Made Alive Part 2

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians chapter 2. Last week we observed the Lord's Supper and I appreciate Elder David Parker doing such a great job expounding upon the text and the scriptures for us to be able to observe the Lord's Supper today. The Sunday before that we started Ephesians, and so now we will continue in Ephesians on the subject of being made alive, part 2. Made alive, part 2. The subject was to be made alive, to be saved by the sovereign grace of our Lord Jesus Christ two Sundays ago. And I'd like to continue in Ephesians chapter 2 on the same subject with the central idea of this being: Christ saved us while we were dead in our trespasses and sins and brought us from walking in sin to working for Him. And so Christ has saved us from walking in sin to working for Him. And you'll see that in verse 10. Read with me if you would Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 10. Did I say chapter 1 to begin with?

Alright, well I'm not leading you too far astray. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 10.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive. Together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that none of you may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Let's pause for a prayer. Lord, thank You for ordaining this work that we would do for You and this glorifies You. Help us to learn of the text today to be more glorifying to You and understanding who You are by Your revealed word. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.

This section in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 has end-capped the idea with the word "walk." And so we used to walk in our sins but now we are walking and working for Him. Read with me in verse 10 again, "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works." Now you weren't saved just to sit and sulk, you were saved to worship and work. And we have all been given a gift to be able to be exercised with God. Turn to chapter 4 verse 7 if you would. Chapter 4 verse 7 in Ephesians says, "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." There's a gift that God has given you and when you exercise that gift, the grace of God empowers you to be able to utilize that gift and you are energized when you are serving Christ our King.

This section in Ephesians is building up to us being able to work for Christ, to worship Christ in this way. And so His sovereign grace that saved us glorifies Him because it is Christ who saved us. He made us alive. That brings glory to God because you couldn't save yourself. It's not of works lest any man should boast. But at the same time, it is building up to the point of us walking and working for Him. It is not that we were saved to sit, but we are actually saved to continue to bring glory to God. And as you are utilizing your gift, as you are working out what Christ has given you to do, as you are engaged in this ministry, the ministry that God has given you, whether you're driving a truck, whether you are serving in a factory, whether you're a mother, whether you're an at-home homemaker, whether you're a preacher, whether you're a minister of maintenance, whatever you may be, you are to work with all of your heart as unto the Lord and not unto men. And that brings glory to God.

Why does that bring glory to God? Why is this building up to us being a workmanship in Christ and utilizing all that He has given us for His glory? How does that glorify Him? Well, God is a God of order. And when we are exercising what God has enabled and gifted us to do, as unto Him, and we execute this with excellence, and we do a great job, it brings order to society. It brings order to your homes. It brings order to churches. Do we not serve a God of order? When you look around, do you not see that there is a Creator behind the creation? And this is glorifying to God. And so Paul goes to an extreme extent to describe how we are saved by grace in chapter 1. And now as perhaps a soft review and a building up to how to glorify God, because he stated in chapter 1 "to the praise of His glorious grace" three different times, and now we are made in the image of God, made to work. The theology of work was established in the garden. And when we serve God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we are glorifying Him. It brings glory to God.

And so this section is end-capped. It starts with working or walking in sin, and then it ends with walking in Christ. And so God is the one who makes that transformation. And that transformation for those who are walking in sin to now working for Him brings glory to God. So for those who are in the deepest, darkest of sin, for God to redeem that filthy person — which we're all filthy before Christ — for God to redeem that brings more glory to Him because only God can transform such.

Now when that conjunction in verse 4, chapter 2 verse 4, when that conjunction happens, "But God, who made us alive," there, uses this word called raised. Look with me in verse 4: "But God, being rich in His mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up." You've been raised, and that particular word raised is a word picture that perfectly portrays how Christ was raised from the grave. And so were you. You were dead in your sins. And Christ raised you and He made you alive. So Christ, having been raised from the dead, now we picture ourselves as too having been raised from the dead.

In verses 1 through 3 in chapter 2, you see it's in the past tense. Hear that with me if you would. I'll read verses 1 through 3: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked, past tense, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too, all formerly, lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh, and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." And then in verse 4, it switches to the present tense. "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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." Now it moves from the past tense to the present tense to the future tense in verse 7.

"So that in the ages to come we might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." This grace that God bestows upon you and your life is for His glory to be revealed, to be shown. Here in verse 7, "So that in the ages to come He might show" — okay? His glory will be shown in that He not only has saved you, but now He is transforming you to be able to be His workmanship. In verse 8 it says, "For" — okay? Now all of this is leading up: "For by grace you have been saved." And then in verse 10, another for. Verse 10, "For you are His workmanship." All of this circles back around and points towards God revealing His grace. And here in verse 8 it points to God's grace and it glorifies Him. And then sanctification and service there in verse 10 also points to God's grace being revealed.

And so again today's main idea is that Christ transforms sinners into servants to reveal His glory. He is the one who is able to do that. So let's go back again and come through and look at point number 1, their confession. Their confession. I use the plural term there because of how Paul uses the word "we" in verse 3: "We too all formerly lived in lust of our flesh."

In verses 1–3 you see they have confessed their guiltiness. In verse 2, they lived in disobedience. In verse 3, they lusted, and therefore they are children of wrath. That's their confession. And that's where true salvation really starts — confessing where you truly are. You have transgressed against God's perfect law. You've fallen short. Nobody is perfect. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and therefore we are children of wrath. God's wrath abides upon you.

That is for us to be able to know that the cause of our death is our own transgressions. It's our own sin. And so we have a death sentence that has been upon us. And so the Ephesians here should remember their former condition and that they have been brought from this extreme sinful place and into God's grace by His divine grace. So from guilt they would move to gratitude. By remembering what God has done for us and how we used to be filthy sinners and now we are being made into His workmanship, that prompts an immense amount of gratitude as you reflect upon who you once were and who God is making you now. We live with an attitude of gratitude. We're so thankful that God gave us a purpose. He's gifted us and now He wants to continue to refine us.

And so the Ephesians should remember they were not in danger of death — they had a death sentence. They weren't in danger of it. They already were dead. And so BC, before Christ, we were already dead in our transgressions and sin and God's wrath was upon us. So we're not dying before Christ. We're already dead. You're already dead in your sin. You're already dead in your trespasses. You already have that looming upon you and the wrath of God is then deserved because you've broken His holy law. Only those who have been justified by His blood will be saved from His wrath. Turn if you would to Romans chapter 5 and verse 9.

Romans chapter 5 and verse 9. You have to be judged by the judge as one who is justified, and you're justified by the blood of Christ. And justified is a legal term. So in Romans chapter 5 and verse 9 the Bible says, "Much more than having now been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." So you're saved from God's wrath — which is hell for eternity — by the blood of Jesus, by His substitutionary death and payment for your sin on the cross. He paid it for you in your place. You must be judged as justified and this means to be declared righteous. It's not something that you earned or you deserved. None of us has earned an ounce of our righteousness if you've been saved. And none of you have ever caused God to look upon you favorably by what you have done or how much you've given or how much you've worked for Him. There is nothing that you could ever do to cause God to look favorably upon you because of how dead you were in your trespasses and sins.

Have you ever looked at pond scum and seen perhaps a rotten, I don't know, dead animal decaying in that little pond or whatnot? Is there anything favorable that you would look upon that and say, "Oh, that's what I want. I want to bring that home with me. I want to bring that into my kitchen. I want to make the aroma go all the way through my house with that"? No, no, no. That's like us. We're dead in our trespasses and our sins. We're filthy and gross. I mean, how dead and how filthy were we? Well, go back to Ephesians. I'm glad you asked. If you want details, right here.

"You formerly lived in the lust of your flesh," verse 3, chapter 2 verse 3. So your lust in your flesh, indulging in the desires of your flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. This is just the beginning of the details of what Paul starts to show us whom we once were.

So furthermore, those justified have had the righteousness of Christ imputed into their life. So the doctrine of imputation means that Christ took your filthiness and He imputed His righteousness into you. I call it the filthy exchange. You've got to ask yourself, "Whoa, that's pretty loving, kind." That's the grace of God. That's undeserved. There's nothing that I did to earn that. I mean, He gave His righteousness to me. I mean, now you're really understanding the gospel when you understand who you are outside of Christ and then who we are now in Christ.

This doctrine of imputation is better explained in Isaiah chapter 53. Turn if you would. Isaiah chapter 53 is a very clear example of how Christ takes on our filthiness and He gives us Himself in exchange. And isn't it His prerogative who He wants to do that with?

In Isaiah chapter 53 verse 4, "Surely our griefs, He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." Isaiah 53:5, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we were healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused — here it is — the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."

That, my friends, is a filthy exchange. He took your filthy rags, your filthiness, your sin, your lust, your everything, everything, past, present, and future, everything we have ever done, all of our transgressions and all of our sins against Him. He bore our sin and our shame in our place, and then in exchange — like you deserve anything, right? — He gives us His own priceless righteousness. And that's the reason why in Colossians chapter 1 and verses 28 and 29, the apostle Paul says, "Christ in us, the hope of glory." And when we recognize it's His righteousness, it's He in us, that is the hope of glory.

So praise God. You were, you formerly walked, and all were formerly conducted and were by nature children of wrath, past tense in verses 1 through 3. Let me ask you a question. Is it perhaps somewhat off-putting to mention the wrath of God? Is that something that is off-putting when someone's talking about the wrath of — I mean, it seems like everybody wants to hear about the love of God today outside of Beulah Baptist Church. It seems like the world wants to hear about how loving God is no matter what you have done. It seems like people want to hear about God's love no matter where you are. And nobody wants to talk about the wrath of God. Is that off-putting? Well, it is, according to the Bible. In Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 8, the watchman's duty is to warn the wicked. And by way of application, we all are called to warn those who are wicked, who are caught in their trespasses and sins. Is it off-putting to mention that those who are in sin must be born again in order to have eternal life in Christ? Is it off-putting to mention that dead souls must be made alive in Christ? Is it off-putting? Well, it is.

Sin is offensive to God. Remember how offensive it is to God, and then that we should be very willing to be off-putting to others, to allow the gospel through us to be offensive somewhat to others because of how offensive they are to God. But then to follow up with the solution: but God can take all of your offensiveness. He can take all of your sins and all of your shame. He can give you a new heart. And when He replaces a heart full of wickedness with a heart full of righteousness, it will put you in an attitude of gratitude for the rest of your life. Sharing the true gospel is an amazing opportunity to be able to share with someone: you do not have to swim in your shame and in your guilt and in your sin forever and ever. You can be free from all of this bondage. You don't have to be filthy before God. He will give you a new heart.

This universal sin disease affects the whole man. The Bible talks about in Isaiah — go back to Ephesians chapter 2 — how we sin even in our minds. It's not just in the heart, but this universal sin disease affects the heart. And proof is by these outward actions that are mentioned here in the text about how we walked according to the course of this world in verse 2, and according to the prince of the power of the air and of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. This satanic, tyrannical rulership over evil people who are consumed with evil — the satanic tyrannical rulership pushes and pushes and is never satisfied. Sin is never satisfied. Satan will keep on pushing that lost soul until that lost soul is destroyed and is dead. You think, who's behind murdering babies? It's the evil one. Who's behind suicides? It's the evil one who keeps on pushing. Before Christ, you're dead in your trespasses and Satan is not even satisfied with that. He's going to keep pushing until you are dead. You're an image bearer of God, simply being created by God, and Satan hates God and he wants to destroy more than your life — he will keep pushing until you are absolutely dead. And so Satan's dominion over the wicked is responsible for all of these horrific sins, but you know what? Satan doesn't start with murdering babies and he doesn't start with you committing suicide, does he?

In the text, the beginning point is disobedience. Living according to the course of this world, disobeying God in the smaller things — but he's never satisfied, he's going to keep pushing. And you know who are dead in their trespasses and sins because their walk according to this passage typifies who they are. They've walked according to the course of this world. They are walking in their sins.

So there must be a conjunction in their life. Verse 4 — there must be a conversion. And so now point number 2 is their conversion. There must be a verse 4 point in their life and in your life: "But God, as you are in bondage of sin, as you're walking according to the course of this world, God must intervene." And how does He do that? Well, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, right? Romans chapter 10 verse 17. People hear the gospel and are able to be saved when we share it with them. And so now, "But God, being rich in His mercy." Now you think to yourself, okay, why does he use the word rich? Well, because we are so far in sin debt. We're so far in debt it takes the richness of His mercy to pay for all of the sins of the whole world. And so their conversion must happen and it is demonstrated here in verse 4: "From His rich mercy because of His great love." Now that is amazing because He is loving something that's absolutely wretched and loving something that is dead. Does that not speak to how loving God truly is? "Whom of you have ever loved and cherished something absolutely filthy?"

It brings my mind back to a time in North Carolina when I was finishing up preaching on a Sunday night and it was late and it was dark and it was freezing cold outside and I had a stoplight. A beautiful dog came running up to my truck and he put his paws on my truck and I'm like, "Man, that is a beautiful dog." And he was just shaking from how cold it was out there. And you know, it got the best of me and my heart melted, and so I jumped out and opened my back door and I thought, "I'd love to let him sit in the heat for just a few minutes." And boy, he just jumped right in the back of my truck. And I closed the door and got in and no more than I closed my door, I'm like, "Whoa, that thing's been swimming around in some sewage or something."

The worst rank I'd ever smelled in my life — now he's rolling around in the back of my truck. I'm like, "Oh, this is terrible." It's so bad, it's choking me. I could hardly breathe in my own truck. When you combine that kind of stink with some real hot heat coming out, it was not a good situation.

I went from loving that dog to loathing that dog, especially when it jumped in the front with me and got on me and its stink was now on me, and it didn't take me but the next stoplight to reopen the door and get him out. And his rank stayed with me all the way home. It was awful. And I think to myself, "Who, who loves the filth? Who is willing to get in and to clean that kind of nastiness up?"

It takes the love of God to be able to reach that — His mercy. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," the Bible says in Romans 9:15. And when God has mercy on us, He goes down into the filthiness of who we are, our walk, our lust, our sin, and our shame. And He bears all of that. He took all of that filthiness on.

Now with this conjunction here in verse 4, "But God" — get the extreme measures here. The exception is made when God steps in and He removes His own wrath from upon us. He removes His wrath from us to excuse the unexcusable, to forgive the unforgivable, to clean the filthy, to exonerate the guilty, to justify the unjust, to purify the wicked, to free the slaves, and to raise the dead. You see how far we are away from purity and away from righteousness, and yet in our position of guilty, guilty, guilty, He steps in underneath the weight of His gavel and takes the sentencing. He takes the punishment. He takes it all from us — not only the punishment, but all of the sin and the shame.

Now I want to propose to you a huge problem. If you would turn to Romans chapter 2 with me. In all of this, you think, "Okay, I comprehend what you're saying, but I want you to realize something."

There's a huge problem in Romans chapter 2 in verses 5 and 6. Romans 2:5 says, "But your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath." We get that. There's a punishment that is upon us. In our sin, we have stored up wrath. The Bible says, "In revelation of the righteous judgment of God," in verse 6, here's a problem: "who will render to each person according to his deeds."

Now God has spoken here, and He has said, and He has written it down, that He will render to you according to your deeds. Every sin, every transgression — He, the righteous judge, is going to render to you according to your deeds. Something that now, according to ethics, according to the reliability of His word, to simply trusting Him at His word — He has said He's going to render to each person according to their deeds. This sentence is looming upon you, and He must follow through. God can't back up from His word. He's already prescribed this even from Genesis chapter 3, that sin equals death. And all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He said that His righteous judgment now must be carried out. The verdict has come in. You were condemned for your sin, and God's righteous judgment is your death sentence, and you've received this death sentence. This is a huge problem. How can God be a just judge and remove this death penalty from you? How can God be just if He actually said it? Okay, you've got a death sentence because you sinned, but how can He be just if He removes it? The answer?

A substitute.

Somebody has to die.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13 says it's by the blood of Christ. Jesus took your place. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25, Christ gave Himself. And in Romans chapter 5 verse 8, Christ died for us.

He died for us. He did this for you. This is a gift for you. He chose you to give this gift to you. You've got the death sentence upon your life because you've sinned and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You must die. Sin equals death. From the beginning, you've got this sentence. And in order for God to be just, someone's got to die.

In Romans chapter 5 and verses 9 and 10, "Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." You've been saved — not just given a ticket to heaven. You have been saved from the eternal punishment that you deserve. And so now Christ has not only saved you, but go figure He's imputed His own righteousness to you. I mean, that is far better — I can't even take a dirty dog and give him a bath without being repulsed and kicking him out of my truck. But God's love goes so far, so much farther than we can comprehend or are even willing to do. Doesn't that put us in our place and say, "Wow, the love of God is absolutely amazing"?

While we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, Romans 5:9. We were enemies and yet Christ loved us. No wonder — if you think about this — no wonder John the Baptist said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," in John 1:29. And no wonder Isaiah said, "He was like a lamb led to the slaughter, like a sheep silent before its shearers. By judgment, He was taken away," Isaiah 53:7–8. And so Jesus took our punishment. He took our sin. He took our shame and our guilt. He took our separation. He took our pain.

Never have I ever read about or heard of such an innocent volunteer taking such a filthy sentencing in someone's place. God is truly, according to verse 4, rich in His mercy. His attributes attest to the fact that He is a God of mercy and love. So that in our text, His glory will be brightly displayed. You would probably have thought more highly of me if I said to you, "Yeah, I took that old stinky dog and I went to a car wash and pressure washed all of the tar and the filth off of him. And then I took him back to my house, took him in the shower with me and I put some fruity good-smelling stuff on him and me and bathed us all up. And then the next day I went to PetSmart and got him a doggy jacket so he could be warm." You probably think a little bit higher — I did no such thing. It didn't even go through my mind.

The first thing I could do was get the stinky dog out of my presence. I had no thoughts of cleaning it up after he had done such offenses to me. He got my truck dirty. I loved him.

And yet, you're seeing how my priorities are. Our offenses towards God are so filthy and so wretched and so ugly, and yet a pure, sinless, stainless, holy God sent His one and only Son to bear all of this. Those who have grace are grateful.

Those who have been given this kind of grace are extremely grateful. Those who have had God save them from such wretchedness don't mind at all taking the filthiest jobs around the local church. Those who have been saved with this kind of grace don't mind working their heart out for God because of how much He has done for them. Those who understand the grace of God will do anything for Christ their King. Those who have received such unmerited grace and recognize how filthy their sin has been against a holy God realize that we only have one life to live, and soon will pass, and only what's done for Christ will last. Ian Pounds said that.

It's so wonderful to be able to have purpose. And now beyond all of this, we are now ones who are giving thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. Psalm 136:1. A.W. Pink says it this way: "The least that we can do for those who have been recipients of such bountiful grace is to give thanks to the Lord, to give thanks to the Lord every day, to be grateful unto Christ our King. And perhaps your thankfulness has deepened because of your understanding of who you once were." And perhaps Psalm 59:16 typifies who you are when it says, "I will sing aloud of Thy mercy." If your prayers and your worship abounds and comes from the depths of your heart, you understand what Christ has done for you. You understand His grace. You're not like a teenager who expects more and more and more and more and more. You're not like a child who just wants and wants and wants and wants. You have grown up beyond being a child in the faith, beyond being a youth in the faith, to becoming a father in the faith who understands these deep and wonderful truths.

And now, no matter what God's sovereign grace providentially dishes out to your life, you are willing to say, "Thank you, Jesus." Perhaps it was good that you were afflicted, like the psalmist said. As you trust Him in the trial, perhaps you can say even in the great times that God has given you these wonderful gifts and you don't take it for granted. You always have the Lord on your mind and dwelling upon you because of your understanding that God has given you by His grace these wonderful things.

So beyond the general mercy to all people — "His tender mercies are over all of His works," Psalm 145:9 — beyond being saved by His grace, His tender mercies are upon His works. The gift that He's given in you, by way of application, He is working His means of grace through you to reach those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. He, by His tender mercies according to Psalm 145:9, is working beyond your salvation and through your sanctification and through your works so as to make the local church the hope of the world, to reach, to teach, to save, to disciple, to encourage, to draw closer to Christ. These works — you've been made a workmanship under Christ. This glorifies God. And when we get it, when we truly understand it, we're no longer selfish with our time. We're no longer selfish with our money. We're no longer selfish with our service. We pour ourselves out unto Christ our King because, like A.W. Pink said, it is the very least that we could do is to serve Christ our King with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The Bible says in Exodus chapter 33 verse 19, "I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." And when we recognize that we did not deserve His mercy, but God chose us to show mercy upon by His grace, we feel grateful. Thank the Lord for my salvation. I didn't deserve it, but He gave it to me. Thank the Lord that now I have been bought with a price, I am owned and operated by Him. Do you get this? Do you see chapter 1, sovereign grace? From before the foundation of the world, He has elected those whom He will save, and He saved you. And now in chapter 2, He recaps this sovereign grace, reminding the Ephesians where you were in your sin, yet by grace you have been saved — not of your works, not of your merit, not of anything. And He moves beyond into work, your workmanship, your service unto Him. It's just like a climax in the text. And then for chapters 3, 4, and 5, He describes what it is to work and to walk for Christ.

Look in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. This is a high point in the text. He's worked our minds all the way through sovereign salvation, and He's going to show His glory not only by saving from the uttermost, but now verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves." It is a gift. I'm grateful for that gift. Not as a result of works. Okay, you've done nothing — no work, no gift, no nothing — to cause Him to look affectionately upon you and to save you, so that no one would boast. Verse 10, the climax here: "We are His workmanship." It brings God glory to transform you from filthiness into faithfulness. Not only transformation, but service and work, for we are His workmanship so that we would do what? Walk in them.

And not only do we work for Christ with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but we realize that He has created the works that we are to do. He designed those works that we are to be doing. He got the job description already planned out from before the foundation of the world. Pre-Genesis 1:1 is when God planned your work. And when you work, you bring glory to God.

Wherever you're at working during the week, your identity is in Christ. Work as unto God, not unto men. Colossians 3:23. Bring glory to God in how He has gifted you to work. And you do it with excellence. And you do it with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And it's not just limited to your occupation, but most especially to the local church. Most especially how you work in and through the local church to bring glory to God.

You might not know why you are where you are in your occupation, but God does. And He has a work for you to continue to do. And you just serve with all of your little heart, soul, mind, and strength and let God be glorified. Because He will. When you are walking with Christ and you are working as unto Him, not only are you demonstrating that you are grateful for your salvation, you're grateful for a job, and you're grateful for how the Lord has given you the strength and the ability to work, to be able to do these things, but you are showing and magnifying and glorifying God by working the works that He has for you to work. Did not Christ finish the work that He was given by God on the cross? It's finished.

And we are still here for a reason. We've got to keep working. His mercy and His grace is allowing us to keep working, keep working.

And so God loves us as we are, most unlovable. I believe that it's so impressive that God loved us while we were yet sinners. And then not only are we made alive, but we are made to work and made to serve. We used to — remember the end caps in this section, verses 1 to 10 — we used to walk in disobedience, verse 2, but we've been transformed into walking in obedience so that He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and His glory through you. Are you not to be a light to the lost? Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may glorify God through your good works." The good works are an expression of who you are in Christ.

We are Christians. Follow me on this train of thought if you would. Many have served this great country and have gone to war and have been in the military. Many have served this great country in communities through being police officers and military, and perhaps some have lost their identity in Christ and have become more identified with being in the Army or in the Navy or in the Air Force or being in the military or being a police officer. They've lost their identity in Christ and their identity was wrapped up in what they were doing. See how powerful this is? Maybe they're wounded. Maybe they're retired now and their identity was in their occupation and their work was in their own minds glorifying to something other than Christ. It takes a "but God" moment to be able to shift their identity from that to Christ, to being in Christ. But follow my train of thought. Do you see how powerful it is to have inwardly your service unto Christ our King wrapped up as part of your identity? Part of who you are.

It is very clear according to research — George Barna's research — that children that grow up in the church and stay in the church, three things are part of who they are. They can share the gospel, okay? The death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ — you repent of your sin and believe in His substitutionary death in your heart — okay? They can articulate the gospel.

Their whole life represents their church life and so there's no hypocrisy there. And then thirdly, this is striking to me: among the children — and remember, nine out of 10 church kids leave the church and never come back — but among that 1% that stay in church and that are thriving in Christ, this third aspect that research has shown: not only can they share the gospel, not only is their home life congruent with the church life, but they serve in the church. Part of their identity, part of their work is wrapped up in the local church, whether they're in the tech, whether they're greeting at the doors, whether they're a teacher's assistant, whether they're mopping the floors, whether they're helping, helping, helping here, whatever they're doing — they have owned a role in the church. And so even when mom and dad are sick and they can't go to church, they're calling somebody: "Pick me up, I got to be there, they need me."

Their identity wrapped up in their workmanship for Christ is so powerful that that is one of the key aspects that keeps them in the local church. And so their identity is no longer wrapped up in such as the course of this world, verses 1, 2, and 3. The lust of the flesh — their identity is not in the things that are distracting away from Christ, but their identity, by way of works, their workmanship, their service under Christ is plugged in and essential in the local church. And here's to you: everyone has been given a gift by God. Everyone needs to be serving Christ in the local church.

One of the most detrimental things upon good pastors in this era of church life is the saints sitting and sulking and expecting the pastor or preachers or pastors or elders to do everything. And what that causes is the pastor to have to do all these other jobs. And he's not focused on preaching the word of God, which is his primary duty. And now everything gets reduced downward. But if the saints are serving — we'll get there in Ephesians chapter 4, because Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12 talk about how the teachers and the pastors are for the equipping of the saints into service. We've got a lot to do here with just equipping you to be able to work.

And so when all the saints — many hands make light work. When we all pitch in together like last Sunday, when we all put up the tables for communion, and we all put them away, man, it's just those of us who are like, "Wow, this went really fast. This is great. Life is great when we're all doing something." And so everybody doing something is an essential in church life. It's not like we can sit and sulk. And when you have that "but God" moment, when you've been saved, you understand by His grace things have happened. You don't mind. In fact, you want to serve. We don't have to beg people around here to serve God. It's just amazing. When there's something to do, we just jump in. We understand the gospel and I commend you for it.

And so God saved you to reveal His glory by saving you. And He's further working by His precious mercy and grace and merit to favor upon your life so that you will continue to work and further glorify Him. And this is to the praise of His glorious grace, chapter 1 verse 6. This is to the praise of the glory of His grace, chapter 1 verse 12. And this is to the praise of the glory of His grace, chapter 1 verse 14. Not only are we saved to glorify God and His glory being brightened by saving us from the uttermost, but we're also continuing to brighten His glory through serving Him. And in chapter 1 verse 17, He is the Father of glory. Chapter 1 verse 18, the riches of His glory are given as an inheritance. In chapter 2 verses 7, 8, 9, it says that we might show His glory. Chapter 2 verse 10 further glorifies God as we are His workmanship and we are working and walking with Him.

And so I conclude with two verses. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." "Whatever you do" — whatever means of grace that God has been working through you to be able to save you and to give you the ability to work, do that to the glory of God in all areas of life. It brings order, brings glory unto Him. Colossians 3:23 says, "Work heartily as unto the Lord." And so this, according to the text, is being made alive in Christ. Let's pray together.

Dear God, we love You and we thank You for Ephesians chapter 2. Help us to continue to understand all that You have given to us accordingly. Lord, You have penned this passage through the Apostle Paul to the Ephesian church and we're observing it within context, interpreting the truths and doing our best to apply them to our lives. I pray, God, that You would continue to save souls. That they would not only be saved, but baptized here at Beulah Baptist Church. I pray, Lord, that not only would they be saved to glorify You and baptized to follow You in obedience, but today would find it in their heart to want to join this local church and commit themselves to this local body, to serve, to exercise the gift that You've given them. Lord, I pray as well that they would continue in Your word and learn how to study Your word here at the church and then go on to make disciples likewise. And Father, I'm always reminded that Your commission in Matthew chapter 28 is not a suggestion. God, You have intentionally told us with all of Your authority to go therefore into all of the world and make disciples. I pray, Father, that we would be disciple makers. It starts with us recognizing all the grace, the unmerited grace, that You have poured out upon us. And God, we do give You due glory and we give You due thanks and praise. And we thank You for Your unmerited grace upon us. Lord, we were much filthier than some dog who had been crawling around in the local dump. We were much filthier, Lord. Our sin and our wretchedness was much worse than anything we can imagine — towards how pure and holy You are. And yet, not only did You forgive us, but Lord You embraced our sin and shame and You took it upon Yourself and You paid for our punishment and You set us free and then, beyond all of that, Lord, You imputed Your righteousness to us. How dare us not to be grateful every single day. Forgive us where we have fallen short in these areas, and I pray, Lord, for the dear saints that are here at this church today, if there's not one that's been saved, that You would grant them repentance and faith in Your substitutionary death. Lord, help them to cry out in sorrow and say, "Lord, forgive me, save me." I pray as well, Lord, for the dear saints and folks who are here that they perhaps have been encouraged or challenged by this message, that they would move forward to do all that they can while they can in and through the local church and at their local occupations and at home and everywhere that they are to be and to serve and to do and to work. God, I pray that You would help us to recognize that we've been made alive in Christ and this by Your sovereign hand. We give You the glory for that and we thank You from the depths of our heart, dear Jesus. It's in Christ's name that we do pray. Amen.