Ephesians chapter 2. Tom, my
message this morning is His workmanship. His workmanship. There in Ephesians 2, we'll begin
in verse 8. For by grace, that's the beginning
and that's the means, by grace are ye saved. That's the end
state. The way that happens, through
faith. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves. None
of the three. Not that grace is not of us,
salvation is not of us, and the faith that we have that saves
us is not of us. It's the gift of God. Not of
works. In case that wasn't clear enough.
Not of works. lest any man should boast." If
we were to have faith that was ours, that was refurbished, that
was touched up, that started with us, we would boast in that. If salvation in any part was
of man, we would boast in it. If the grace of God was contingent
on us, one, that wouldn't be grace. There's something in us
that made the Lord be gracious to us, we would boast in it.
Salvation is not of man. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
if someone were to come to the conclusion after reading that,
and they ask the question, are a believer's works and the holy
life lived for God, walking this earth honoring the Lord as we
want to, as we try, we're not able, but try to live in this
world as people that believe God, What we do, is that unnecessary? If we have no part in our eternal
salvation, does it matter what we do? How we live in this world,
how we conduct ourselves, and how we react to things providence.
The Lord sends us a trial. He sends us something outside
of us, sends somebody else a trial. Does it matter how we react to
that? Do we get angry? You get sad, frustrated. In case
that assumption's made, in case someone were to read this and
be a fatalist and say, well, salvation's of the Lord. Man
ain't got nothing to do with it. I can go live like I want. God the Holy Spirit moved Paul
to write the next verse here. Verse 10. Ephesians 2.10. For what? Because we are saved
by grace. Because we are saved. And all
that is through faith. Because of this, for we are His
workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Man will
turn right back around and say, see, we've got to do something. I want to ask four questions
this morning. Whose workmanship are we? In whom were we created? What's the result of that saving
work, of that creation, of that workmanship? What's the result
of it? And when did all that happen?
When did it take place? So first, whose workmanship are
we? It says, for we are his workmanship. We're not our own work. or the
Lord's work, the Father's work. The word workmanship there, it
means product. It's something that is made.
Not something that's refurbished, but it's made from nothing. It's
not restored from an old rusty state. It's brand new off the
assembly line. I always think of those classic
cars. You take an old classic, it's an old Chevelle or something,
and you refurbish it, and it looks just like brand new. But
I wouldn't take off driving the main in it. It'll fail, won't
it? I want to start with a new motor.
It's something brand new. The Greek word is poiema. That's where we get the word
poem, because it is something that's spoken or written into
existence. The word of the God. How does
He perform His workmanship? He speaks it into existence and
we have it written for us. We are His workmanship by His
Word. Now for His workmanship, then
what is workmanship of God? What does He do for us? What
does He do in us? We are saved, we are blood-bought,
we are created vessels of honor to God. Paul simply summoned
this up for us, this workmanship of God from verse 8. He's telling
us again. The Lord works grace in His people.
The Lord works salvation in His people. And He does that by working
faith in His people, by giving us that gift of faith. And this
work of salvation, this making new, Creating something from
nothing the Lord gives us several new things that we have now we
possess now Physically the Lord made all men and women Every
one of us the Lord made life physically Now means were used
people were used sometime in our day science is used to create
life But God must give life Everything that man does will fail unless
the Lord of Hosts wills it to be. Unless it's His work, it
won't last. It won't be effectual. God must
separate us from our mother's womb, too. He creates life in
the mother, and He's the one that separates. Our friend out
in New Jersey, they just had a baby yesterday, and she labored
for a long time. 60 some hour, 65 hours. That's a long time. And I tried
to be an encouragement. And I said, the Lord will separate
that baby from the womb as he sees fit and at a point in time.
And then what does our nature do? What about C-section? We can't quit it, can we? That's
our nature. Well, that too is appointed by God. Power might
go out. They got to postpone. That fellow
may have a hard time getting off the golf course. We don't
know, do we? It's all at the hand of the Lord.
It's at His appointed time. Physically, we're given life. Physically, we're separated from
our mother's womb. But spiritually, those things have to happen to
the Lord, too. The Lord must give us life. In 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Paul
writes to us, says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. There's a newness. There's a
creation. Turn back a little bit there to Galatians 2, just
a couple of pages. Galatians 2, verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. We are made one with Christ in
His death. And being made one with Him,
we live as He lives in our new man, in our new nature. And the
life which I now live, didn't live it before, didn't have it,
wouldn't create it in me. The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me. There's the gift of faith. It's
the faith of the Son of God. There's the gift of life. We
now live it. The Lord has to give it. That's
His workmanship. His work. This new life must come from
a new heart. It's one that we live. It can't
be beaten in the old heart. It's corrupt. It's from Adam. That's corruptible seed. It must
come from a new heart. How can a person with a new spiritual
heart in them, how can they receive that? The Lord told Ezekiel,
He said, a new heart. Also will I give you a new life.
I'll give you life. And a new spirit will I put in
you. What's a new heart and a new
spirit? That's life and the Spirit's understanding. The Lord breathes
life into us, gives us a new heart, makes us living in Him
by the faith of the Son of God, and He gives us a spirit of understanding. to know Him, to look to Him,
to praise Him. He gives us that spirit. A new
heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within
you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and I will give you a new heart of flesh. Take that stoniness
out of us and give us something that's soft and pliable and meek,
gentle, has life in it. The workmanship of God gives
us new life, He gives us a new heart, gives us a new understanding
we didn't have before, and He also gives us a new family. It's
read there before in 1 John 3, Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. If I'm a son and you're a son
and we have the same father, we're brothers. We're related,
ain't we? We got a new family. Paul told
us that in Romans 8. The Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If I'm
a joint heir with Christ, that's the workmanship of God performed
in me. And you are a workmanship in
Christ. And somebody in New Jersey, somebody
in China, in Australia, wherever they are, if they're made one
with Christ, They're one with me. That's my family. You all are my brothers and my
sisters in Christ. I have a physical family that
the Lord gave me, and the same way that I was given that physical
family, the Lord gave me spiritual brothers and sisters. He gave
them life. He gave me life, and we have
the same Father. Is this temporary? This life
I have on this earth is temporary. My brothers and sisters on this
world are born with me. That's only why I'm here. What
about this spiritual family, the spiritual heart, the spiritual
life? The work of God is forever. It's forever. Paul told us there
in Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very thing, that he His
workmanship, which He begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. What the Lord does, when He starts,
He finishes. What He does is done forever.
He is forever and His workmanship is forever. Now back in our text
there, what is this workmanship of God? He's saving His people.
graciously and freely giving them the gift of faith in His
Son, giving them life, giving them a new heart, fitly framing
us together as a family, making us family in His household and
giving us an understanding of it in that new Spirit. So in whom are we created? We
see the workmanship of God. Where was this creation took
place? Where did all this take place? We know it's not in refitting
that old man. We know that our new birth is
a new birth. Brand new. So where were we created? There in verse 10. For we are
His workmanship created in Jesus Christ. Why is that important? Christ is where and how we are
saved from sin. We were created in Him, and He's
the reason why we are saved from sin. That's how we are saved
from sin. Galatians 4.19 says, Christ be formed in you. Oh, the depths. Anybody really
understand that? God Almighty. His incorruptible
seed comes to sinful men and women and is put in that stony
heart and it lives. In this death that we are, Christ
is formed in His people. Someday we'll know what that
means. Someday we'll understand it. Who can imagine that? Turn
over to Ephesians 4 verse 24. and that ye put on the new man,
that new workmanship of God, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Our new spirit is created, born
anew in Christ our righteousness and in Christ our true holiness. Where does all this work take
place? In Christ Jesus. This new man is created in righteousness
in Him and in true holiness in Him. Look back at Ephesians 1. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. That's His workmanship
of God. Blessing us with all spiritual blessings. Where did
it take place? In Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. How holy are we
going to be? How without blame are we going
to be as holy and as without blame as Christ is? How is that
possible? We're in Him. Created in Him. Put in Him. Workmanship of the
Father takes place in Christ our Lord. That is where it takes
place. That work of making us just,
making us righteous, holy, presentable to the Father, takes place in
Him. But the workmanship of God is made possible in Christ. Hear me out though. People take
one word and jump on it. That's why God can be the justifier
of sinful men and women and remain just. Him is that propitiation,
that sacrificial lamb because God made himself a lamb, provided
himself a lamb. That's how. we can be saved. That's how His workmanship can
take place in us in Christ. Because of who He is and what
He accomplished. Being created in Christ is both
where we are saved and how we are saved. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Look at verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham,
made flesh, just like we were. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren." He was created,
is formed in us, and we're created in him. Made one. made one, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
Now one more, we'll turn over to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 3. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, through us, God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. Why did He do all that? That
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. How are we
to fulfill the law? That's required. to be holy and
just without blame before God. How can we fulfill the law? Christ
fulfilled the law for us. In us and we in Him. We are made one with Him. That's
why He had to come. That's why He had to suffer and
go to that cross. Because He became me. And in
doing so, and the Lord being just on my sin in the body of
His Son, He was the justifier in making me Cross formed in
me. What a beautiful thing. Something
we couldn't come up with that. He has to do it. Explain it away.
You can't. It's a salvation of the Lord.
That creation of God, our new man in us, was created in and
by the work of Christ our substitute. Because of our oneness, He took
our sin and His perfect body that knew no sin on the cross
of Calvary and He suffered the wrath of God for us. Our wages of sin that we rightly
earned and His perfect and sinless self, He bore that to the full
satisfaction of eternal judgment. While we were in Him during that
punishment, we are partakers of His glorious nature. We were
created holy and upright in His righteousness. We read so often,
and I hope someday we can fully understand it. For He hath made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God. Where was all this creation took
place? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the only place a sinner
can be saved. In Christ. That's the only place
that a sinner will ever be holy. In Christ. That's the only place
he'll ever be righteous. In Him. And that's the only place
he'll ever be set apart. Will be sanctified. In Christ. It must be in Him. That creation
must take place. The creation that can be in the
presence of God, it must take place in Him. Now Paul was on
that ship. It was about to sink in that
storm. Remember what he told those sailors
that were on board with him. He said, except these abide in
the ship, they cannot be saved. He took those men to the Mediterranean,
the Lord did, sent a huge storm, going to shipwreck that boat
so that Paul could tell them, unless you stay and cross the
ship, you cannot be saved. It must be Him. Anything required
of God by us must be in Christ. That's where it's created. And
does all that sound mysterious to you? That's what Paul told
Timothy. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received into glory. And we were in Him when that
happened. Made one with Him. Do you want
to create yourself of anything that's required to go before
the Lord? Do you want to create something of your work, of your
hand? Or do you want it to be created in Christ? He's been
received. That's already accepted. That
sacrifice we are to have, that holiness we are to have, it's
already been accepted by the Father. He's risen. That's where
He is. Now back in our text there in
Ephesians 2, God of heaven and earth performs
a work in His people, a saving work, an everlasting work. And
that salvation took place in Christ and it's ratified, it's
approved because of who Christ is and what He accomplished in
and for His people. What's the result of the Father's
work in Christ for us? When this happens, when the Father
has His workmanship performed in Christ for His people, what's
the result? Look there in verse 10. For we
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. What are these good works? Turn
over Galatians chapter 5, just one page. To see people, I've had so many
people tell me, I don't want to give to charity all the time.
I don't even know where it's going. You see those things on
the bottom of a charity box that says, you know, 14 cents of every
dollar goes to help whatever the cause is. Where's the other
money going? I give to charity. That's not unto good works. What's unto good works? Galatians
5 verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love. What love do we have? The love
of God, because He first loved us. We truly love Him because
we know Him. Made to love Him, love our brethren.
We have joy in that. I have great joy that the workmanship
of God is of Him and not of me. Peace. It's finished. That's a good work. You know
that? You go home, get your recliner, and as Maurice always used to
say, eat your ham sandwich, and rest because Christ has finished
it all. That's a good work unto God in Christ Jesus. Long-suffering. Long-suffering with our brethren,
with each other in this world, with God's providence in our
lives. We're long-suffering because
our Father controls everything and everything on this earth
is for His glory and for our good. That's all I thought of
my mom this morning. She'd say, you wait till your
dad gets home. That's far worse than mom getting
out. No, you deal with it. You take care of me. I don't
want to wait till dad gets home. That's how, if somebody rear
ends us, if somebody walks up and punches us in the face, we
should, in our head, just say, I don't need to deal with this.
My father handled that, didn't he? Long suffering with the Lord's
prophets in our lives. That's a good work. Gentleness.
I want to be gentle. I want to say that a gentle man
doesn't mean that they're gentle all the time. They just have
the capacity for gentleness. But I want to have the capacity
to be gentle. To be easy. Goodness. Faith. I want the Lord to give me that
gift of faith. He has to give it. And I want
it to be His faith given to me. To look to His Son always. Meekness. Meekness is not weakness. Abraham
was not a weak man at all. I'd say he was a pretty rough
and tumble fellow. But he was meek. Remember him
and Lot, they got into it over a patch of land. What did Abraham
do? He slammed his fist down and
said, this is mine. He said, you go pick what land you want
and whichever side you take, I'll take what's left. It took
off the Sodom and... y'all know the story, but Abraham
said, I'll take that stuff over there. That's fine. That's a
good work. Faith's a good work. Looking
to the Lord and His providence is a good work. Temperance against
such, there is no law. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the afflictions, affections and lusts,
if we live in the Spirit. Where do we have to abide? Where
does that life have to come from? In Christ, in God, in the Spirit. Let us also walk in the Spirit. How do we love? Where does all
this love and peace and joy and longsuffering, where does all
that take place? Does that take place on a sidewalk where everybody
can see me with a cardboard sign held up? That takes place right
here. In His Spirit that abides in
me. That's where it takes place, isn't it? How do we walk in good works?
in the fruit of the Spirit. People say, well, how do I do
good works? Our Lord was asked that question. Do you know that?
They said unto Him, what shall we do that we might work the
works of God? And Jesus answered unto them,
and He said, this is the work of God that you believe on Him
whom He hath sent. Somebody can do that. Boy, that's
a good work. He is charity. He is love. And to believe on
Him. What a good work. Turn over to
Ezekiel 36. Am I absolutely sure that the
Lord is the source of the believer's good works? That the fruits of
the Spirit are not somehow formed in me and I have a responsibility
somehow and it's contingent on what I do? Am I sure? That's
a big deal if I'm wrong. And if I were to tell you that
it is something we have to do, and obviously it's not, that's
a big deal of me being wrong there too. It's a more weighty
subject. Here in Ezekiel 36, we see the
Lord's workmanship created in Christ unto good works. Look here, Ezekiel 36 verse 26.
A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put
within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep
my judgments and do them." There's no boasting for man in that,
is there? If the fruit was produced of me, Christ the vine and I'm
the branch, and a fruit was produced, He caused that to happen. And
we shall keep His judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in
the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people,
and I will be your God. Salvation's of the Lord and any
result of that salvation. Salvation's of the Lord and any
result comes out of that salvation is of the Lord. Any secondary
cause, any work, any fruit, it's of Him. And the security of the
Almighty being our God forever. He said, I will be your God.
That's of Him as well. He'll keep us forever. He cannot
lie. And all of His promises in Christ
are yes and amen. They are forever. It's finished. It's done. Back in our text. Whose workmanship are we? The
Lord's workmanship. What does that entail? He saved
His people, He's been gracious to them, and He gives them faith
in Christ. And all that took place in cross
person and because of his work on this earth, on that cross
of judgment and that seat that you and I deserve, that we earned,
that judgment seat. And all this results in the believers
walking unto good works, having fruit to the spirit, those works
of God, believing God and loving our brethren. He causes us to
walk in that, and we shall walk in His statues. Now, when did
this work take place? For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. It has always been the purpose
of God Almighty that His people He chose to show mercy to, have
mercy on, that He created in Christ, that in His appointed
time, He called them out of darkness and gave them light of His grace.
That they would walk as believers in this world, manifesting the
works of God by the Holy Spirit. That's his purpose. Beforehand,
he purposed that. He said, I'm going to save a
people and other people's going to know about it. They're going
to be able to tell. It might be a dentist. It might
be a lawyer. It might be a boy bagging groceries.
I said, there's something different about that person. They got some
peace to them. They have some assurance in them.
Everybody, nobody else does. Something's different. God purposed
that would happen, and He did it before. He ordained it before
the world began. Everything God has done, He's
always purposed to do. He doesn't react, He acts. His
almighty counsel shall surely stand. And in that, in His purpose,
He purposed to be graceful, gracious to a people. Grace always precedes
any blessing. That gift of faith, that gift
of salvation, being put in Christ, that all began from the Lord
being gracious. His mighty grace. That's why
it's to the praise and glory of His grace. We can have about 200,000 years
to sing to that and wouldn't even come close to completing
the first verse. Lord's gracious. It's always
been his purpose that we would be created in Christ Jesus our
Lord, that we would be called and we would walk in the spirit
that he's given us. That we should walk in them.
That would be better translated that we shall walk in them. This isn't a suggestion. The
wording of that is not a suggestion. It's a determined fact. It will
happen. Inwardly and outwardly. We looked
before at the Ten Commandments. You shall. It's not a suggestion. The Lord is speaking to His people. And He says, you shall. You shall. You shall. You're going to do
all this. Lord, I haven't. No, but your
substitute has. Inwardly, that's what we do. How does that manifest outwardly?
You shall walk in good works. Now a believer may live 364 days
a year and don't act much like a believer. But that love is
going to come out of them. That long-suffering, that meekness,
that gentleness, it will come out of them. Why? The Lord said
He's going to cause it to happen. I believe Him. I think he's telling
us the truth. Outwardly a child of God shall
believe on Christ and love their brethren. And that's not of us. Let's turn back to 2 Corinthians
4 and we'll close. 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6 For God,
that's where it began, who commanded the light, his workmanship, to
shine out of darkness. We are dark in our birth, in
our nature, in our actions, everything in us, right? This little light
of mine, I'm going to let it shine. God commanded the light
to shine out of this old dark person. unto good works." That's His
workmanship. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. God's workmanship created in
Christ Jesus unto good works. Salvation is of the Lord. Good
works are of the Lord. Being in Christ is of the Lord.
It's His work. We read all this. That's true. What I'm telling you is the truth. Look at verse 7. But we have... It isn't just words on a piece
of paper. It isn't just one man talking to you for 30 minutes
on a Sunday. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Right now. You that believe Christ It's
been given faith. It's been saved by the gracious
workmanship of God. Right now, in this old, broken,
hateful, mean body, child of Adam, right now, in this earthen
vessel, we have this treasure. The Lord's allowed us to know
His power in the face of Jesus Christ. What a privilege! What
a blessing! Now, all of a sudden, we're long-suffering
and meek and gentle and kind, and that's how that works. that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us." And every believer is perfectly
okay with that. We say amen. Somebody told me
I was nice, and so I got a permanent crease right there from scowling
all the time. I don't think I ain't that jovial. The powers of God, not of us,
lest any man should boast. Amen.