Sunday, September 21, 2014 pm
STUDIES IN EPHESIANS (8)
By Grace You Have Been Saved
Ephesians 2:4-10
In
our lesson tonight we will examine this context and in the process we
will see how this text is NOT teaching “faith only” as a means of
salvation, but rather a text that emphasizes our salvation is by the
grace of God.
In
our last lesson we noted vs. 1-3 where Paul speaks of our former conduct
– dead in trespasses and sins, walking after the course of this world
and following Satan. The
result of this lifestyle was that we were “by nature children of wrath”
meaning we were destined for eternal condemnation, and without any real
hope of getting out by ourselves.
The message here is similar n structure to Paul in Romans
7:13-25, where he describes his desire to do the right thing, but he
finds himself sinning and without hope.
He says in vs. 24, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver
me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)
BUT then in vs. 25 we read, “I
thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans
7:25) Because of Christ Jesus
there IS hope!
In
our text, vs. 4-10 describe our hope in God though which we can be
delivered from the state previously described (vs. 1-3).
Let us take notice of Paul’s observations.
a.
“BUT
God” - Our salvation begins with God.
When we emphasize that grace is the prime factor in our
salvation, this is the point.
Without God’s willingness to do something there would simply be
no hope whatsoever.
b.
He is a God of mercy
– the idea of mercy is showing kindness or concern to someone in need,
compassion and pity (BDAG).
God does not give us what we deserve (His mercy relieves the
consequences of our sins).
Deut. 4:31, “God is a merciful God” (Psa. 116:5).
We see the mercy of God demonstrated in His dealings with
rebellious Israel. Over and
over he showed compassion, even with their continual rebellion.
The righteous realized this – so much so that it is frequently
mentioned in the psalms.
Psalm 136 mentions it as a refrain in every verse, “For His mercy
endures forever.”
1 Peter 1:3 speaks of His abundant mercy.
c.
He is a God of love – John 3:16, 1 John 4:7-11. God
genuinely cares about us.
That is why He has done everything that He has done.
This text tells us that His mercy (and grace) is the product of His
GREAT love.
d.
In these things God is
“rich” and “great” –
“rich” deals with the idea of a
large amount and valuable.
“great” is a word that mean something in the upper range of a scale
means
In this text we are reminded that what God gives us is not sparse, but
rather it is very generous and abundant.
We find that throughout this text.
a.
“even
when we were dead in trespasses” – our trespasses is our
wrongdoing, violation of moral standards, sin (BDAB).
The death which was the result of our sins as described in our
last lesson is now addressed.
b.
We are made alive in
Christ –
That in which we have been made alive is the antithesis of being dead in
our trespasses. Thus this is a spiritual resurrection.
And Jesus is the facilitator of this new life.
How do we come in contact with the death of Christ and are thereby made
alive in Christ? Notice
Colossians 2: 11-13, Romans 6:3-6, Galatians 3:27 – and the importance
of baptism.
c.
“By grace you have been saved”
(5b) – grace is God’s gift of salvation.
(His grace relieves the guilt of our sins).
This text associates His grace with the death of Jesus the Son
whom He SENT!
As we have emphasized in times past, Grace is His part.
God has made provisions for that which we can never achieve on
our own. The greatest
manifestation of that is clearly His Son (Romans 5:8-11).
But it would also include the giving of His word, the avenue of
prayer through which we can approach Him, the provisions of His church,
etc.
a.
The result of coming in
contact with Christ’s blood is not just being made alive, but also we
are…
b.
“raised us up together”
- We have been raised up – not just made alive but changed.
Thus it is dealing with our
spiritual condition. In Him
we are to be a new creation - 2 Corinthians 5:17.
The “together” here would include Paul and those to whom he is writing.
Paul will deal with our being united together later in this
epistle. But also, we are
raised together WITH Christ (and in Him).
Again consider Romans 6:5 – we are raise with Him to walk in
newness of life.
c.
“made us sit together in
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” – the grace of God which is manifested in the resurrection of Jesus has
resulted in us sitting together in heavenly places.
When we become Christians we have a relationship with heaven.
Our citizenship is there – Phil. 3:20, Ephesians 2:19 – we are no
longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints…;
our anchor is there – Heb. 6:19), Heb. 12:12,
“But you have
come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,”
We have hope of eternal
reward. Even on this earth,
is that not the direction we are to be seeking? (Colossians 3:1-2)
d.
“That in the ages to come” – perhaps this is a reference to all ages of time after
Christ came to this earth.
The word ages is indeterminate
as to time – it can mean a dispensation, an era, an age, or a lifetime.
The best fit with this term here is the various ages of time
since Christ established His kingdom.
Over nearly 2000 years this world has experienced many ages of
civilization. While
technology continues to evolve one thing remains constant – Jesus is the
same, yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).
His laws still apply to day as much as they did back then.
e.
“He might show the riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.”
Here Paul adds another word to God’s mercy and love.
He mentions His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.