Ephesians chapter 2 and beginning our reading at
the first verse And you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein
in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world according to the prince
of the power of the air the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience
among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our
flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind and were by nature the
children of wrath even as others but God
who is rich in mercy for his great
love wherewith he loved us even when we
were dead in sins hath quickened us together
with Christ by grace ye are saved and
hath raised us up together and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus
that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in
his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus for
by grace are ye saved through faith and
that not of yourselves it is the gift
of God not of works lest any man
should boast for we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in
them Amen This morning we're focusing on the
glory of God's grace and power in salvation
in Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 1 to
10 I appreciate I'm only giving you an
overview and a very basic introduction to this
important section but there is continuity with the
preceding verses and this is indicated again by
this conjunction and the beginning of verse 2
and verse 1 and you he made alive
who were dead in trespasses and in sins
the apostle has been praying for the Ephesian
Christians in verses 17 to 23 he's been
praying that they should know God better that
they should appreciate the great hope which is
ahead of them as believers in addition he's
been praying that they will appreciate the great
power of God which is at work in
and on behalf of his people that same
power which raised the Lord Jesus from the
dead which took him into heaven and seated
him at the right hand of God the
Father and that appreciation at the same time
of the meritorial lordship of our Lord Jesus
Christ over all things in heaven and upon
earth and that prayer is a prayer that
we should all be praying for ourselves and
for our churches in our own day but
having prayed this prayer the apostle now proceeds
to give some important teaching particularly in verses
1 2 and 3 concerning the sinful condition
of humanity outside of Jesus Christ now the
apostle underlines the fact of God's sovereign grace
and power immediately in verses 4 down to
verse 10 now the apostle is establishing a
most crucial point here and that is that
humanity not only does God save by his
grace and by his power but apart from
the exercise of God's power and grace no
one can ever be saved we are totally
dependent upon God not just in terms of
the planning of salvation not only in the
accomplishment of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
but also in its application God must work
in us in his power to bring a
sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ I want
to approach these verses pastorally and as we
come to verses 1 2 and 3 I
want to remind you all of the seriousness
and the reality of this description which the
apostle is giving to us of those people
who are outside of Jesus Christ those of
you for example who are Christian parents and
you may have unconverted children they may be
young as yet or they may be teenagers
they may be in their 20s or 30s
but despite your prayers and your teaching you're
taking them to church in the earlier years
they are not converted rightly so this is
a burden to you you pray for them
you long to see them converted and here
the apostle is really describing what your unconverted
children are like spiritually outside of Jesus Christ
you're seeing your children as God sees them
without a savior or those of you who
are Christian young people you may have unconverted
parents unconverted grandparents unconverted brothers and sisters unconverted
friends in college or in work or in
school and here the apostle is giving us
a very realistic picture of your relatives and
your friends this is what they're really like
in relation to God himself and for all
of us involved in Christian work and Christian
witness maybe in Sunday school teaching non-Christian
children young people perhaps in the youth fellowship
reaching out to teenagers as we live in
our neighborhood try to witness to our non
-Christian neighbors as we're involved in open air
work door-to-door visitation and repeatedly there
is no response to the gospel as we
share it perhaps repeatedly they are not interested
in what we're telling them about the gospel
now the apostle Paul in verses one two
and three is really telling us the reasons
why they do not respond to the gospel
it's because they're like this here in verses
one two and three that they do not
welcome you as a Christian and they do
not embrace your message concerning Jesus Christ and
for all of us as Christians involved in
evangelism these verses must influence the way in
which we evangelize whatever the condition is and
we're going to look at it in verses
one two and three these people need to
hear the gospel and so our witnessing our
evangelism must be word gospel based but then
as we share the gospel we need to
be praying hard knowing that only God can
make that gospel we're sharing effective we also
need to be living godly lives in front
of those non-Christians so I trust as
we look at these opening verses that we
will realize their relevance for our own situations
and that we'll be prepared to think through
again the way in which we are approaching
evangelism notice that there are five important details
which the apostle gives to us of unbelievers
in verses one two and three the first
detail is out of death in verse one
right into these Ephesians he says and you
the verb comes late in verse five who
were dead in trespasses and sins this is
a very powerful picture you can stand by
a person who has just died you may
love that person you may be stunned by
that person's death you may talk to that
person you may wait for a response perhaps
a movement of an arm or a leg
or may want to hear words from that
dead person but the person is dead and
you Paul writes to these Ephesians you were
dead in trespasses and in sins that is
on account of and through your trespasses and
sin sin has brought us into spiritual death
and these two words trespasses and sins point
to the immensity the variety the extent of
all our sins as unbelievers unbelievers are spiritually
dead spiritually dead now your child or friend
or parent or neighbor may be physically alive
extremely healthy they may even be very active
in sport mentally alert financially comfortable but socially
involved as well committed in terms of the
family but in relation to god spiritually dead
all unbelievers are spiritually dead there is no
spiritual response to god at all and as
you share the bible as you bear witness
to the lord jesus christ there is no
response in the heart spiritually to what they
are hearing very often they will rebel they
will complain they will tell us that they
are bored they are spiritually dead i'm humbled
to to to realize that even here in
Aberystwyth for nearly two terms i was in
that state spiritually dead and blind i was
surrounded by a small group of christians some
of them witnessed to me one person in
particular witnessed to me as often as he
could and would come to my room in
whole almost daily for one term and a
half and remember towards the end of february
that in that second term he gave up
on me i still remember him saying to
me in my room i didn't understand what
he was trying to tell me but he
told me you are blind you're hopeless and
he gave up on me three four weeks
later i was converted spiritually dead and if
such spiritually dead people are to be saved
god in his power and grace has to
intervene in their lives i'm not going to
change them i'm not going to bring them
to christ by mimes or by drama or
by music by any other technique god by
the holy spirit has to regenerate them they
need to be changed from the inside given
spiritual divine life and brought effectively irresistibly to
christ when we are involved in evangelism prayer
is absolutely basic we must be active we
must be sharing the gospel we must ensure
that people everywhere are hearing the the glorious
news of the lord jesus christ but our
activities in themselves will not change them god
by the spirit must work in the gospel
and in their hearts and lives spiritually dead
but notice secondly in verse two worldliness i've
written somewhere a story about a swansea fishmonger
because it it intrigued me some six years
ago because this swansea fishmonger had a 15
stone shark in his shop that he was
just getting ready to cut up and to
sell and he explained that within hours it
would be sold there was such a demand
in swansea for such fish the story is
that this large shark was basking the warm
waters off the the west african coast then
there came a freak winter storm and this
shark was turned off course and it was
eventually caught by trawler men off the south
coast of england and this swansea fishmonger very
enterprising bought it i mentioned the story just
to illustrate that what the bible is saying
that we've all gone off course as humans
the bible makes it clear that before he
sinned adam was on course he was fulfilling
the purpose set for his life by god
namely glorifying god obeying god enjoying god that's
the reason why god created adam and the
entire human race in revelation 4 verse 11
we read for thy pleasure they are and
they were created so before he sinned adam's
whole life centered around god all that he
thought all that he desired all that he
said all that he did honored god adam
wasn't living for business or for money or
for sex or for sports or fame he
was living for god so you might think
well that must have been a very miserable
existence not at all he was exceptionally happy
and fulfilled he was on course glorifying god
obeying god enjoying god suddenly as you know
the bible says there was a crash adam
sinned turned off god's road onto this dark
sinful miserable road of sin and this mold
of the world becomes true of all who
live in adam for example a boy about
19 years of age converted some months ago
his parents are not christians to his knowledge
there were no christians at all in his
family and a few weeks after his conversion
his parents became very concerned about him before
his conversion he was one of the boys
regularly drinking coming home drunk on friday saturday
sunday night going to nightclubs a popular young
boy had everything going for him parents were
proud of him and then he was converted
to their consternation stopped drinking stopped going to
the nightclubs he had new friends he was
getting up on a sunday morning going to
church instead of lying in bed he was
going to church again in the evening tuesday
night he was going to the prayer meeting
thursday night to a bible study friday night
to young people saturday night he had a
prayer meeting and his father one day had
a shock of his life he was going
around the houses with some christians giving tracts
out they were angry their son had become
odd different the father spoke to him and
expressed his concern that he thought he was
going to catch religious mania why aren't you
still like your friends you see he didn't
fit into the the pattern that the world
accepts or come into one of these halls
of residence during term time those of you
staying in halls of residence i would urge
you to pray for christian students who come
here and for non-christian students it's not
easy for a christian coming into university living
amongst non-christians it's particularly difficult in the
opening days of a term and there's so
much drink and wilderness amongst the students maybe
in a flat the christian is only one
of seven or or 12 students there just
the one christian maybe in a block in
a hall of residence there's only one christian
out of 60 or 70 students drugs are
used they go pubbing social life is pretty
intense many of them are sleeping around and
the christian stands out as being different at
least should do the non-christians can't really
understand but there's pressure on these christian young
people to conform to the standards and the
pleasures of the world there are these enormous
pressures on our christian young people and i
urge christian young people to resist these pressures
don't be afraid to be different to be
holy or if you listen to your colleagues
in the office or the factory or listen
to people in the supermarket as you're waiting
to pay your bill on the way out
listen to the topics of conversation the east
enders coronation street don't know how many times
in the supermarket i heard details about big
brother three people are absolutely fascinated excited talking
about the booze and the party and the
behavior talking about their parties dance money
this was their world this was all that
mattered to them see their their thinking their
values their their pleasures their pursuits all without
any reference to god and so paul says
in verse two in which you once walked
according to the course of this world and
that's what your unconverted child basically is like
your unconverted parents and friend and colleague they're
in the grip of the world and you
cannot change them though god wants you to
witness to them and to pray to them
and to live a holy life in front
of them you'll never change them verse two
again we're told about the the devil according
to the prince of the power of the
air the spirit who now works in the
sons of disobedience the devil is here described
as as a prince or a ruler the
lord jesus in john's gospel chapter 12 and
14 and 16 use the title the prince
of this world to refer to the devil
and here the apostle paul describes the devil
as the prince of the power of the
air indicating that there is an area if
not literally in the air but an area
in which the devil and his hosts are
operating they seek to further their evil designs
they seek to perpetuate worldliness disobedience to god
his laws encouraging rebellion against god himself the
supernatural world is is real it's not something
which is miles away from us it's it's
all around us you know that fascinating story
in two kings chapter six advice shows being
hunted by the syrian king because all his
secret plans for war against israel were being
discovered before he moved his soldiers and he
eventually realizes that elisha the prophet is responsible
he's getting this knowledge so the king sends
an army to to arrest him and his
servant looks out of the house and looks
at the hills the mountains and he panics
he sees hundreds possibly thousands of syrian soldiers
and their horses and chariots all around the
place and he rushes back to life and
says what on earth shall we do that's
a modern translation elisha tells him don't be
afraid remember the famous words of elisha for
those who are with us are more than
those who are with them and elisha then
prays for the servants lord he said open
his eyes that he may see and when
the servant goes out he then looks at
the same scene and this time he sees
a mountain full of horses and chariots of
fire all around the the angels of god
elisha is perfectly safe the spiritual world is
very real very near to us in ephesians
chapter 6 verse 12 the apostle paul tells
us that we're not wrestling against flesh and
blood but against rulers against authorities against the
powers of this dark world against spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms the devil
is real and the legion of spirits who
serve him and they have an influence and
a grip on an unbelieving world now you
know that there's an upsurge of interest in
devil worship satan worship you'd be surprised the
kind of respectable people often business people middle
class and working class and more important people
who are involved in satanism they worship satan
they follow his rules they break and violate
every command that god has given in the
bible magic witchcraft spiritism people
are fascinated by it they are exploiting it
and people can be influenced but notice how
the apostle goes on in verse two you
may be horrified to know what the devil
is doing in these dreadful areas of satanism
but the spirit who now works in the
sons of disobedience the the devil and his
cohorts are actively at work in the lives
of people god of this world blinds the
minds of them which believe not they seek
to snatch away the the word being sown
they seek to trap and to entice and
ensnare even christians it's a spiritual battle no
man no woman no christian can free an
unbeliever from the tyranny of sin and of
satan if you've never read luther's bondage of
the will it may be good summer reading
for you i recently read it and reread
it it says in one place if we
believe satan is the prince of this world
ever ensnaring and opposing the kingdom of christ
with all his strength and that he does
not let his prisoners go unless he is
driven out by the power of the divine
spirit it's apparent there can be no free
will only god can do it that's what
your unconverted child is like notice fourthly in
verse three the flesh now in case you
stand by your son or daughter say well
okay they're not converted but we can blame
the world and we can blame the devil
the apostle paul corners you it says look
you have to be much more realistic your
unconverted parent or unconverted child or friend or
neighbor may be very nice they may think
the world of you they may do anything
for you to help you but the major
problem is inside them not outside and the
term flesh refers not just to the body
but to what we are as humans our
soul our mind our affections our will it's
human nature and a state of sin and
estrangement from god himself so paul is telling
us that my whole person is affected and
polluted by sin this is what all unbelievers
are like including my relatives and my friends
yes they may be very nice respectable good
citizens caring relatives but sin and rebellion permeates
and controls every part of their nature this
is what we mean by total depravity that
the sin has permeated every area of our
lives it doesn't mean that we all indulge
in every gross sin doesn't mean that we
cannot perform civil good we're made in the
image of god there is common grace we
can be very nice people and yet the
bible says our problem is ourselves our sin
our nature notice in the rest of verse
three fulfilling the desires the commands the dictates
of the flesh and the mind sin is
in control god-given desires and appetites are
spoilt by sin sin empowers and enslaves us
he that commits sin says the lord jesus
is the slave of sin only god can
change such a person that is finally in
this description at the end of verse three
and we're by nature the children of wrath
just as others that word phrase by nature
is important we're born in adam we come
into the world with sin with original sin
death is passed on to all in adam
so we are by nature the children of
wrath just as the the others i rejoiced
with some of the young people yesterday over
some of the examination results i do recall
a situation where i was in a shop
somewhere in wales when the gcse results came
out and there are about five women in
front of me and strange enough they were
all crying and i really thought that someone
had died and so when the crying subsided
i i sent to one of the women
what's the matter who's who's died oh no
one has died we've just had the gcse
results we've just been to the school my
daughter's not got the grades she needs her
son disappointed they're breaking their hearts one
or two of them were believers but i
i really hadn't seen or heard those christian
women and mothers crying over the spiritual state
of their unconverted children you can have eight
ten 12 a's and if you're unconverted you
are a child of wrath perhaps it points
to our wilderness as christian parents sometimes that
education is exaggerated in terms of importance the
spiritual is often minimized a child's right relationship
to god is the most important thing outside
of jesus christ my child my parents my
grandparent my friend is a child of wrath
the cloud of god's wrath is is over
that person and the cloud of wrath is
getting darker and darker and darker as the
years go by the end of their lives
that cloud of wrath will will break and
take them into hell for eternity to suffer
the punishment of god children of wrath we
say we believe it but i i wonder
christian friends it's a horrible teaching i don't
like it but i i have to believe
it i have to teach it because it's
here in the bible by nature however nice
the people are however much i i love
my children my parents by nature they are
the children of wrath i need to pray
for god to come and change them i
must hurry let's move to verses four onwards
and i want to divide it up very
simply first of all the initiative of god
in verses four five and six is there
hope for such people of course there is
and the apostle reminds the ephesians of what
has happened in their lives but god if
you ever heard lloyd jones preach on that
you'll never forget the phrase if you've read
his sermon you'll be familiar but god he
makes all the difference the greatest person god
can change sinners some months ago i read
in a reputable newspaper of a a young
man who was very concerned over a neighbor
who'd suffered an injustice in the interpretation of
some regulations of government concerning some agency help
and the the young man decided that he
would try and get justice for his his
neighbor so he went along to local and
county councillors and they were very supportive but
said well there's really nothing we can do
about it it's central government so he went
along to the member of parliament and he
again was supportive sympathetic i can't do very
much for he said but i will write
to the minister concerned and so he wrote
on behalf of his constituent some weeks later
he had a letter back from the mp
with a copy of the reply from the
minister saying that while the minister was sympathetic
he was not minded to help with this
particular problem and it would be monitored over
the next three four five years this young
man was aware that the neighbor was suffering
because of this injustice and then he heard
that there was a radio program i think
it was radio one a phone in and
the prime minister was answering questions he managed
to get onto the program he mentioned this
problem prime minister had to listen didn't he
and he said well write to me send
me the details and i'll consider it so
he did he had an acknowledgement of the
letter being received i think it's about two
months later he had a letter signed by
the prime minister that he agreed there was
an injustice that the regulation somehow had been
interpreted wrongly that he was informing the minister
that he was to act and tell other
officials what to do the young man was
absolutely delighted what had he done he'd gone
to the top very often sinners often their
confusion ignorance they're running around looking for help
yes experts in various fields can give help
in limited ways sometimes valuable ways but they
cannot change the sinner that they cannot free
him from the the mold of the world
or from the grip of the devil god
can and we've got to be confident and
pointing people to god himself he's independent he's
self-sufficient he's eternal he's unchangeable he's omnipresent
he knows everything he's faithful he's holy he's
righteous he's powerful he's the absolute ruler and
he cares and he loves no one less
than god can change and save and we
must go to the top i say it
reverently in our prayer meetings pleading with god
to save don't expect the pastor to do
it and in our witnessing and our praying
at home pleading with with god to do
it and this great god is a great
lover as paul brings out in verse four
who is rich in mercy this word mercy
really is he's trying to translate the hebrew
word chesed translate in different ways in english
loving kindness tenderness compassion motherly kindness there's pity
here there's a feeling of care helping someone
in in desperate need it's what god is
like it's not like that minister who was
not minded to help god is rich in
mercy and if you feel you're unconverted children
if you have compassion i can tell you
that god has unlimited compassion if you're concerned
for unbelievers in your community god himself has
pity and has love if you shed tears
for for unbelievers in the heart of god
there is compassion and there is pity he
is rich says the apostle in mercy there's
an abundance of it and don't hesitate to
call upon him don't hesitate to invite sinners
to come and to trust him then paul
adds it's on account of his great love
with which he loved us it's not a
momentary pity it's not an occasional compassion it
arises from the very heart and nature of
god he loved us greatly when he appointed
his son as mediator when he entered into
covenant with his son with his elect when
he chose us in him he loved us
greatly he loved us greatly when he sent
his son into the world god so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten
son the greatest possible gift he loved us
at calvary he that spared not his own
son but freely delivered him up for us
all here is love says 1 john 4
10 not that we love god but that
he loved us and send his son to
be the propitiation for our sins if you
want to see the love of god supremely
look at the cross says the apostle here
is love one welsh preacher who was quite
a character preaching on john 3 16 and
describing the immensity of god's love he pictures
the angel that's in heaven being absolutely shocked
when god the son leaves heaven and becomes
the god man and when he is dying
on the cross of calvary the same shock
amongst the angels the immense love of god
towards sinners and paul says he loved us
even when we were dead in trespasses and
in sins in our rebellion our blindness our
spiritual death defying god he still loved us
notice in verse 5 this great power of
god even when we were dead in trespasses
he made us alive together with christ by
grace you have been saved when god intervenes
in the life of an unbeliever he changes
them from inside he imparts life to sudden
work of the spirit it's essential it's prior
to conversion it's a secret work of the
spirit within us we are passive in it
i may be unaware of the spirit working
and regenerating me but the effects are now
this great god makes us alive it's exciting
you can be preaching and there in the
congregation god is dealing with someone and they're
listening they're listening they're coming under conviction the
miracle happens often under preaching of the word
life is changed maybe an old man an
old woman maybe a student remember an american
student telamine banger it was in the middle
of a sermon he said he could remember
the the part of the verse then he
said i saw it i was so different
i was changed i wanted to stand up
in your church and tell everyone this great
god has the power to make dead sinners
alive unto himself there's a disposition which he
gives a new heart and we're changed from
within verse six we have a further explanation
of being made alive it includes being raised
up made to sit together in the heavenlies
in christ jesus no longer are we dead
to god but we're alive to him new
desires new values new standards new goals we're
placed to an opposition of spiritual access and
authority in the heavenlies in christ we fellowship
with god we can pray we're in direct
contact with the lord jesus christ we're in
union with him god does this by his
power notice secondly and i move on quickly
in verse 7 the intention of god why
has god done this well because of his
glory we're told in chapter 1 and verses
6 12 and 14 but here paul adds
that god wants to exhibit his grace in
christ to us in the ages to come
it's a similar reference in chapter 3 and
verse 10 god is using his church to
display his grace and his kindness towards us
in christ when will he do it in
the ages to come some commentators have postponed
this to the future after death i believe
it has an immediate application through succeeding generations
and beyond this life into the next and
in successive generations god is is saving his
people and in their lives and in the
church he's displaying his grace and his kindness
you think of luther or calvin or zwingli
or latimer or daniel roland's think of the
revival in bath gallet in 1817 1818 and
one young man who was present in that
revival was so amazed by the changes in
the lives of notorious characters in the village
violent people drunkards he was so amazed and
his amazing one day he said i really
think that the angel should arrange a trip
and come down and see what god's grace
has done god is displaying exhibiting his grace
his kindness in his people for the world
to see that he may be glorified i
can refer again to lloyd jones a drunkard
in his 50s sitting in the club on
sunday afternoon listening to some men talking about
the the preacher the evangelist and they said
the words well the preacher said no one
is hopeless there's hope for everybody and this
man decided well if there's hope for everybody
there must be hope for me so he
went along to church eventually he heard the
gospel and and he was converted almost immediately
a few days later in the fellowship meeting
the doctor said to him stand up and
these are the words i'm quoting let them
see here the latest monument to the grace
of god it's what god is doing he
is displaying his grace he wants all these
testimonies and monuments of grace and his kindness
in the churches in the community and in
displaying his grace in our lives he's glorifying
himself he gathers in his elect the jews
and the gentiles and in glory his grace
and mercy will be exhibited in a far
more wonderful way but notice in closing the
insistence of god that's what i'm calling this
section verses 8 9 and 10 it's a
fascinating crucial section and i think that sometimes
as preachers we're guilty and isolated verses 8
and 9 are not dealing with them in
the proper context there's a very close link
with verse 7 and the whole section of
verses 1 to 7 so what we're having
in verses 8 9 and 10 is a
summary of the argument in verses 1 to
7 but god is confirming through the apostle
that only by his grace and power can
we be saved and he's insisting upon it
there must be no human boasting when it
comes to salvation paul has argued this in
other places remember romans 3 27 after describing
god's redemptive grace where is boasting then his
reply is it's excluded shut out there's no
place for pride and for for boasting end
of 1 corinthians 1 no flesh should glory
in his presence he who glories let him
glory in the lord let me identify four
arguments quickly and i will be very quick
grace alone there's no place for boasting it's
free and merited undeserved love and mercy and
this is central to the gospel amazing grace
said john newton i think one of the
most outstanding examples of grace in the old
testament is king manasseh remember the story king
for 55 years in jerusalem there'll be no
king before him as wicked as he was
dreadful man lots of sleaze about him he
was an idolater he encouraged idol worship he
encouraged and paid for the extension of this
idol worship he sacrificed even two of his
own sons to the idols he dabbled in
the occult he placed a huge idol in
god's temple and desecrated it he killed some
of the prophets of god he killed some
of the righteous people in jerusalem he couldn't
stand them the end of his life this
wicked man prayed prayed to god for mercy
do you know what happened he was accepted
he was forgiven he was given mercy a
dreadful man a wicked man god accepted him
justified god pronounced him not guilty he's in
heaven with the apostle paul john with luther
calvin whitfield he's there amongst the wicked man
he didn't deserve it and nor do we
it's grace do you believe it it's grace
alone that there's no place for boasting one
of our welsh preachers robert roberts was preaching
on revelation 320 and he pictured a local
man walking through the village in northwest wales
and as he walking through the village he
saw this very important rich majestic looking person
knocking at the door of of one bungalow
he was impressed by the stranger but he
knew that the man living in in this
house was was a baddie a couple of
hours later the the local man was returning
through the village and this stranger this important
looking man was still there knocking at the
door and so the local man said to
the the visitor the person living there is
not worth the trouble i wouldn't knock anymore
he's not a very good man robert roberts
in his own inimitable way pictures of lord
jesus christ replying i came all the way
from eternity into this world i became man
i became a servant i went to the
cross i bore the sins of my people
i died for this man and i'm going
to bring him out shortly i will accept
him grace amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me it's not
just grace alone it's faith alone in verse
8 for by grace you've been saved through
faith it's the instrumentality of faith it's not
just knowledge it's not just a sense of
need but receiving christ faith is really the
hands of a beggar stretching out receiving grace
and mercy receiving christ william cowper describes how
he came to faith reading verses in romans
chapter 3 and reading these words he said
i received power immediately to believe i believed
and received peace of the gospel my eyes
filled with tears i could only look to
heaven in silent fear an overflowing love and
wonder faith alone there's no room for boasting
but the end of verse 8 and verse
9 it's a gift alone paul adds not
of yourselves it is the gift of god
not of works lest anyone should boast now
god comes literally at first here god's is
the gift it contrasts with yourselves earlier as
if paul is saying to us well don't
you dare suggest that sinners can create saving
faith they cannot produce it it's god's gift
it's a grace and god's gift is not
just faith god's gift is grace and the
whole of salvation is god's it's given to
us then he says it's not of works
it's a further emphasis explaining that the faith
aspect of salvation paul deals with this more
thoroughly in collations and romans i believe here
works represents human effort in general as individuals
try to achieve salvation through their own efforts
or performance and paul says it's not of
works lest anyone should boast if you've read
spurgeon's autobiography you'll know that before he became
a christian he he struggled with this whole
concept of doing something to win god's approval
and he says if i could find something
i must do i would do it if
the preacher had asked take off your shoes
and your socks run all the way now
to jonah groats i would not even have
gone home first but started off immediately that
i might win salvation when spurgeon refers to
the words of the lord jesus to zacchaeus
when our lord said to him on the
tree make haste come down and god spoke
to spurgeon this way spurgeon felt he had
to come down from his tree of pride
and good works self-sufficiency so he describes
himself as falling down some branches then falling
again then spurgeon says but i can do
nothing i'm ruined then he pictures waters coming
over him and shut the light shut out
from felt a stranger to god's family and
god said to spurgeon get lower again you've
got too much pride and spurgeon speaks of
seeing his own corruption his wickedness his filthiness
then he says i saw one on the
cross i saw the tears in his face
i saw the blood flowing i saw the
enemy surrounding him i heard his groanings i
heard his words i heard the words of
scripture the son of man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost
and out of my life went my supposed
merits i could see myself in a ditch
so deep it seemed like my grave it
was all over i could see that only
god could save me i could do nothing
it's what paul is saying not of works
there's no contribution you can make and finally
god alone in verse 10 for we are
his workmanship created in christ jesus for good
works which god prepared beforehand that we should
walk in them again the emphasis in the
pronoun early in the verse is his workmanship
we are as i close come with me
in your imagination meet an ungodly man it's
a real story he's in his late 40s
he's married he's got children he's a very
worldly person unpleasant a vile temper he could
be violent over the weekends his family hardly
saw him because of drinking and other things
the children his wife knew how to stay
out of his way not to provoke him
he too went unexpectedly one sunday to hear
the gospel preached the congregation was shocked to
see him walking into the building a notorious
character filthy mouth they're even more shocked later
in the week when he came to a
prayer meeting he returned the next sunday and
as they talked to him after these meetings
they realized that this man was being changed
he was different he'd been converted the same
church the unconverted son of an elder very
respectable living a nice life not doing anything
outwardly outrageous parents assumed he was a christian
but he knew in his own heart he
wasn't he knew the sin the corruption of
his heart and the preaching of the word
of god round about the same time as
that that older man he too was converted
the respectable man the worldly wicked man being
regenerated being the workmanship the handy work of
god being created it's a word which paul
uses romans 1 to speak of of creation
god creating a new creation the unbelieving son
of a church elder the ungodly man in
his late 40s his family were afraid of
becoming new persons someone once said of a
christian and the life change i don't know
what's happened he's got the same skin but
there's a new man inside it that's god's
workmanship created it's god's work in us we
can't take any credit we haven't contributed how
has he done it in christ jesus mediated
by christ but in union with christ the
purpose is for good works which god has
foreordained and prepared that we should walk in
them let us worship and love and serve
this glorious god who has saved us let's
pray lord
god again we ask for the holy spirit
to impress deeply upon our minds and hearts
the truths of your word working as that
which is well pleasing your sight grant that
we may share something of that love and
grace with our unbelieving relatives and friends and
colleagues lord display your grace in our lives
for your glory and praise we ask it
in jesus christ amen