May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of Paul to the Ephesians in the second chapter and we'll
read verse number 10. The tenth verse in the second
chapter of the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." This is a wonderful description
that God gives to those who are his children, his people, those
whom he has called by his grace. And as the apostle tells us,
who of course well knew from his own personal experience the
power of God needed to quicken him into life, we see here this
statement as he writes to the Ephesians and speaks in these
terms, for we are his workmanship? Well, it's a good question to
be able to ask ourselves whether we are his workmanship. That really means that the work
of God has occurred in our soul. The work of the Spirit, that
work which is confined to the Church of God, and to know therefore
that the Lord has looked upon us as the opening words of this
chapter inform us, and you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and in sins. Now, you and I tonight are either
amongst those who have been spiritually made alive, quickened, or we
still remain in that unconverted condition of being dead in trespasses
and sins. Now the Apostle gives us a definition
of what that means, and he tells us, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world. Well, Are we still tonight
walking according to the course of this world? Or can we realise
that through the blessed Spirit of God we are amongst those who
have been made spiritually alive? And there is therefore in our
lives a time past There's been a change. There's been evidence of the
work of the Spirit. Because here the Apostle tells
us, in times past, we walked according to the course of this
world. That was our desire, to just
carry on in this vain world. to be thought well upon, well
by the world, well by our friends, not really concerned whether
we were thought well of by God. And so we were walking according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation,
in times past. Well, what a blessing if that
is true, if we can testify to the glory of God that we have
a times past religion, that there's been a change in our spiritual
life, and there's been a change in our spiritual life because
The Lord has come and quickened us. We were dead. The Spirit of God has made us
alive. Now then, what is that? It's
the workmanship of God. It's not our workmanship because
we were dead. A dead person has no ability,
do they? do anything. They can't get up,
they can't walk, they can't breathe, they can't do anything. And that's
just the same as we were born into this world spiritually dead
in trespasses and in sins. And so what a wonderful blessing
if you and I tonight can, by the Spirit's help, examine
ourselves. It's a good thing to do that.
Never be ashamed of doing it. Examine ourselves to see whether
we are in the faith or not. It's not a trivial consideration. It's a very important consideration.
Because if we are in the faith, if God has given us faith to
believe the great glorious truths of the Gospel, then it is well
with our soul. If it is not so, then it's ill
with our soul. And these things of course are
not just to be trifled with, are they? They're not just concerning
the things of our short life, they're concerning our eternal life. And make no mistake, what God
has said is true. Eternity is eternity. It means there is no time. No,
there's no clock in eternity. There's no night or day in eternity.
Yes, to the people of God, it's everlasting light. The people
who are lost is everlasting darkness. What a vast, vast difference. Light and darkness give us some
idea, doesn't it, of the great difference. And here we have
then these things set before us and we should bless God that
they are set before us clearly. The Word of God is clear. We
perhaps turn away from it. May the Spirit of God incline
us to listen to what the Lord speaks to us and to realise these
words are true, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past. The lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." Well, that has described
us. It may describe us still today. But what a blessing if Almighty
God has looked upon us and, as it were, passed by and said, has come to life, spiritual life. Our soul, of course, is alive.
The great blessing is to be brought to that spiritual life, to be
able to realise here then, but God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us. Now, if you and I have
been made spiritually alive, it's for this great reason, because
God has loved us. with an everlasting love. Now
it's not because of anything you and I have done which merits
this. Because we were dead. In trespasses
and in sins there was no life. There was no ability to do that
which was well pleasing to God. But to realise that God's grace
has come upon us And God's grace has made us spiritually alive.
And if that grace has made us spiritually alive, we shall realize
this great truth. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, oh, he loved us. We didn't deserve anything,
did we? You know, if you ask many people
today, What's your situation? Well they'll start pointing out
what good things they've done and they're not as bad as other
people. When the Spirit of God comes and shines into the heart,
we don't throw stones, we don't say, well that person's worse
than me. Because the Spirit of God convinces us of our sin and
brings us right down in our own estimation of ourselves. The
Apostle Paul had a view of himself, didn't he? You know what he said? He said he was the chief of sinners.
The chief of sinners. My friends, as the Spirit of
God comes and really shines into our heart, you won't point at
this person and that person and say, well, I thank God I'm not
as bad as that person. Because when the Spirit convicts,
when the Spirit of God shines into our heart, we will observe
all the evil. We won't then say, well I don't
think I'm very bad. We'll bless God that he's seen
fit to show unto us what we truly are. And therefore to be blessed
with this wonderful evidence that the Lord's hand is upon
us for good, and if it is, we are his workmanship. That means that his work is going
on in our heart, going on in our soul. And so, as the Apostle
tells us here, indeed that we were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. Yes, we didn't deserve any mercy. You will never, if you are being
taught by the Spirit of God, think there's any virtue in yourselves. Because the Spirit of God will
bring us right down in our own estimation, so that we come to
that point believing that we are indeed the worst sinner,
the chief of sinners. And yet plead this mercy of God
for God, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
for which he loved us. And that will be an amazing truth.
That will be an amazing realisation to come to that knowledge that
God has loved us. And that love is evidenced by
the work of the Spirit coming into our hearts and producing
that spiritual life which makes us plead for mercy unto our God,
and not trying to justify ourselves, but recognising we stand before
the almighty ruler of the whole universe. And therefore, what
a blessing it is to come and to be favoured with such a word
as this, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, and it is a great love. It's a wonderful
love, and as the Spirit of God shows us something of what we
are, and we see how we've failed, and how we've sinned against
God, and how we've done many wrong things, and many evil things,
and yet to be amazed that God should have looked upon us, and
that God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love, wherewith
He hath loved us, we stand amazed. We stand amazed at the mercy
and the love of God towards such unworthy, such hell-deserving
sinners. And when the Spirit of God works
in our hearts and convicts us of our true state, than it is
that we bow down before God. And we then are thankful to be
able to observe that through His grace, His work in our heart,
in our soul is being worked out for we are His workmanship. It's an amazing blessing, isn't
it? To think that God is working in us, both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. To think that almighty God, and
it's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Almighty God, the ruler,
who controls the whole universe, should have looked down upon
you and me. Nothing to merit in ourselves,
was there? No good thing all we could bring
to God was our sin. And so then to think that this
God, who is rich in mercy, rich in mercy, that this God
has called us God has made us spiritually alive which enables
us to be able to confirm and thank God for the first verse
and you hath he quickened or made alive who were dead in trespasses
and in sins there's only those who are alive and those who are
dead and you and I fall into one of those two categories either
spiritually alive or we're spiritually dead. What a wonderful blessing
if God therefore has looked upon us and has quickened us, made
us spiritually alive. And so here the apostle who was
well-versed in his own experience, he'd been dead He'd gone about
thinking he was doing that which was right, but how far off he
was. He was at enmity with God. And
therefore he's able to write these great and glorious truths
when he tells us, but God is rich in mercy for his great love
for which he loved us. And it's God's love which we
do not marry in and of ourselves. It's God's love toward us. which
then produces our love towards him in realisation that he has
come to us in our dead condition and brought life into our souls. And if he's brought life into
our souls, the Spirit will convey that life and indicate and show
to us the work of the Spirit, and we will then truly and humbly
rejoice to realise the Lord has not passed us by as we deserved,
but has come to us and said, live. Life has come into our souls. Here we have this great statement.
Remember what it is doing. It's proving that we are his
workmanship. It means that God's work is going
on in our souls. And that is surely the great
and important thing. To have the evidence of God's
work. Because if we have the evidence
of God's work, we have the evidence that he's loved us, and that he's loved us with an
everlasting love. Well, it's hard for us to comprehend,
isn't it? That this great God shall look
upon us in such a way, well, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened, has made us alive together with Christ. This is joining us to Christ.
uniting us to Christ, that perfect and glorious God, and worthy
sinners that we are. And even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace, ye are
saved. You know, the definition of grace,
which I hope you know, but you may not, the definition of grace
is the free, unmerited favour of God. It's free, we didn't merit it,
but God gives it. Grace, lovely word. Don't forget
that important definition. And so he comes and he tells
us this, by grace ye are saved. Well, if the Spirit of God shows
us that we are saved, and if we're saved it's because we've
been made spiritually alive, then how our heart should rejoice, how our heart should truly desire
to praise God from whom all blessings flow, because he hasn't passed
us by. We deserved to be passed by,
didn't we? None of us can desire any greater favour than that
the Lord should look upon us and have mercy upon us. And so
here we have this statement, that God is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us. And it is a great love, isn't
it? How humbling it is to think that
God should have looked upon us and loved us than everlasting
love. And therefore he tells us, even
when we were dead in sins, yes we are all born spiritually dead,
dead, no life, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. and has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That really means that we are
united to Christ. Think of that almighty God, united
to him, his children, those whom he loves with everlasting love,
those who he's come and made spiritually alive that in the ages to come, and
has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Grace, of course, is the unmerited
favor of God. You and I can never merit any
favour ourselves. What a blessing when the Spirit
of God comes and grants us this blessed evidence of his mercy
and his favour toward us. By grace ye are saved. It's so
important that all of us have the evidence that we are saved,
to be saved from the wrath to come. If we're not saved by his
grace, by his favour, we shall be found in hell eternally, in
that place of fire and burnings, never ending. The fearful consequence
because of our sin and we won't have anything to be able to say,
well I don't deserve it because all deserve it. And therefore,
to mercy of God has come and granted us that wonderful blessing
of spiritual life, so that we were dead, but we've been made
spiritually alive and united to Christ, who has raised us
up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. Well, what kindness, what mercy,
what favour from Almighty God to such unworthy sinners. And
just let us not forget we were born dead in trespasses and in
sins. There was no life within us,
no spiritual life. We had a natural life but no
spiritual life. Bless God tonight if we have
the evidence of that life, that God-given life, that life which
will take us safely home to glory. And so the apostle then comes
down to this well-known verse, for by grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We perhaps naturally like gifts,
don't we? People give us things, we're
thankful for them. Don't forget it's more blessed to give than
to receive. And there's much blessing with giving. But to
think when the almighty God comes and gives us this unmerited gift
of eternal life, there can be no greater gift, can there? Because
it is eternal. We receive gifts, don't we, on
birthdays and Christmas, and no doubt we're thankful for them,
but they wear out, don't they? They break, they fail. But the
gift of God's grace is eternal, never fades, never fails away,
never fails. For by grace, are you saved,
is free unmerited favor. Through faith, what does that
mean? It means this, he gives you and me faith to believe the
truth of God's word. You see, the devil will tell
you, well, don't believe all that. It's all fairy tales. In
any event, it's not true and it will never come to pass. Well,
when God gives us faith to believe, It is indeed His glorious grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, faith to believe that the word of God is true. And
He gives that as He speaks in the first verse to those who
He makes spiritually alive anew, hath He quickened. Those receive
this great and blessed grace. And what does it prove? that
we are his workmanship. That means God's work is going
on in our hearts, in our souls. How vital it is. How important
it is. Let us weigh up things. Let's
consider them. Time on one hand, eternity on
the other. How long is time? Well you know
don't you? You know what time is and you know how old you are.
And you know perhaps how many years might be allotted to you.
If you live to a hundred, it's so long, isn't it? On the other
hand, eternity. How long is eternity? There's
no time. There's no time in eternity. Yes, and in eternity, you know,
to the people of God, eternal light. To the people of devil,
eternal darkness. What a difference. What a difference. How blessed then, if you and
I amongst those who are saved. For by grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Faith to believe the truth of
God. You might say well that's obvious
and that's pretty easy. Well first of all it's not obvious
and secondly it's not easy. Because there are billions of
people in the world who have never believed the truth of God. It's not just assenting to things
in our mind. It's that which the Spirit of
God gives us in our heart. to believe the truth of God. And then what does that prove?
It proves then that we are his workmanship. It proves that his
work, his work is going on in our soul. There's no greater blessing than
to know that God's work is going on in our souls. And so the Apostle says, and
he knew what it was to receive that work in his heart, that
movement of the Holy Spirit. Remember the Apostle Paul, he
went about and he thought he was doing that which was right,
but he was way off the mark. He thought he was serving God,
but he wasn't. He was way off the mark. My friend,
sometimes we may think we're serving God, but we may be well
off the mark. In the Apostle Paul, of course,
he had the Old Testament, which described so many great and glorious
truths, but it didn't give him life until the Spirit of God
came upon him on that Damascus road. And we all need to know
that the Spirit of God has come upon us. And what an awakening
that was to the Apostle Paul. He thought he was doing God's
service, but he was way off the mark. He wasn't at all. And what was told him? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Well, are you persecuting Jesus
tonight? Have you taken him off his throne?
Remember the Lord Jesus is almighty God. Co-equal with the Father
and with the Son. The Holy Spirit's work. Oh, my
friends, let us bow down and worship the Lord. Worship the
Saviour. Worship the Father, the Trinity. Co-equal. What a wonderful thing
it is. And may we be blessed with faith
to believe it. And so the apostle tells us here,
for by grace are ye saved. Yes, it's the free, unmerited
favor of God. We never deserve it. We can never
deserve it. There's no good in ourself, is
there? And you know the reason? Because we are spiritually dead. We are dead. in trespasses and
in sins. There is no life until the Spirit
of God comes in this way, as the Apostle is able to say to
those who were in Christ, and you hath he quickened, made alive. For by grace are ye saved. Well, we all need to be saved,
every one of us. We all need to have the evidence
of his workmanship upon us. His work, not our work. God's work. God comes and He
calls us by His grace. He calls us out of the nature
of darkness into the glorious light of the everlasting Gospel. We are His workmanship. It's
His work. The Lord will have all the honour
and all the glory. And if you and I are trying to
produce our own salvation, You know what it is? We're detracting
from the glory of God. God is a jealous God. Let us
not lose sight of that. God will have the honor and God
will have the glory. And you and I will be thankful
for it and we will want God to have the honor and the glory
because of what he's done, because of his mercy, because of his
love to such unworthy sinners. Yes, we'll stand there just like
the Apostle Paul did. He fell to the ground. And well, he was convicted of
his position. Yes. The Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. Well, are you persecuting Jesus? Have you taken him from his throne?
Have you pushed him aside? Well, the Apostle Paul had done
that. But the Apostle Paul partook and realised the grace of God. That's why he was able to write
such an account as we have here before us. He knew the grace
of God. He knew the free unmerited favour
of God. And therefore he was able to
come and to say this, for by grace, you are saved through faith and
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Now, if we are his workmanship,
it's because God has given us his grace. He's given it to us. We never could merit it. And
you may ask the question, why couldn't we merit it? I'll tell
you why. Because we were spiritually dead, that means we had no life.
We were dead. But, bless God, if the Holy Spirit
has come into our hearts and given us spiritual life, so that
we can realise the words here are so true. It's by grace you
are saved through faith. The Lord gives us faith to believe.
You know, faith is not something tangible, is it? Not something
that you and I can latch on to and think, well, there we are,
that's what I have. And Paul, the apostle, he gives
a definition of what faith is. When he wrote to the Hebrews,
11th chapter, first verse, now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So it's not something
which is tangible that you and I can actually physically get
hold of. But it's that which the Spirit
of God gives to us. And the Apostle goes on to say,
for by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith
we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.
that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And you can read on of course
in the 11th chapter to the Hebrews of the faith that God gave to
his people. And he still gives faith today
to believe the great glorious truths of God. And how needful
it is that all of us here tonight receive that blessing of his
grace, that blessing of faith to believe the great and glorious
truths of God, for by grace shall I say, through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Yes, God gives
these things. We never deserve it. We can never
merit it. God gives it to us sovereignly.
But what a blessing it is, and what a wonderful thing it is,
if tonight you and I have the evidence that we possess grace
of God in our souls, that spiritual life which will never be taken
away, never be taken away. And so the Apostle comes and
says, not of works as any man should boast. If we were able
to work for our salvation and say, well I've done this and
I've done that and therefore I'm worthy. No, we would detract
from the glory of God. And so the apostle realised that.
He thought he was doing God's service, didn't he? But he was
so far off the mark. My friends, you and I sometimes
can be so far off the mark We can think we're doing that which
is right in God's sight. We can think this and we can
think that, and we can be so wrong. Not a work that any man
should boast. No, we cannot boast of what we've
done. What can we boast in? I'll tell
you. We can boast in what Christ has done. Because Christ, the glorious
God, the glorious Saviour, What did he do? He took our sins upon
himself. And he died. The just, he was
the just. For the unjust, we're the unjust. He died in our place that we
might receive the great and glorious gift of eternal life. So that we're able to come and
declare the great truth that we have been quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins, not of works, lest any man should
boast. So we have this statement then
for we are his workmanship, his work. Oh, bless God tonight. If you and I can trace that in
our hearts, and it is so, so important Don't go to sleep tonight
unless you have the evidence that His workmanship is in your
heart. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Good works to honour and glorify
God, not to gratify ourselves, but it's the effect of God's
grace in our hearts.