Healing through Ephesians, Part 3

Healing through Ephesians, Part 3

Ephesians 2:1-10
Recap of chapter 1
Paul prays for the Ephesians that they would have an ever-deepening understanding of the Gospel. He reminds them of the truth of the Gospel that they believe in and tells them that he does not cease to pray for them as a church body.

1. Who we were (1-3)
   1. Dead - Who were we? We were dead. All dead. As Miracle Max would say, “The only thing left to do is go through his pockets and look for loose change.” Dead people don’t do much of anything except be dead. John Calvin comments, “Let this, then, be held as a fixed principle, that the union of our soul with God is the true and only life; and that out of Christ we are altogether dead, because sin, the cause of death, reigns in us.”
   2. Walked in trespasses and sins - ironic that Paul would talk about dead people walking in something, but that’s exactly what he does. We were spiritually dead by nature and choice, but we were also walking (or living) in a certain way, a certain path. Psalm 1 speaks of a blessed person not walking in a certain way or path. We, by default, walked in the path of sin. That was born into us, and apart from the new birth, we choose to continue in that way.
   3. We were following Satan in his rebellion against God – not only did we walk in sin, we were also by default actively rebelling against God’s kingdom. We resisted what God has been wanting for the world – that we would glorify him, that we would give thanks to him, but we turned aside from that. Isaiah 53:6, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 1:18-3:20. We by nature are rebels against a holy God. Meditation on this passage should stamp out any pride in our hearts. Anything I can think of that I’m better than someone else, should drive me to my knees in repentance when I think of what God has saved me from.
2. What God has done (4-9)
   1. Rich in mercy - Back in chapter 1, Paul reminds the Ephesians in his prayer of God’s immeasurable riches of grace that he has for them and us. God is not stingy with his grace. God lavishes grace upon us in Christ. He must. Our sin is great, our need for grace is great. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. It costs us everything as we admit that we cannot obey God enough. We cannot love God enough. We cannot resurrect ourselves or change our hearts to know and love God and other people. Remember, dead people cannot do anything except be dead.
   2. Having great love for us - We’re not merely tolerated in God’s house. We’re welcomed. We’re loved. We’re the prodigal son stumbling into the front gate with pig filth stuck in our hair, but Dad runs out to greet us and bring us in. If you’re in Christ, God loves you like that.
   3. Regenerates us - God makes us new. We need a new heart and receive a new heart in the new birth. John 3. God doesn’t (and can’t) sit back and wait for us to change our hearts, because we can’t either. God pursues and makes us new from the inside out. We haven’t arrived. We won’t arrive at sinless perfection this side of heaven, but he’s working in us nonetheless.
   4. Saved us by grace - Why would God save us, unworthy rebels? By his grace and for his glory. Salvation is not God making much of us, but God glorifying himself in the salvation of his people. That is plastered all over the Bible; the crossing of the Red Sea is a clear example. Exodus 14:15-18. God is shown glorious in salvation.
   5. God must be all three for him to remain the God of the Bible: gracious, merciful, and loving - any one of these without the others messes up who God is and what he has done in the Gospel. <<Explain all three permutations of that>>
   6. Raised us up with Christ - Our salvation is as sure as Christ’s resurrection. 1 Cor. 15:12-19. If Christ has been raised bodily, then we have been raised spiritually, and one day we will be raised bodily to be with God forever.
   7. Seated us with him – Romans 8:28-30 Our salvation is so sure that Paul can speak like we’re already ruling in the Kingdom of God along with Christ.
   8. All of eternity will be God pouring out blessing on his people.
   9. Grace and faith are together a gift of God in salvation. If I could work hard enough for God to love me, if God looked down the tunnels of time and said, “I know the rest of the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but this Andrew guy, he’s got something different going on.” If that were true, I would have something to boast about. I could legitimately say that God saw something in me that was worth saving. But he hasn’t. Because I’m by nature of child of wrath, a rebel against the kingdom, I don’t deserve anything from God. And yet, he’s saved me.
3. Where we’re going (10)
   1. Workmanship – God is creating a new creation in his people. We’re part of the new heavens and new earth in some sense, right now. Doesn’t mean that we’ve arrived. Doesn’t mean that we don’t sin, but God is at work.
   2. We have been saved by grace and faith as a gift
   3. We have been saved for good works of grace toward others
4. Application
   1. Do you believe this gospel? Do you believe that you’re a sinner in need of grace and mercy before a holy God? Sin is so bad because the God we’ve rebelled against is so holy. Repent, turn from your sin, turn to Christ, believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried and raised again for your justification and now sits at the right hand of the Father and will ultimately gather all His people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to be with Him forever.