You may be seated. Let's draw near to our God in prayer. Father, we do thank you for the privilege of coming together in your house. We thank you for these means of grace that you give to us. And we would ask that you would enliven these and make them to truly be a help to us in our growth in the Christian life. We pray, Lord, for the needs of a number of our friends. We would ask that you would work for Danielle's mom, that she would be able to have that heart surgery that is needed in the days ahead. We think of the Dices there in Colorado Springs, we think of Jonathan with his ongoing physical needs, and we pray, Lord, that you would bring help, that you'd bring healing to this young man's body. And then, Father, we're very grateful to have Pastor Balach in front of us again to pray for him. We pray for him as he will be ministering largely there at Pastor an authorized church. We pray for the interaction that he'll have with several men. We pray for even some of those sticky counseling sessions that he's already been involved in. Show your mercy and your kindness and bless in this trip. And then Lord, we look back over the ski retreat that has already been completed. We pray that you'll give safety to all who are traveling, and we pray that you would be pleased to use these several messages coming from the Book of Proverbs to be of tremendous help to these young people. And Father, bless us now as our minds are focused, turned to focus on your holy word, and we pray that our breaking of bread together would be edifying and helpful to us. In Christ's name, amen. Our text for this evening is verse 8 through 10 of Ephesians chapter 2. Let me give the larger context by reading from verse 1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, 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, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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. So that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Stuart Eliot, speaking on this passage, says, imagine offering a dead body a present. And that seems rather gory way to begin this meditation, but the illustration is plainly based on what Paul is saying there in verse 1, of one who is dead and trespasses and sins, and again in verse 5, and so it's a fitting illustration. The corpse amazingly comes to life, stretches out his hand, and dances away clasping the gift. Could the former dead body congratulate himself on that? Would he feel that he had made any contribution to his joy? Would he not rather give all the credit to the one who spoke the life-giving word? Would not his praise be doubled when he found out that the life giver and the present giver are one and the same person? Salvation and faith are not two separate things. The act of trusting Christ is part of salvation. Salvation in its totality is God's gift of grace to us. It follows that faith is his gift. How is it that you could not believe, but now you do? You neglected God for years and years, but then you came to trust in him. What made the difference? Did you suddenly improve? No, God was gracious to you. He gave salvation to you. It was sheer grace that brought you to believe and to receive. Now some, when they speak of the whole matter of salvation, speak of how essential good works are. Yes, you've got faith, but you need to have faith plus good works in order to have salvation. This view is absolutely wrong. And so others, being evangelical, will come along and try to respond to that erroneous view and downplay the works to the point where they say, well, all you need is faith, and then you'll have salvation. And if there are good works, well, that's kind of a nice thing, but they are really optional. What the Apostle Paul is teaching in these three verses, verses 8, 9, and 10, is very plainly laid out by this formula. Faith is going to lead to salvation. but a true salvation is going to produce good works. And I think that you'll see that this is the order that Paul lays things out for us here this evening. So come with me and see on your handout sheet from Roman numeral one, the summary pronouncement. The summary pronouncement of the divine cause of salvation. And here we're looking, first of all, A, at the reality of our salvation. Found in those words, you have been saved. You have been saved. Saved from wrath and guilt and shame Interesting, Paul uses the perfect tense for the salvation, saying you are saved. It's something that has happened at a point in the past. The results are abiding into the present. You are in a state of grace, and you can know that you are in a state of grace. You have been saved. Christianity is not a matter of religious ritual. but it is more a matter of God doing a great work in us. We have been saved. Secondly, B. Notice the divine basis of our salvation. It is by grace. For by grace you have been saved. Grace is God's undeserved favor. God's grace comes to that one who is a dead body, that one that is corpse, and it looks on that one with favor and brings that one to life. The message of Ephesians 2, 1 to 3 was, you were dead, you were disobedient, you were damned. The message from verses 4 to 7 was the complex motive of God. It is God's rich mercy, God's great love, God's superabundant grace, and God's Christ-centered kindness. He had this tremendous motive that moved him to work in our behalf. And so the reality, the divine basis, and now notice with me the human instrumentality in our salvation. For by grace you have been saved through faith. You were dead in your transgressions, but you have believed. But how is it that one who is dead, like this present that we are, in a silly way, coming and presenting to a corpse, how can we expect that there would be any response? How could we expect that there would be this response of faith? Well, look back at the message there of verse five. We were dead in our transgressions, in our sins, but God made us alive. God intervened. And the essential theology is all woven here together for the Apostle Paul. Man is not passive in the salvation. He doesn't cause it. He doesn't work it. But he does believe. Believing is what man must do. John 6, verse 28, they said to Jesus, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? And Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent. Believing is what man does. And the way that man comes and believes is that God must first work. While the man is dead in his transgressions, there is not going to be a favorable response to God. But God, looking at us in our deadness, in our sins, God begins to work. God brings us to spiritual life. Now notice, having seen this summary pronouncement of the divine involvement in salvation, notice with me Roman Numeral 2, the two-fold denunciation. the two-fold denunciation of a human cause in our salvation. See it first of all there in A. We're now looking at the latter part of verse 8. Grace, salvation, and faith don't originate in man. There's the main statement as we see it in verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And now the latter part of verse 8, and this is not your own doing. This is not your own doing. Here's the negative phrase. It denies that there is a human cause in this. This looks back to the saving faith, looks back to the salvation, looks back to the grace. You didn't cause the grace of God to come to you. You didn't cause yourself to be saved by another. You, in and of yourself, did not produce the faith. And this is not your own doing. There's the negative. Not is very plainly a part of this denial. Paul is saying, this is what I am saying, this is what I am not saying. It did not come from you. It is not out of you or out of yourselves. But then, if that's the negative, not of yourselves, There's a positive phrase here in the latter part of verse 8, and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God. There's the positive. Emphasizing God's involvement. Faith comes from God. Listen to Philippians 1 and verse 29. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. And for the church there at Philippi, it was like everybody knows that our ability to respond to God in the gospel is something that is a gift that has come from God. Maybe not everybody knows that our suffering is a gift, but everybody knows that our faith is a gift. So he argues from what is known to what is not known. Not only to believe in him, but also to suffer. Which, I wonder, do we know more plainly? That suffering is a gift from God? or that our faith is a gift from God. So there's A, grace, salvation, and faith do not originate in man. But now secondly, B, grace, salvation, and faith don't originate in man's works. And now we're looking at verse 9, not of works. Here again, a negative phrase. not of works. It excludes the works. The grace we have, the salvation we receive, the faith that we exercise, It's not coming to us as a result of something that we have done. And I believe that Paul is laying this out because it is second nature to humanity to assume works righteousness and to assume that I do something to contribute to my own salvation, not of works. The salvation does not come due to anything in the man, due to anything done by the man. Now it's hard to imagine how you could make the message of the gospel any plainer than what Paul does here. What part does my going to church contribute to my salvation? What part does my giving dollars to the church contribute to my salvation? What part is my kindness to an elderly person or me giving a meal to a sick neighbor? What part does my praying through a rosary contribute to my being right with God? not of works. What we do contributes nothing by way of merit. But then if we see the negative phrase, not of works, notice there is a purpose phrase, lest anyone should boast. It's not of works to the end or to the purpose that someone should boast. It's as though God is saying, I don't want any humans boasting about how they got to heaven. I don't want them taking credit to themselves. And so I'm telling you right up front, I'm telling you plainly, it's not as a result of works because I don't want anyone boasting. This reminds me of Luke chapter 18. This is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. One would have been higher in society and one would have been regarded more as the scum. Two different men, a Pharisee and a tax collector. Two different approaches to God. The one has an approach to God where he says, I thank you, oh God, that I'm not like other men. I thank you that I've been able to do these good works. And I'm not like this guy. The tax collector stands far off. He can't even confidently lift up his eyes to heaven, and he pleads, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I know I am a sinner. I know that I don't have anything to present to you as saying, this is why you need to let me come into heaven. And then as well, two very different results. This man went down to his house justified. This man went down to his house declared righteous by the God of heaven. And which one was it? The one who thought that he was good? The one who was proud of the tithes that he was giving? No, not at all. But the one who pled for God's mercy, be merciful to me the sinner, is the one that God responded to in faith. So again, this purpose clause. not a result of works, so that no one should boast." Now listen to how this comes out in Romans chapter 3. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that's verse 23. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace. You don't work for it, you don't accomplish it. And then verse 27 follows along saying, where is boasting then? It is excluded, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Now some believers will come along and try to make their own faith into a good work. I have believed, assuming that faith is something that just rises up within them naturally, and therefore they can take credit for it. But that's not how faith works. Faith is a gift of God. But they make that this is what I've done, I've given to God my faith, and now he has to give to me my salvation. Our faith is not produced by us. It is our response to what God has done to us. Let me read to you 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1 as it illustrates this more plainly than any other verse in the Bible that I know. 1 John 5, 1 says, everyone who believes put in the present tense, anyone who's got a disposition, a bent, of an ongoing life where they're believing, then what lies behind that has been born of God. So if you see someone is believing, then you know back before that God brought them to spiritual life. Now we may not know that at the time, but as we grow in our understanding of the scriptures, this is a good thing for us to know. It's something that is plainly taught and revealed. in the Scriptures. Why is it that you have faith? Do you think that you have faith because you created it, because you came up with it? Do you think that you are accepted in God's sight because you are a good person? If I ask you, sitting down one-to-one across from a table and say, why are you a believer? And if you responded, well, it's because I am smarter than my siblings. That's why I'm a believer. If you give a reason and say, well, I'm more spiritually sensitive than most people, and that's why I'm a believer. Or maybe you would respond and say, well, the reason that I am a believer, the reason why I'm going to heaven is because of my efforts to end disease in the world. Very noble cause. But each of those answers reveals that one does not understand the gospel the way the Apostle Paul does. We're saved by grace. It's not ourselves. It's not as a result of something we have done. It is not of works, lest someone should boast. And what is happening in each of those reasons that are, because I am more spiritually sent, you're boasting in something that you have done. Paul says, who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? So we've seen a summary pronouncement of the divine cause. It's due to grace. It's not due to a human cause. Then the twofold denunciation of a human cause. where there is that, no, it's not of us, not a result of our works. It's not something that we have done. And now Roman numeral three, notice the explanation of the human evidences of a divinely accomplished salvation. Ephesians two, verse eight, the first statement there, that's where our individual is saved. Now, in the latter part of verse 8 and into verse 9, we're told twice, it's not due to the individual. It's not due to man that is saved. But the person in verse 8, they are saved. And now, when we come to verse 10, we're going to talk about good works. But the good works don't cause us to be saved. The good works come because the individual is saved. Notice with me A, the emphatic description. The emphatic description of God's work in believers. A and B will be about God's work, and C and D will be about the work of the believer. So A, the emphatic description of God's work in the believers starts out there in verse 10, for we are His workmanship. His workmanship. It's a word here that is, as you might guess, a word that speaks of some project that a man or a woman is working on. There may be a craftsman that makes a crown. and the way that it speaks of that project, making the crown, is workmanship. That's what this word, so it's something that God has been working on. It's something that is God's project. It is an emphatic description of God's work. For we are his workmanship. God is the one that by his grace, that's why he saved us, He's the one who saved us. He's the one who gives us faith. And so it all comes back to God. But now we're talking about what we are as believers, what comes out of us after we are truly converted. And here we find it in verse 10, for we are his workmanship, let's go on and see, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Salvation is not due to what we have done. One is formerly dead, now made alive, and God is the one who has been at work. So now notice with me, secondly B, not only the emphatic description, but the graphic picture of God's work in believers. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. There was another graphic picture earlier, and the earlier graphic picture there in verse 5, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God, being rich in mercy, made us alive. So that's taking a dead body and bringing them to spiritual life. And in verse 10, the graphic picture changes, and we're given here the picture of a new creation. So where there was nothing, God spoke and brought us into being. where there was no spiritual life, God speaks and brings it into being. It's used in 2 Corinthians 4. For God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There are many of these graphic pictures that are given to us in the New Testament. When God is said to work in a sinner, the sinner does not bring about his salvation, but rather God raises them from their spiritual death. God speaks into the moral darkness and creates spiritual life within us. So, this is the same thing spoken of as 2 Corinthians 5, that one who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation, the old is passed away and the new has come. Created. Created in Christ Jesus. And if we read through Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, over and over again, we hear this phraseology of in Christ, in Him, and in we are created in Christ Jesus, in conjunction with our Lord and Savior who lived a perfect life, died that perfect sacrificial death, and because of the merits that He won for us, He brought us to spiritual life. He brought us into being as a new creation. All that comments. Many think that we live good lives in order to be saved. How wrong they are. We live good lives because we already are saved. Legal religion says do this and live. But the gospel says, live and then do this. Be saved, verse 8, and then walk in the good works, verse 10. So the emphatic description, that's A. B, the graphic picture. And now thirdly, C, the pre-temporal preparation of the believer's works. And so here we're talking about what the believer is going to do. But even in this, it's a preparation that comes about from our God. Reading our verse again, verse 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. We are His workmanship. We're going to walk in the good works. But he tells us, before we even get to the good works, that these were prepared by God before time, beforehand. When were they planned? Well, the inference is that they were planned back before you even existed, back in eternity past. And it's a little hard for us to take credit for good works that were planned by somebody else back before we even came into existence. The emphatic description, the graphic picture, thirdly, the pre-temporal preparation, and now fourthly, D, the explicit purpose of the believers' walk in the good works. for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. They have been designed so that we will come along as believers, and we will walk in them, we will perform them, we will put our shoulder to them to get them accomplished, and they have been designed with the idea that we will be coming along and we will walk in them. Remember back to what we saw on the screen at the very beginning. Some come along and assuming works righteousness say faith plus good works is going to equal eternal salvation. Others come along and know that the good works should not be there, and so they say, faith equals salvation and good works don't really matter. But that's not what Paul says here, is it? So our formula has to be faith equals salvation, but the one who is truly saved is going to have an arrow, is going to have a yield sign come out of that. The one who believes is saved and is going to walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand. Walk. It's a humble thing, isn't it? but it speaks of us being engaged in these good works. God designs them, but we have to do them. We have to walk in them. And we have this underscore, this walking in chapter 5 of Ephesians, Ephesians 5, 2, and walk in love as Christ also loved us. Ephesians 5 and verse 8. Walk as children of light. And then again in Ephesians 5 and verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly. That is, see that you walk carefully. So as we come to the table of remembrance this evening, we're asking a question. Why am I here? Why am I even here at the Lord's Supper? Why am I professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why am I a believer? Well, verse 8 answers that question by saying, it's due to the grace of God. There is that favor in the kind God of salvation that he is disposed to show favor to hell-deserving sinners. Why am I here at the Lord's Supper? Verse 5. Well, I once was dead in my transgressions and sins, but God made me alive. Verse 10. Why am I here? because I have been created in Christ Jesus in conjunction with the doing and dying of my Lord, the Lord Jesus. So may God be praised. It is not that I am to be praised. A second question, what must I do to be a Christian? Well, you need to believe we are saved by grace through faith. The sovereignty of God in salvation doesn't take away man's responsibility to hear the Lord Jesus Christ and respond and say, yes, I know I have sinned. I bring my sin to you and I believe in you, Lord Jesus, and believe that you will give me your perfect righteousness. What must I do to be a Christian? I must have faith. But as I speak of faith, I need to hear it echoing in my mind. It's my salvation, my faith. It's not due to something in me. It is the gift of God. The grace, the salvation, the ability to believe, all of that flows out of God. So why am I here? What must I do to be a Christian again? May God be praised. And what will flow out of my conversion? Where is workmanship? Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. So if I am a true believer, there is a reason why God has converted me. There's a reason why he's created me in Christ Jesus. He wants me to walk in good works, and these good works will bring glory to my heavenly Father. So as I come to the table of remembrance, I hear of what Jesus has done for me. This is the blood of the new covenant. I've given my life for you. And then I hear, of what God wants me to do. He wants me to walk in these good works. So at the table of remembrance, I pledge that I will walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. I will seek to get the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be praised and glorified by the way that I live. So I will have a life dedicated to God's glory. I pledge to walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. Well, let's pray. Father, thank you for the way that you bring the gospel message so plainly to us. Thank you for your powerful work in us. That in these early verses you speak of how you made us alive. In the verse 10 before us tonight, you speak of how you have created us. You've brought us into spiritual being. It's like there was nothing there. And you speak us into spiritual existence. Help us to be humble before you. Help us to recognize the great work that you have done in saving us. And we would pray that you would help us. to see that our salvation is not based on our merits, it's not what we have done, it's not of works, but it is plainly based on the work of your Son, the Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being willing to even come into this sin-cursed world to be humiliated to join to yourself true humanity, to humble yourself, to walk on this earth to know hunger, to know thirst, to know the degradation of the cross. And thank you, Lord Jesus, for being that perfect sacrifice for our sins. And thank you, our God, for giving us purpose that we live as believers no longer for ourselves, but we live for your glory. We live so that we may walk in the good works that you have laid out for us. And so help us as we come to the table of remembrance, as we take the bread to our lips, as we take the fruit of the vine to our lips, Help us to pledge that we will walk in the ways of your kingdom. We will walk for your glory. And we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.