The Gracious Work of God

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 145:17-21
• Hymn — Come, Thou Almighty King
• Prayer of Invocation
• Scripture Reading — Matthew 22:37-40
• Prayer of Confession
• Assurance of Pardon — Psalm 103:8-10
• Confession of Faith (Westminster Larger Catechism on Christ's Intercession)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — How Deep the Father's Love for Us
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
• Hymn — Nothing But the Blood
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Gloria Patri

Sermon Title: The Gracious Work of God

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10

I. From What the Gracious Work of God Saves

• A. We must be graciously saved from death (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5)

  1. God warned Adam that disobedience would bring death (Genesis 2:17)
  2. Physical death entered through the fall, but spiritual death is the deeper reality — an inward death of the soul
  3. Spiritual death means the loss of power to love God, obey His law, and love neighbor rightly — all love is tainted by selfish and covetous motives
  4. Ezekiel's valley of dry bones vividly pictures this condition (Ezekiel 37)

• B. We must be graciously saved from the devil (Ephesians 2:2)

  1. Everyone is a follower; those dead in sin follow the prince of the power of the air — Satan
  2. Satan is no cartoon character; he is God's public enemy number one, a deceiver and a ruler over a realm of authority beneath God's sovereign throne
  3. As Peter warns, he is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8); his goal is always to deceive men into disobeying God's word
  4. Martin Luther's insight: the devil is God's devil — his authority is real but limited and subordinate

• C. We must be graciously saved from dreadful wrath (Ephesians 2:3)

  1. Those dead in sin are called "children of wrath" — heirs of God's holy judgment
  2. God's wrath is never fickle or unjust; it is always exactly what prideful rebellion deserves
  3. Romans 1:18 declares the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness

II. By What Means the Gracious Work of God Saves

• A. Everything turns on two words: "But God" (Ephesians 2:4)

  1. These two words have been called the gospel in miniature; Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached three sermons on them alone
  2. The flesh, the devil, and death are no match for "But God"
  3. This God is rich in mercy and great in love — the God of Exodus 34:6-7 who keeps steadfast love and forgives iniquity

• B. God saves by uniting believers to Christ (Ephesians 2:5-7)

  1. Believers are made alive together with Christ, raised up with him, and seated with him in the heavenly places
  2. Scripture gives several pictures of union with Christ: vine and branches, head and body, bridegroom and bride
  3. Christ's resurrection and exaltation directly correspond to what God works in the believer — from death to life, from bondage to freedom (Ephesians 1:19-21)
  4. This union is unbreakable — nothing in all creation can separate the believer from Christ (Romans 8:38-39)
  5. True freedom is not found in political revolutions but in Christ, who frees us from death, the devil, and dreadful wrath

• C. God saves by grace through faith, which is itself God's gift (Ephesians 2:8-9)

  1. Faith should be understood first as Christ's own faithfulness — his perfect obedience unto death and resurrection as vindication
  2. Faith is also the believer's trust — the open hand that takes hold of Christ; "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31)
  3. Salvation is not one part God's grace and one part human effort — faith itself is God's gift; salvation is God's gracious work from beginning to end (Titus 3:5)

III. For What the Gracious Work of God Saves

• A. Believers are saved for good works prepared by God beforehand (Ephesians 2:10)

  1. We are God's workmanship — created in Christ Jesus; if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
  2. Good works are the marks of new life: kindness and forgiveness among believers, thankfulness, children obeying parents, husbands loving wives sacrificially
  3. As God ordained salvation and its means, so he ordained the Christlikeness of the elect — every step of the new way of walking has been marked out by the loving Father

• B. The order must not be confused: we are saved for good works, not saved by good works

  1. The illustration of Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables captures this: the bishop's grace frees Valjean, but with the purpose that he become an honest man
  2. Like Valjean, believers are criminals pardoned by grace and given new life — but that new life is unto a purpose: holiness, obedience to God's moral law, and Christlike love
  3. Obedience flows from salvation; it does not produce it