Ephesians 2 v 4 thru 7

Transcript

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There are few phrases in all of Scripture that carry more weight, more hope, more glory than the opening words of our text this morning. My two favorite words in all of Scripture, but God. And Ephesians 2, we looked at verses 1 through 3 last week. Paul takes us really down into the depths in those verses. He says we're we're dead in sin. He says we're enslaved to the world and the flesh and the devil, and we're under the just wrath of God. And there is no movement upward from man, no spark of life. There's no hidden righteousness within us. Total depravity in its fullest sense. That there is nothing good in us. Not that we are as evil as we could be, but there is no true, genuine, godly good in us until we come to this divine interruption at the beginning of verse 4, those two words, but God. And in those two simple words, really lie the turning point of all of redemption, that they they are the fountain of grace and the heartbeat of the gospel. So let's walk carefully through this passage this morning and see the riches of God's sovereign grace. Beginning in verse 4, it says, 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 and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. Lord, again, we ask that your Spirit would give us understanding and beyond mental understanding, but Father, that your word might be truly hidden in our hearts and that it might cause us to grow to be more like Christ, that it might cause us to know you more and to live in a way that more and more honors you every day. Be with us in this time we pray in Christ's name. Amen. So we begin with the source of salvation, which is the character of God. Verse 4, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us. Paul begins not with man, but with God. Our salvation is from beginning to end about God's work, Christ's work on the cross, about God's love, about God initiating that. First John tells us that we love God because He first loved us. So we have this great declaration here. We are all of these things. We're dead in our trespasses and sins. We are following the sin or the course of this world. We're following the prince of the power of the air, which we said we understand is Satan, the spirit that is not working 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 we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. That's an awful description, but it's accurate, it's true. And then he says, But God. In spite of all these things, here's what we can say about God. Okay, he's he begins not with what God has done, but who God is and why God interceded. But God being rich in mercy. Mercy is God's compassion toward those who are miserably lost in sin. It is his disposition to withhold the punishment that we deserve. It is that idea of grace versus mercy is grace getting what we don't deserve, and mercy is holding back from us what we do deserve. And notice the text doesn't say that God has mercy, but that God being rich in mercy. Plusios is the Greek word there, and it means to have an abundance or to be wealthy or rich with something, to have to a great extent. And his mercy is not meager, it is not reluctantly offered or given, it is abundant and it is overflowing. Psalm 103, verse 8 says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. John Calvin wrote that Paul does not ascribe the cause of our salvation to anything in us, but attributes it wholly to the mercy of God. That is the impetus, the driving force behind God interceding on our behalf, but God being rich in mercy. So he describes us in verses one through three. He describes lost people, the entire world in verses one through three. And then he turns the page and says, But let me tell you about God. God being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Not only mercy, but love. This wasn't just God being kind and gracious, but it was God acting out of his love. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. So it's a it's a love that really is immeasurable. Notice how Paul describes this, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love. The great love with which he loved us. But I mean, go back to verses one through three that describe us as dead, disobedient, uh, condemned. God's love is sovereign, it is free, and it is the initiating force in our salvation. Deuteronomy 7, 7 and 8 says, God set his love on Israel not because of their greatness, but because he loved them. He says, I did not choose you because you were great in number. I didn't choose you because of anything about you, but I chose you because I chose you. I elected to set my love on you. Charles Spurgeon said, God loves his people not because they are lovable, but because he has determined to love them. He has determined to love them. We see unconditional election and sovereign grace here in the first part of verse 4. The cause of salvation lies entirely in God, not in man. We don't choose him. He chose us from before the foundation of the world. Almost sounds like something Paul already said. Verse 4 of chapter 1, even as he shows us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. God has to initiate salvation. He must, as John 6 tells us, he must draw us to salvation. Otherwise, we would never come of our own accord. And so we are grateful that that is the reality. Unfortunately, that that concept makes a lot of people squirm because they want to have the final say in their salvation. Because they've heard phrases over and over again like invite Jesus into your life, ask Jesus into your heart. My favorite is make Jesus Lord of your life. As though we could make the creator of all the universe anything. The problem that I have is that scripture makes it clear our salvation was a sovereign choice before we were ever a thought in our parents' minds. From before the foundation of the world. How do we know that? Well, Revelation confirms that. What Paul said back in chapter 1, verse 4, Revelation says that those whose names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. I've talked before about, I remember growing up, if I recall right, in the All-American hymnal, it was page 131, if I remember right, that said the title of the hymn was A New Name in Glory. I was once a sinner, but I came pardoned to receive from my Lord. It was freely given, and I found that my name was written down. There's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, oh yes, it's mine. And the white robed angels tell the story, a sinner has come home. And it had some great like harmony parts going on because the basses would sing, has come home, oh yes, uh, you know, all that. I love harmony. You guys know I love music. I miss hearing harmony because I can't hear you from behind the piano anyway. I don't know if you're singing harmony or I don't know what you're singing. Uh, but uh a sinner has come home, for there's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, oh yes, it's mine. There are no new names written down in glory. They were written from before the foundation of the world. See, God wasn't waiting on your decision because he chose us in him from before the foundation of the world, Paul says back in chapter 1, verse 4. So God initiates that. God, being rich in mercy, withheld from us what we deserve and gave us what we could never deserve. He was rich in mercy. He not only was rich in mercy, but because of the great love with which he loved us, and then we have the miracle of salvation that we are transferred from death to life. In verse 5, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. So even when we were dead, this is a crucial statement. God did not wait for us to improve, to become worthy to come to Christ. I remember hearing a preacher say years ago, I was a kid, he said, you don't get cleaned up to take a bath. You get in the tub as filthy as you are. And that's how we come to Christ. There's nothing we can do to make ourselves ready or worthy for salvation in Christ. It is a free gift that God gives us. And He does not respond to our initiative. He acted when? Even when we were dead in our trespasses. Paul doubles down on verse one. Right? How's verse one start? And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. And now down here in verse 5, even when we were dead in those trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. See, dead men don't cooperate. Dead men don't cooperate. They don't respond. They have to have life breathed into them. There's a concept in in many churches, flows out of a belief system called Arminianism, that says, when before we come to faith in Christ, we are, and the term they will typically use is sin sick. How do I know that? Because I used to be a licensed minister in one of those churches. And then I understood the biblical gospel. We are sin sick, and we're it's like we're down in a pit, and with the cross, God made a ladder and put it down in the pit, and then now we cooperate with him in our salvation and we climb out of the pit. Dead people don't climb ladders. You want to see the picture of salvation? John chapter 11. We see the picture of salvation. There was a guy in a town called Bethany, and this guy's name was Lazarus, and he had two sisters named Mary and Martha. And he died. And everybody was mourning, everybody was crying. Even the paid mourners showed up. And it says that Jesus got there four days later. Why four days? Because four days was the time frame in Jewish tradition that said, okay, this guy's not just sick or passed out, he's really dead. Why? Because the body begins to decay. And as I love, this is one verse I love in the or phrase from the King James that I love, because his sister looked at Jesus and said, But Lord, he stinketh. He's rotting. And Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus laid there and he thought, Well, I don't know. Let me think about this. Okay, I'll decide to come back from the dead. No. Christ said, Lazarus, come forth. And it said he got up and walked out, still wrapped in his grave clothes. Probably. He would have been wrapped tightly to hold the spices and stuff in to mask the stench of his rotting corpse. Probably walked out like a penguin. But he only came out because Christ called him. And because Christ called him, he came out. See, we we have to understand that. It's important we understand the tense that Paul uses here. He says, even when we were dead, it's past tense. So in English it's past tense. But in the Greek, it's a present participle. I know that's kind of technical. What that means is that it means this is a state you are in, and apart from something or someone acting in your stead, you would remain on that same path in the same way. We would have remained in that same state. And the state is just as important, even when we were dead. Dead is the Greek word necros. And it means dead, spiritually dead in this case. You were spiritually dead. It means we would have remained in a state of spiritual death unless someone or something acted on our behalf. And verse 4 starts with who did something, right? But God. Being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Kind of sounds like Romans 5.8 a little bit, right? God demonstrated his love for us in that. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So God acted on our behalf. I referenced earlier, John 6, John 6 44. No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

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R.

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C. Sproull famously said that regeneration precedes faith. That means we have to be made alive spiritually before we can exercise belief and trust. So when does our salvation start? When God acts on our behalf. Those things have to come in a certain order. And he says, what did he do? Made us alive together with Christ. That is resurrection language. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we are spiritually raised. Colossians 2.13 says, and you who were dead, God made alive together with him. This is union with Christ. It is absolutely a central doctrine, a central teaching in true Bible theology. We have to understand, we were dead, God made us alive. What is true of Christ becomes true of his people. Christ was dead, he was raised from the dead. He was raised by the glory of the Father, is how Paul says it to the church in Rome. We were dead, but God made us alive together with him in Christ. How did he do that? By grace. The very next phrase, by grace you have been saved. Paul, we know down in verse 8, he's going to start into that by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a gift to God, not of work, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus for good works, was he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And that's a tremendous statement. It's almost like Paul knows this is going to come flowing out of my pen, and I can't wait. For by grace you have been saved. Wait a minute, I'm not done with the previous thought, is the way I kind of read that. It's like, you know, you ever tell someone a story and you want to jump to the end, but the details are important. It's kind of how I read this. Paul inserts this as a declaration like he can't wait to get down to verse 8. Grace means unmerited favor. That means salvation is not earned, it is not deserved or contributed to. It is entirely a gift. Martin Luther wrote, Grace is not given because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them. That's the reality of verses 8 through 10. Grace, faith, salvation, all that comes first, then come the good works. Then we have the exaltation of salvation. That we are raised and seated with Christ. Verse 6. It says, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Paul now moves from resurrection to exaltation. He says he raised us up with him. Not only are we a maid alive, but we are lifted up. Romans 6, 5 tells us, for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. I said earlier. We will reign with him. Revelation makes that very clear. He says he raised us up with him and seated us with him. The amazing part to me and in all of this is that we are not merely forgiven, but we are enthroned with Christ. We are enthroned with Christ. Hebrews 1:3 says that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 9 tells us what he's doing there. He's making intercession for us. He's pleading on our behalf. Paul says we are seated with him, positionally, spiritually, in a covenant with God through Christ. We are seated with him. Remember in chapter one, we saw that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. This is one of them. That's chapter one, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So John Owen writes, There is no glory that Christ has received, but he shares with his saints. Think about that. Resurrection. Ascension. Exaltation. Believers in Christ will share in all of those. First, we are resurrected from spiritual death to life. Eventually, someday, either by death or by the return of Christ, we will be ascended to heaven. And then we will reign with him in exaltation. It says he seated us with him where? In the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This talks about our spiritual position now. Though we live on earth, our citizenship is in heaven. We are sojourners, travelers here, strangers here. Peter makes that very clear. Paul to the church in Philippi in Philippians 3.20 says, our citizenship is in heaven. Plain and simple. And then we get in verse 7, we get the purpose of salvation, which is the display of God's glory. So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Why does God do all of this? Why does he bring us from spiritual death to spiritual life? Why does he love us? Why does he show mercy to us? Why is he gracious toward us? Well, verse 7 begins with what is called a henna clause. So that. And so then as the computer was doing its computations, it would look for does this exist? Yes, then this. No, next thing. It just works a lot faster than it did back in the 70s and 80s. You don't have to sit there and bomb bong, you know, remember dial up. Anyway, some of you look at me like I'm crazy. You didn't, you obviously weren't old enough to live through dial-up. But the reality is it that's what this is. It is a henna clause. It says, so that. Because these things exist, that's the if part, then so that. So he says it's a it's a the Greek word for purpose or for this reason. God made us alive together with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places. That is absolutely salvation language. I don't care how you slice it. That is salvation language. And salvation has an ultimate goal. And the ultimate goal of salvation is the glory of God. Do we get to miss hell? Yes. Do we get to be free from sin? Yes. Do we get to be in the presence of God? Yes. But what is the ultimate purpose? The glory of God. In the Baptist catechism, the first question in the Baptist catechism is: what is the chief end of man? What is our main purpose? And the answer given is to glorify God and to live with him forever. That is the chief end of man. That is why people ask all the time, I don't even know what the purpose of life is, to glorify God and to live with him forever. That's the purpose of life. And then he says, so that in the coming ages, in the coming ages, this is speaking of eternity, God's saving work is going to be displayed forever and ever. He says, in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace. See, God's grace cannot be exhausted. God's grace cannot run out. Remember, we talked, I don't know, it's been a few weeks ago now, about the difference between out of and the fact that Paul uses this different term here. He says he did all of these things according to the riches of his grace. The concept there is out of means it's like think about what your bank account balance is right now. And if you take money from that account, your balance drops. That's taking money out of your account. According to means I got it in abundance. It doesn't affect me. God's grace is not diminished, the supply of grace is not diminished because God gives grace to someone. It is everlasting. It is infinite. There's a song in our hymnal that's called Grace Greater Than Our Sin. And the harmony parts in the chorus, the melody just goes, Grace, grace, God's grace. But the harmony parts say, Marvelous grace, infinite grace. That's the reality. God's grace is infinite. It is endless. There is no running out of supply of God's grace. And that is how it is given. Romans 11, 33 says, Oh, the depths of the riches of God. And then he says that he does this so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us. In kindness toward us. Grace is not abstract, it's not some difficult, crazy concept. It is experienced in God's kindness to his people. Great American theologian Jonathan Edwards said the great end of God's works is indeed but one, and that is the glory of God. So how does God display that glory? By saving sinners and by showcasing in them his grace forever. So we were dead, but God made us alive. We were condemned, but God showed us mercy. We were lowly, but God raised us and seated us with Christ. We were undeserving, but God lavished his grace on us. Why? For his glory. So if you're in Christ, this passage should humble you and it should assure you that your salvation is not your own doing, therefore it cannot be undone. It should encourage you and assure you that your standing is in Christ, therefore it is secure. It doesn't matter how firmly we hold on to Christ. I've heard my whole life. Just hold on to Christ. No, it's because we're in his hand. That's what matters. No one can snatch them out of my hand. And my Father, who is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of his hand. And no one means no one in that context. That means not even us. And it should also assure us that our future is eternal glory, which should give us hope in this life. If you're not in Christ, then this passage calls you to see that you are not spiritually sick, you are spiritually dead. And your only hope is that same sovereign grace that has saved those who are in Christ. Cry out to the God who is rich in mercy. Again, I know we just finished our study in Luke, but Luke chapter 18. We have that tax collector and the Pharisee. And we see the only time Scripture records the prayer of a lost person. And that lost person is the tax collector. There's another lost person there. It's the self-righteous Pharisee. Oh God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I don't do this, and I don't do that, and I do this. And look how self-righteous I am, as though God's going to be impressed with that. And way in the back corner stands this tax collector. And Luke says he couldn't even lift his eyes toward heaven, but he beat his own breast and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. That's the sinner's prayer. The only thing we can do is cry out for God's mercy to save us. I want to end this morning with the words of Augustus Toplady. Talked about him before. That starts with the words, Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. He said this: he said, the sovereign and everlasting love of God is the source from whence all our salvation flows. The sovereign and everlasting love of God is the source from whence all our salvation flows. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you that you are rich.