised up because of God. 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:02.299 We belong there. 00:14:02.739 --> 00:14:04.819 That is where our citizenship is. 00:14:05.219 --> 00:14:12.139 That is where our loyalty and our life and worship belong, seated in heaven with Christ. 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.439 Why would God do such a thing? 00:14:16.479 --> 00:14:19.359 The answer is in the next verse, in verse 7. 00:14:22.219 --> 00:14:24.159 And I'll read that. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:40.819 God did it to show the world what he is like. 00:14:40.820 --> 00:14:43.000 And let me ask you. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:54.100 When the world looks at you and looks at me, do you think the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus? 00:14:54.379 --> 00:14:56.000 Do you think they see that? 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:00.260 Do you think they see life, as in verse 5? 00:15:00.660 --> 00:15:05.060 Do they see us focused around Jesus' throne in heaven? 00:15:05.059 --> 00:15:09.719 Well, God saved us so that the world would know what he is like. 00:15:10.339 --> 00:15:13.459 When people look at you and me, what is it that they see? 00:15:14.259 --> 00:15:16.579 These verses are to encourage you. 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:21.979 They're to encourage you to see the gospel for what it is. 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:24.259 It's about who God is. 00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:26.740 What Jesus has done for us. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:32.360 It's about the power that raises Christ from the dead is in us. 00:15:33.019 --> 00:15:35.159 Be encouraged with this. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.139 You are not alone. 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:43.860 You cannot and will never be able to do anything left to your own devices. 00:15:44.680 --> 00:15:48.980 But God can and God has and God will. 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:54.220 Well, that leads us to verses 8 and 9. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:58.379 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:00.420 And this is not from yourselves. 00:16:00.659 --> 00:16:01.980 It is the gift of God. 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:10.940 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:13.920 This is the heart of the gospel. 00:16:14.180 --> 00:16:18.620 And what is often seen as the heart of the book of Ephesians. 00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:21.759 Many of us have memorised those verses. 00:16:22.259 --> 00:16:23.399 And with good reason. 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:30.019 They are succinctly and powerfully stating the incredible message of salvation. 00:16:31.220 --> 00:16:32.800 It is really simple. 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:37.019 Salvation is by grace through faith. 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:40.740 What more needs to be said with that? 00:16:40.740 --> 00:16:43.100 God's grace offers it. 00:16:43.100 --> 00:16:45.180 We receive it in faith. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:52.539 And so we don't go off and think that we have something great because of the exercise of our faith. 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:55.019 The verse continues quickly to say, 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:56.799 It's not of yourselves. 00:16:57.299 --> 00:17:00.179 It is nothing that we have earned. 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:05.160 It is simply a gift to be believed and accepted. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:11.740 This is the incredible simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:20.980 Because of his great love for us, God offers us a gift of salvation by his grace. 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:24.500 All we need to do is have faith. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:30.059 It's all about God and what God did and what God does. 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:32.640 The focus is on him. 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:34.940 He is the central character. 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.240 He is the one who pours out grace and saves us. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:44.980 This is so simple and yet so hard for so many people. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:50.079 There is a saying that I hear often and that is, 00:17:50.339 --> 00:17:53.000 There is no such thing as a free lunch. 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:55.240 I'm sure you've heard it. 00:17:55.660 --> 00:17:59.859 Meaning that in some way we end up paying for everything. 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:02.819 Well it's not true here. 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.960 There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn salvation. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:13.559 There is nothing we can do to make ourselves come alive spiritually. 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:15.859 It is by grace. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:21.920 That word we hear so often and yet abuse so regularly. 00:18:22.839 --> 00:18:25.200 We just need to respond in faith. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:32.259 Faith being the instrument through which the benefits and blessings of the cross come to us. 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:35.059 Don't be mistaken though. 00:18:35.579 --> 00:18:38.299 That faith is a form of earning something from God. 00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:43.039 No, Martin Luther has this great phrase that says, 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.420 Faith is not a work. 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:49.940 It is a resting in what God has done. 00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:51.920 Faith is not a work. 00:18:52.099 --> 00:18:54.660 It is a resting in what God has done. 00:18:54.660 --> 00:19:01.900 And I love Paul's bluntness and how he puts us in our rightful place. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:03.759 Simply put, he says, 00:19:04.320 --> 00:19:09.600 This salvation has nothing to do with what you have done in any way, shape or form. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.900 We have nothing to boast about because it is all God. 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:22.340 Well, all too often we memorise verses 8 to 9 and we leave out verse 10. 00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:25.040 And verse 10 says, 00:19:25.140 --> 00:19:32.900 For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. 00:19:32.900 --> 00:20:02.880 If we leave that verse 10. 00:20:02.900 --> 00:20:05.160 Being created in Christ. 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:13.740 And if you are anything like me, I struggle daily to believe that I am a masterpiece. 00:20:14.420 --> 00:20:19.960 That I am a work of art that the creator of this world has made. 00:20:20.580 --> 00:20:21.800 Why do I struggle? 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:30.420 Well, because I constantly fall back to thinking it's all about me and what I can do to earn approval. 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:37.019 And I step back into behaving as if I am in the before state. 00:20:38.120 --> 00:20:43.240 And I will fail every time when I do that. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:47.440 Because it is all about God and what he has done. 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:53.460 What is essential for us to know is included in verses 8 to 9. 00:20:53.460 --> 00:20:55.539 Works don't save us. 00:20:56.120 --> 00:21:01.559 They don't make us more holy or more spiritual or more important to God. 00:21:02.259 --> 00:21:11.840 But works flow naturally out of what we have been made to be by the craftsmanship of God. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:15.639 We are not saved by works. 00:21:15.639 --> 00:21:18.539 But for works. 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:20.679 So they are important. 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:22.220 They are crucial. 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:27.679 But they do not earn us salvation or any more of God's love. 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:33.759 Our works flow out of who we are created to be. 00:21:34.139 --> 00:21:36.899 They are a result of salvation. 00:21:36.900 --> 00:21:39.680 Not a cause of salvation. 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:43.000 And it is critical that we grasp that. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:49.320 There is something radically wrong if salvation does not produce good works. 00:21:50.460 --> 00:21:54.460 It's not that our good works put God in our debt. 00:21:55.320 --> 00:22:05.100 Rather, God's love lays on us the obligation to try throughout all of our life to be worthy of the love he gives us. 00:22:05.099 --> 00:22:14.719 So we read, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. 00:22:15.199 --> 00:22:19.299 This effectively is our mission here at St Paul's. 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:21.240 To know Jesus. 00:22:21.859 --> 00:22:23.019 To treasure Jesus. 00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:28.259 Represent Jesus for God's glory and the joy of all people. 00:22:28.259 --> 00:22:35.839 How I long personally and also corporately to be that testimony to that statement. 00:22:36.460 --> 00:22:39.140 That's what we pray for here at St Paul's. 00:22:39.140 --> 00:22:54.000 As we end, the question I ask us both is, is your spiritual life sitting in the before state, the before picture or in the after picture? 00:22:54.000 --> 00:23:07.579 Don't fall for the temptation to live in the before when in fact you have been given absolutely everything by God's grace to live the transformed beauty that Christ won for you. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:15.440 And finally, anticipate the good works that God has prepared for you this week. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:34.500 Take your focus off yourself and look around to see what opportunities God has for you to show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:37.039 Live the mission. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:38.980 Know Jesus. 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:40.720 Treasure Jesus. 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:42.639 Represent Jesus. 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:47.240 For God's glory and the joy of all people. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:48.220 Amen.