Well, good morning.
I think it's fitting for us to begin with a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, You are good and wonderful.
Thank You for these songs and these reminders today of Your goodness to us in Christ.
God, I would just pray now that You would give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and knowledge of You
that You would make known the immeasurable greatness of Your power to Your church today.
I ask it in Christ's name and for His glory alone. Amen.
I think as human beings we are a little bit awed by power.
A tree fell on our house a couple years ago and I was able to acquire a chainsaw.
I was pretty impressed by the power of this thing to just slice through this hard wood.
I think of the athletic competitions and the power displayed by a defensive lineman
as he sheds the double team and gets into the backfield to trample on the quarterback.
Or Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world as he wins yet another gold medal in a sprint at the Summer Olympics.
I think of the power that's demonstrated in nature.
Waves crashing against the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
Thunderstorms.
The electricity of the lightning, if you've ever been close enough to experience that.
The rumbling of thunder itself.
And then there's times when nature kind of even acts in a stronger way
and it devastates creation with earthquakes and tornadoes.
But this passage that we're looking at today in Ephesians chapter 2,
there's an even greater power on display.
One that just trumps all natural types of power imaginable.
In fact, you could combine them all together and you still wouldn't even begin to touch on how great a power this is.
It's a supernatural power.
It's a spectacular power.
And it's worth considering together again this morning.
Of course, I'm talking about the power of God.
And the way that the Apostle Paul is going to set this out for us today, I believe, is ultimately to drive at this.
If you could take away one belief, if you could leave here with one thought, it would be this.
That salvation is the display of the immeasurable greatness of God's power exercised for you.
It's God's spiritual muscle flexing for us.
It's a display of unimaginable strength.
Salvation is the immeasurable greatness of God's power exercised for you.
So let me read this for us.
If you haven't turned there, we're going to be in Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 10.
This is God's word to us.
Paul writes,
And we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
So just to give us a little bit of context about where we find ourselves,
of course, Mike preached through this book a couple years ago,
and you may be wondering, well, why are we back in Ephesians today?
It seemed good to us to, in the midst of some hard passages of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount,
talking about the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
to be reminded this morning of our great salvation.
And so, Paul starts out his letter by affirming his apostolic authority,
and then he goes right into these spiritual blessings.
In fact, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
That's how chapter 1 starts, and he outlines them.
The Father is at work.
The Son is at work in redemption.
The Holy Spirit sealing us until our inheritance is possessed by us.
And then he starts praying for this church in Ephesus,
and the height of his prayer, he's saying,
God, give this church, give this people a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and knowledge of you.
Enlighten the eyes of their hearts.
And then he says,
so that they know the hope to which they're called,
that they know the glorious inheritance,
and then this one here in verse 19,
what is the immeasurable greatness of God's power toward us who believe.
And he unpacks that by talking about Jesus and his resurrection and his ascension,
his lordship over all dominions and authorities,
his headship over the church,
and then in further description of the great immeasurable power of God,
we come to our chapter 2, verses 1 to 10.
That's why I say that God wants us to see that salvation is the immeasurable greatness of his power extended to us.
And so Paul is going to be very clear in this passage.
There's three parts to his argument.
We're just going to follow straight down the page and see them all,
hopefully very clearly this morning.
So part one is the powerlessness of man in our hopeless condition.
We see that in the first three verses.
We see immediately in verse 1,
and you are dead.
It's worse than we could have ever imagined, friends.
There's no apparent way forward.
There's no recovering from this.
Dead.
Corpses.
Spiritual corpses.
Not dying.
Not sick.
100% dead.
In trespasses and sins.
Paul's redundancy in speaking of it this way is to outline the comprehensive moral evil
in which humanity finds ourselves.
In other words, he's talking about, cumulatively, the intentional boundary crossings,
the misstepping of God's laws.
He's talking about falling short of God's standard in spite of our best efforts.
He's talking about our active wrongdoings and our passive misgivings.
He's talking about the sins that we commit and the goods that we omit.
All-inclusive.
This deadness he speaks of is a spiritual alienation from God.
Severed relationship with our Creator.
But there's more.
In verse 2 and 3, we see that not only are we dead in sins,
but we're enslaved to this evil's triple threat.
The world, Satan, and the flesh.
If you look in verse 2, we see that we were once walking in these trespasses and sins,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
This walking Paul speaks of is not a pleasant stroll,
and it's not as if we've got this nice, spick-and-span clean outfit,
and we're kind of tiptoeing through a bunch of sin, trying not to get dirty.
No, we're immersed in it.
This is our lifestyle, apart from Christ.
Marching in step with a corrupt world,
living life according to society's moral failure,
arrogance, mockery of God,
indifferent to sin,
promoting self,
trying to preserve self,
trying to exalt self.
It's, of course,
marred by evil.
And it seems most likely that Paul connects this purposefully to this prince of the power of the air,
found at the end of verse 2 there.
Of course, this is Satan,
and it's probably best not to think so much of his power here,
but of his domain.
It's the territory of the air that this demonic angel is ruling over.
This realm of the air,
it's a little bit tricky to understand,
but basically what it seems like Paul is saying is that
he's not a tangible body on earth,
but he's neither in the heavenly places in authority,
but he's in kind of this in-between world of spiritual darkness,
and it's impacting directly everything that takes place on this earth.
Notice that Paul says,
now at work.
And I think we can extend that now up to today, obviously,
without much question.
Satan still roams and rules over those who are apart from Christ to this day.
But just to make sure that we're not the unwilling victims in this situation,
Paul continues in verse 3,
that we once lived in the passions of our flesh.
Notice that he's no longer saying just you, Ephesians,
but now we.
Paul begins including himself in this depraved situation
because it's true not just of the immoral,
but of the religious elites as well.
Again, Paul needs to be understood here that when he says lived,
in verse 3,
he's not talking about just being simply in a proximity
with these sons of disobedience,
but again,
conducting our lives in a manner corresponding
to their current manner of living.
We were lusting after the fleshly passions,
actively carrying them out in corrupt desires,
body and mind,
thoughts and actions.
Verse 3 here rejects the notion of being an innocent victim
in this game of sin.
And it puts all of the ultimate responsibility upon us.
It portrays dead people in step with a fallen world
and enslaved to the devil.
I think it's probably, of course,
easy for us to see this reality
when we think of the big sins, right,
and the ways that sin just is rampant.
It's violence, adultery, drunkenness,
drug abuse, theft, murder.
But it raises a question for us.
How can Paul then, this Hebrew of Hebrews,
this one who says under the law is blameless
and really means that in Philippians,
how can he include himself in this?
As I think about it,
I realize that Paul as easily condemns moralism
and religion as he does blatant, outright,
immoral behavior.
See, moralism, religion,
they don't save either.
And they're equally condemning for a man.
Think of Jesus addressing the Pharisees
in any place in the Gospels
and how quickly he points to their lack of righteousness,
even though they're the expert law keepers.
Think of even the Sermon on the Mount
when Jesus says,
unless your righteousness exceeds that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Well, no, these religious elites
have this mentality that
no savior is required for me.
My works speak for themselves.
It's self-righteousness,
self-justification,
and ultimately pride,
which, interestingly enough,
is the downfall of this prince
of the domain of the air.
Tim Keller is really helpful
in kind of unpacking this for us
in a book that he wrote
on the parable of the prodigal son.
And he writes how
it should probably be more
of the parable of the prodigal sons,
plural,
because both of these young men
are equally corrupt
and debased before their father.
The young son squanders his inheritance
and runs off.
The elder brother stays close by.
Listen to what Tim Keller writes
about this older brother.
What did the older son want?
If we think about it,
we realize that he wanted
the same thing as his brother.
He was just as resentful of the father
as was the younger son.
He, too, wanted the father's goods
rather than the father himself.
The older brother stayed close
and never disobeyed.
That was his way to get control.
His unspoken demand is,
I have never disobeyed you.
Now you have to do things in my life
the way I want them to be done.
I hope you hear in that
the sense of entitlement,
the attempt to manipulate
a sovereign God
and the desire to control
the outcome
by doing good things.
Paul seems to say here
that this is
the depraved
and reprehensible motivation
behind all religious effort.
It's not as obvious, perhaps,
as the eat and drink and be merry,
but it's equally condemnable
before God.
Unfortunately, the situation
gets worse before we move on
to the good news.
We see the last statement
of verse 3
that we not only were dead
and enslaved,
but by nature
were children of wrath
like the rest of mankind.
This is a huge concept
to try and unpack
in a really brief moment,
but basically,
we need to consider
a couple of things here.
What Paul is saying
is,
as naturally as eagles soar
and as lions roar,
part of our spiritual DNA
as Adam's descendants
is incurring wrath
by our nature.
Romans 5 sort of unpacks this
in verses 12 to 21.
The basic idea is that
sin comes in through Adam,
through one man,
death through that sin,
and then death spreads
to everyone
because everyone has sinned.
One trespass,
one trespass
leads to death
for all people.
I don't know about you,
but I tend to take offense
at this statement
that by my nature,
from my first breath
to my last,
I deserve wrath.
This is terribly offensive,
yet it's biblical.
It's right here.
By our nature,
we are deserving
of God's righteous anger
and judgment for sin.
We are active rebels,
substandard performers,
and we deserve wrath.
So let me encourage you
this morning,
don't get caught up
trying to see
who the better dead guy is.
This isn't an opportunity
to say,
well,
better than that guy
over there.
This isn't a,
you know,
that's what religion does,
right?
That's what morality does.
Paul's leveling it.
Like everyone.
Universal human condition.
It's right in front of us here.
This is intended
to sober us,
and it's intended
to humble us.
That,
brother,
sister,
your spiritual condition,
apart from Christ,
it's hard to admit
and even more impossible
to reconcile,
but we are hopeless,
dead men and women
awaiting judgment.
enslavement,
enslaved by the triad
of evil,
heaping up wrath
for ourselves.
But God.
Amazingly,
Paul does not
leave us there,
and even more amazingly,
neither does God.
Most importantly,
neither does God.
The beginning of verse 4
begins the second section
of this chapter,
of these verses,
and probably begins
with my two favorite
words of the Bible.
But God.
It seems here
that Paul knows
right at the outset
of verse 4
that he needs to
ward off any objections
to what he's about to say
before getting
to what God does.
So,
he gives two reasons
for why God does
what he does.
See that in verse 4?
But God,
being rich in mercy
because of the great love
with which he loved us.
If we continue there
just to the beginning
of verse 5,
even when we are dead
in trespasses.
This mercy
is a concept
that he's talking about
this kindness
expressed towards
someone in need.
It's kind of
simplifying a little bit
considering what we just read,
but that's the mercy
that Paul's writing about
and the thing
that is so sweet
to me about it
is how unexpected
this mercy is.
Great love for enemies,
rebels,
and failures.
A mercy
expressed to those
in need.
Paul says,
hold on.
Wrath
is not the whole
image
of my God.
let me tell you
about his compassion
and his love.
He's rich in mercy.
He does not wish
that any should perish.
He's loving,
he's enough loving
of his enemies
to take action
for them.
Friends,
isn't this why
we worship him
and adore him
and gather here
to sing his praises?
Because he's a merciful God,
a loving God.
God.
So then Paul,
after giving these reasons,
goes on to talk about
the activity of God
when he forgave us
the end, right?
No.
What does he say
in verse 5 and 6?
Made us alive
together with Christ
by grace you have been saved
and raised us up with him
and seated us with him
in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus.
Forgiveness.
Salvation is
no less certainly
than forgiveness,
but oh,
it is so much more.
It radically changes
our entire position
before a holy
and righteous God.
From children of wrath
to made alive,
new spiritual birth
in Christ,
raised with him
and exalted
into the heavenly places,
positioned with him
and John Stott
remarks that
certainly that means
that there's thrones
for us
to be seated in.
And you notice
how what Paul says here,
it undoes
the effects
of verses 1 to 3.
It undoes
the deadness.
Dead people
made alive,
got that one checked off.
In this
worldly realm,
this course
of an evil world,
under the influence
of a demonic
spirit of the air,
done away with,
exalted to the heavenly places,
above that domain
of the air,
no more satanic power
over us.
Enslavement?
Nope.
Thrones in heaven.
And certainly,
no wrath
when we are united
with the sinless
Son of God.
It's a new existence,
a new identity,
a new domain.
This is Paul
unpacking what
Colossians 1.13
says so succinctly,
that he has delivered us
from the domain
of darkness
and transferred us
to the kingdom
of his beloved Son.
No longer children
of wrath.
A new nature
in Christ,
adopted sons
and daughters
of the King.
Friends,
make no mistake,
this is a current
spiritual reality.
If you're in Christ,
this is now
currently true.
So this,
of course,
changes how we view
ourselves
and one another.
Positionally found
with Christ
now,
forever,
for all eternity.
This is what's
most true
about us.
And not only
should it change
how we view
ourselves
and each other,
but it should make
us long
for the future
when God fulfills
this
once and for all.
Notice in these
verses that
four times
Jesus is mentioned.
In verse 5 and 6,
made us alive
together with Christ.
Verse 6,
raised us up
with Him,
seated us
with Him
in the heavenly
places in Christ
Jesus.
This assumes
some things
about our Savior.
He's alive,
He's exalted,
He's reigning
over all rule
and authority,
and He's our
only hope.
Paul's not
quite done
describing
God's
actions.
Verse 7
gives us
the purpose
behind them.
This is so amazing.
Look at it.
So that in the
coming ages,
He might show
the immeasurable
riches of His
grace and
kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus.
God purposes
to save us
in this
grand
scale,
epic
salvation
so that in the
coming ages,
the immeasurable
greatness of
His power
would manifest
itself in the
immeasurable
riches of His
grace toward us.
It's aimed at us
forever.
What do we do
with this?
I mean,
we don't just get
to witness the
grace of God.
We're the
recipients,
the goal of His
grace for
eternity.
Dead,
enslaved,
and destined
for wrath,
usurped by
God's mercy,
love,
grace,
and kindness
in Christ.
Thanks be to
God.
One final move
in Paul's
argument here,
verses 8-10.
Kind of think of
these as the
contractual terms
of this salvation.
I imagine a
businessman who's
just heard the
Apostle Paul kind
of outline this
salvation,
the great things
that Christ has
done,
the great power
that God has
demonstrated in
resurrecting Him
and us with Him,
seating Him and
us in the
heavenly places,
and asking,
kind of like that,
Paul.
It sounds pretty
good.
You know,
reach in for his
pocketbook.
How much do I owe
you?
You know,
do you have a
payment plan?
What do I got to
do to get this?
Paul's at,
shh,
grace.
Grace.
You want to know
the terms of the
contract?
Grace.
If you're asking
today, how do you
get it?
How do you get the
salvation?
It's by grace.
It's by accepting
the gift of God.
No other way.
There's no other
terms.
There's no fine
print.
There's no clean
yourself up and then
come get the grace.
Just receive it.
Receive it.
Ephesians 2, 8, and 9
are a couple of my
first ever, you know,
memory verses as I
was growing as a
Christian and I think
that's great.
They're so good,
right?
But it hasn't been
until recently that
I've started seeing
how they function in
Paul's argument in
this passage.
These verses, 8
through 10, are
really supporting
what's come before
it in verses 4 to
7.
They're strengthening
Paul's argument as
he talks about
salvation.
And I think they do
it in this way that
they're trying to
ward off the
questions that seem
to be looking to
make salvation too
good to be true.
I mean, how can
salvation really
truly exist?
How can this be the
way it is for
children of wrath?
Paul says, grace.
By grace you've been
saved through faith.
This is not a
result of works.
It's not your own
doing.
It's the gift of God.
Not a result of work
so that no one may
boast for his
workmanship.
I love what Charles
Spurgeon says.
He writes simply
that where grace
exists, it reigns.
It rules.
It owns.
It has no rivals.
It reigns.
That's why Paul goes
there.
He intends to
silence the doubters
and humble the
recipients.
Notice back in
verse 5 that he
already interjected
this grace into his
tale of salvation.
He can't contain
himself.
It's just this
outburst of joy to
say, it's all grace.
It's all grace.
And now he comes
back to it in these
final three verses.
Let's make sure we're
clear on what this
grace is.
It's freely given
unmerited favor.
It's not earned.
It's not purchased.
It can't be bartered
for.
It's gifted to
undeserving people.
And it's not an abstract,
warm, and fuzzy kind of
thing like we tend to
apply to terms today.
I love pizza.
No.
Concrete,
objective,
historical reality.
The grace of God here
points to the person and
work of Jesus Christ.
salvation,
friends,
is not just the reality
of our union with
Jesus,
our being raised with
him and seated with
him,
but it's because of his
work on behalf of
sinners.
Jesus becoming a man.
We sang this song.
Thanks, brother.
We sang this song.
Perfect obedience to
the Father.
No shortcomings,
no failures,
no missteps,
no nothing,
but perfect obedience.
Dying on a cross
on behalf of sinners.
Taking the wrath of God
that we deserve by our
very nature on himself.
Raised from the dead.
Exalted to God's right
hand.
Now the ruling and
reigning king over all
the powers that be in the
whole universe.
That's the grace Paul's
getting at here.
That's his way of saying,
Jesus, you're saved.
By grace,
you've been saved.
Paul keeps a source
before us, right?
Verse 8,
Not you,
God.
Those words
butt up against each
other in the original.
Not you,
of God the gift.
That's kind of how it
reads.
It's his gift.
And it's not a result
of works.
It's not general,
morally upright behavior
that earns this salvation
or accomplishes it
in any way.
That's why there's no
boasting, right?
When we're rightly
contrasting verses 1-3
with verses 4-7,
boasting is done away with.
There's no room for it.
God initiates,
and God works
from beginning to end
to accomplish salvation
for us
in Christ.
So God wants the credit
he deserves.
Dead people aren't working
for salvation.
They're working for wrath.
So boasting in anything
other than in Jesus
shows a radical
misunderstanding
of what this gospel
is about.
Maybe you're asking yourself,
what about faith?
I see that.
Verse 8,
you've been saved
by grace
through faith.
Here's how that faith
comes into play.
It's taking the objective,
historical reality
of God's grace
in Christ
and receiving it
personally
for yourself.
It's taking what is
objectively true
and saying,
I believe that
and I hope in that
and I trust in that
forever and ever.
That's how faith works
alongside the grace
of God.
Faith saves insofar
as it clings to Jesus
and trusts in God's grace.
and finally we see
verse 10.
This is so good.
Paul writes,
yet another strengthening
point
to prove
what he has just said
in verses 8 and 9.
We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus
for good works
which God prepared
beforehand
that we should walk
in them.
It's Paul's last
and final effort
here in this passage
to communicate
God did it.
We are his work.
This word is beautiful.
It talks of
the NIV
if you have that
in front of you
it talks about
handiwork.
Think of
craftsmanship
but more importantly
it's creation.
God is taking
something
that has
no form
no substance
no goodness
and making
something new.
We see that, right?
Created in Christ Jesus.
Created.
Not sort of just
not just resurrected
not just made new
created.
This is the 2 Corinthians
5.17
notion that
whoever is in Christ
is a new creation.
This is
like a spiritualized
Genesis 1.
In the beginning
of salvation
God created
alive
spiritual
men and women
who were once
dead in their
trespasses and sins.
Jesus here
is seen
as the
craftsman's
tool.
It's his
salvific work
that creates
the new
and living
people of God.
So Christian
if you're here
today and you're
looking for
purpose
here it is.
This verse
tells us
created in Christ
for good works.
For good works.
It's why we are
made alive
with Christ.
It's why
we were raised
from the dead
given new life
saved
for good works.
not works
that save
us
but works
that carry
out God's
new purpose
for living
people in
Christ.
If you want
to study
kind of what
these look
like I invite
you to
read over
chapters 4,
5,
and 6.
If you remember
Mike made a
great point
as he was
going through
this book
on the
number of
times that
you see
walk,
walk.
Because that's
how this
passage in
chapter 10
ends that
we should
walk in
them.
Chapter 4,
the beginning,
it doesn't
give us
specific good
works but it
tells us how
they should be
characterized,
what kind of
heart should be
applied to
these.
Humility and
gentleness,
patience,
bearing with
one another in
love,
and eager to
maintain the
unity of the
spirit and the
bond of peace.
There's good
works for each
and every one
of us in this
room who is a
Christian.
God's prepared
us for them.
I love this
last word,
walk,
because it
adequately
bookends this
section.
It illustrates
how far as the
people of God
we have come.
Following a
hopeless course
of the world,
enslaved by
Satan,
living for
fleshly desires,
rejecting God
and awaiting
judgment,
walking in all
of that,
made alive in
Christ,
rescued by
objective,
historical
grace,
unexpected
kindness
shown to
us,
transferred into
the kingdom of
Jesus Christ
and created
anew for good
works.
grace.
So now,
we walk not
in sin,
but in good
works,
not to earn
our salvation,
but in
gratitude for
God's free
and gracious
gift.
Brothers and
sisters,
this is your
salvation.
This surely
is the
immeasurable
greatness of
God's power
extended to
us.
Let's pray.
God, it is
impossible to
overstate the
goodness of
this word.
I pray for
all of us that
it would season
our lives in a
way that's
pleasing to
you.
God, would you
help us by
faith to
receive this,
rejoice in
this each and
every day?
Would you
help us to
walk in the
good works you
have for us?
Thank you for
this morning.
Thank you for
your word.
We praise your
name through
Jesus.
Amen.