Ephesians chapter 2. Particularly
we want to look at verse 10. We've talked extensively over
the last few months off and on. I reiterate these things pretty
often, as the Lord enables me, that we have no ability in the
flesh. As a matter of fact, in that
song that we just sung, there's no way that we can keep God's
law. There's nothing that we can do to keep God's law. Men
try all they can to try to keep God's law, and the more they
try to keep God's law, It shows and proves that sin abounds.
They can't keep it. Self-righteous men, they think
they can keep it, but they just can't keep it. It's an inability
to us in our flesh. And even last week, or the last
time we were together, we talked about how can anybody
continuing habitual sin. We talked about that a lot of
people believe that a Christian can live his life and continue
in a walk and keep himself from sinning, not walk in habitual
sin. They think that the seed that
is in them, the child of grace, cannot sin because his seed remains
in him, and they think that means that they don't continue in habitual
sin. But as we looked at this last
week, that's all that Adam can do is sin. It's a habitual trait. It's an habitual characteristic. It is a trait that we get or
a nature that we have because our father, Adam, was a sinner. And every seed reproduces after
its own kind. So every child of Adam is a sinner
and all they can do is sin. All the flesh can do is produce
sin. And so we saw that there is this
teaching of scripture that there is nothing that we can do, there
is nothing that we are unable to do spiritually that can keep
God's law, that can do the things that please God. We've heard
this over and over and over again. I've preached that to, you know,
almost every week that somehow comes up in our preaching. And I believe that that's the
truth, and I believe that's something that we need to hear all the
time. I mean, honestly, because if you're like me, my self-righteousness
likes to start pushing its way back to the forefront, thinking
that I can do something, and I like to hear a good dose of,
you can't, you can't, you can't, so that I might rest in what
Christ has already done. But that being said, We see here
in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10, it says, for we are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. And so we read that
passage and then we begin to ask some questions. You know,
is this a contradiction to what all we've been saying? Is this
a contradiction to the rest of Scriptures and everything? I mean, just flip over a couple
pages, a few pages, to Philippians chapter 3. This is the portion of the letter
to the Philippians where Paul was talking about all the things
that he did prior to his conversion, all the religious works, all
the good works that he was doing. And in verse 8, Paul writes,
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now he didn't say here,
I count all things that I did prior to my conversion in that
pharisaical Jewish religion as laws so that I might in turn
turn around and in Christian labor keep the works of the law
or work for Jesus or, you know, create a ministry to further
expand the kingdom of God. He didn't say that. He says,
I count all things but laws. So what's he trading all the
work for? for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. See he says that I ceased in
my labors but I praise God that I am being exercised in the growth
and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may
win Christ." So here Paul clearly says that all these good works
that he was doing, these religious works that he was doing, he counts
as dung. They're worthless. They're not
worth even comparing them to dung. Of course, we all know
what dung is. Look, if you would, at Isaiah. Verse 64. Verse 6, it says, But all are
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses, and I've
pointed this out before, call you to take note again here,
it says righteousnesses. It just doesn't say righteousness
as in our overarching person, but it says all of our righteousnesses. I also would have you note that
it does not say all of our unrighteousnesses are as filthy rags. It says all
of our righteousnesses So that's every work, every good work,
everything that we think is righteous that we try to do, the Bible
says, are as filthy rags. And I've mentioned this before.
I think everybody here is fully aware that this word, filthy
rags, in Hebrew is in reference to menstrual cloths. We kind
of know what all that is. It's a bloody, Menstrual claw
and that's what the Lord compares your righteousnesses to your
very best The very best that you can do the very best that
you try to achieve the very best that you produce in and of yourself
the Bible calls filthy rags and we all do fate as a leaf and
our iniquities like the wind and have taken us away. We are
all as an unclean thing and all of our unrighteousnesses are
as filthy or all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So is that
a contradiction here whenever Paul writes in Ephesians that
we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works
that He had before ordained that we should walk in them? How is
it that we walk in good works, but yet the Bible says that everything
that we do that is righteous is filthy rags? How is it that
Paul says you were created unto good works, but then yet in another
thing says everything that I do, O wretched man that I am, everything
that I do is tainted with sin and is evil? Paul said, everything
that I do that was righteousness, that is righteous, is done. Paul
says that in me dwelleth no good thing, but yet here he says that
we were created unto good works. Is there a contradiction in the
Scriptures? Well, we know that there's not any contradiction
in the Scriptures. God's Word doesn't contradict
itself. Whenever there's a seeming contradiction that we come across
in the Bible, what we understand and what we know is that our
understanding is not where it should be. That we have not been
revealed the truth of the matter. Because God's word doesn't contradict
itself. So Paul isn't saying in one breath
there is no good works and then in another breath saying that
there is good works. So that would lead us to another
question. Then whose good works are they?
works are as filthy rags, then whose works are they? Whose works
are these that are being considered here? See, this verse of scripture
is used, brethren, by the Adamic man, is used by the natural man,
and I will say used by 98% of quote-unquote Christendom today. Most of your churches out there
are preaching and teaching, get out there and do these good works. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. I'm telling you to get out there
and do these good deeds. The Conditionless Permanent Baptist
is saying it's your temporal salvation. It's your conditions
that you've got to meet. Get those means, take those means,
and apply those means, and you're going to be saved. You're going
to be saved in a temporal way. But what's at hand here? What
are we looking at? What is this talking about? Is
this the context of this passage? Well, if you'll notice with me,
brethren, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10 sits right in the middle
of chapters 1 and chapters 3. And if you'll notice, Ephesians
chapter one starts off, Paul starts off the letter with his
benediction that he always does. But if you'll notice, that continues
on till the end of chapter three. Notice it ends, chapter three
ends with amen, that's a benediction. So what we see here in chapters
one, two, and three, that Paul is putting forth here
before he moves into everything that he starts talking about
for the rest of the book. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 is one long exposition or thought that Paul
is getting out. And right in the middle of that,
Ephesians 2 and verse 10, that says that we were created as
God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works
that God hath before ordained that we should walk in them,
that context hinges or that understanding or that interpretation of what
that is talking about hinges upon what has gone before and
what has gone after that. Paul is going to tell us in the
context what works is being talked about. See, most of Christendom
is going to tell you these works means the Ten Commandments, the
moral law, the ceremonial law, the civil law, and all the things
of the Old Covenant. Get after all those things of
the Old Covenant and do them. All the admonitions of the New
Testament is going to tell you to get after and do all them. And so they're saying that these
good works are these external things that we are doing for
the Lord, in service to the Lord. But is that what the context
of Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3 is all about? Is that the context
of the new covenant? See, we have to have an understanding
of the new covenant versus the old covenant. I was reading a
letter that a man had written in to
Gilbert Beebe, and Gilbert Beebe was an old school Baptist preacher
back in the 1800s, and he had a periodical called The Signs
of the Times, and people would write in and ask his take on
certain verses and this and that. Well, this man wrote in and was
asking about a certain verse, and in that, he was asking Gilbert
Beebe to expound upon this one verse. He said, where I'm at,
He said, I'm surrounded by several Baptist churches. But he said,
all these Baptist churches preach a do and live gospel. And whenever he said that, I
thought, even back in the 1800s, these people were dealing with
the same thing that we deal with today. We are surrounded by people
that are out there preaching what they think is a gospel or
a good news of do and live. But brethren, listen, there is
no good news in do and live. because no one can do. That's
the problem. Therefore, if we want to preach
and cling to a do-and-live gospel, we are all going to perish. That's
why the Bible tells us that this law, this old covenant, is a
ministration of death. And we'll look at that maybe
here in just a few minutes. This guy says, please explain
this to me because I've not heard anything that is a satisfaction
to my soul that I feel that I've been taught of God about. All
I hear is this do and live gospel. And brethren, this is exactly
what we come to whenever we hear Ephesians 2.10, in most cases
expounded, is a do and live gospel. This is a, hey, you better get
after your good work. You were His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. If you're a child of grace, you're
going to be doing good works. Don't forget, James says, be
a doer and not a hearer only. Don't forget, you know, faith
without works is dead. And so we go to all these passages
and we're all trying to beef up and exhort the fleshly Adamic
man to get after and do his religious job. But is that what is being
talked about? Let's look back quickly in Ephesians
chapter 1. Let's look at some of the works
that precede Ephesians 2.10. And I think you'll find that
all these works have nothing to do with something that you
do in your flesh. I want to read through these
quickly, but just pay close attention here. It says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Okay? Again, to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. I don't know anybody in the whole
entire world that is faithful that we can say to the absolute
that they are faithful. Because not one person has been
faithful to Christ completely. We have all erred. We have all
sinned. We have all turned around. We have all denied, we have all
distrusted, we have all turned away in unbelief, we have all
doubted, we have all done things that have not been faithful.
So you can't lay that claim to the natural man. The faithful
in Christ Jesus is talking about, like we talked about two weeks
ago, that spiritual man, the man of the inner man that is
created in true in holiness and true righteousness. That man
is who is faithful. The one who cannot sin. The man
who keeps the law. As Paul said, that I keep the
law of God in my mind. That is the faithful in Christ
Jesus. He says, Grace be to you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ. Notice it's in Christ. Everything
that we have been blessed with, all the gifts of God are yea
and amen in Christ. Notice that the Father is the
one who gives the gifts. All good and great gifts come
down from the Father of lights. It's coming from God. So these
gifts, these blessings, these things are the context of what
Paul is writing about are heavenly gifts. They're not earthly gifts. They're heavenly gifts. They're
given in heavenly places. And they are given in Christ. So these things that is being
spoken of are things that are outside of us. These are things
that are not connected to anything of the natural man. And there
are things that are done by and given by God. He says, Blessed
be the Godfather of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
And it has not been according to anything that you have done,
but according as he has chosen us in him. before the foundation
of the world. And the reason that He did that
is so that we would stand or that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. So God has given us all these
works to be faithful in Christ Jesus. To be the faithful in
Christ Jesus, He has given us every blessing to make us the
faithful in Christ Jesus according as He has chosen us Meaning that
He has set us apart to be this people. He has set us apart from
all others that He would create. He has set His people apart to
be His special, peculiar people, His kingdom of priests, His kingdom
of servants, His bride, His church, His body. He has set us aside
so that we would be be before Him holy and without blame."
That's being faithful. If someone is faithful, then
they are holy and without blame, right? Well, brethren, that's
not this natural man. That's only that inner man that's
been born from above. That's only the seed of Christ.
The seed of Christ. Christ is holy and without blame,
and He reproduces after His own kind, just like Adam reproduced
sinful man after his own kind. Christ has reproduced a generation
of righteous children after His own kind. But brethren, them
are spiritual children, not fleshly children. It is those who keep
the law in the spirit, not in the flesh. And so Ephesians starts
out here, and Paul is starting out forming the foundation of
Ephesians 2.10. He's forming it here by letting
us know that if you are a faithful In Christ Jesus, it's not the
outward man that's doing it. It's the heavenly man that is
being blessed with all spiritual blessings so that you are holy
and without blame before him in love. That's one of the reasons
why I believe in eternal justification or eternal suretyship is because
Christ has stood in our place as our surety. He has stood as
our substitute from all eternity. The child of grace has, in the
spirit man, has never sinned. We have never sinned. Now this
fleshly man, yes he has. And that's who needed to be redeemed.
That's whose sins the Lord had to pay for. That's why Christ
died, is for that man that's on the outward man. But brethren,
listen, that inward man is holy and without blame, before him
in love. Verse five, having predestinated
us, so God has chosen us And we didn't do anything to do that,
right? That was a work of God to choose us. It was a work of
God to predestinate us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
He didn't do it according to your choice or your decision
or your upbringing or your lineage, your DNA. He didn't do that because
of the denomination that you go to, the church that you went
to, being baptized in water. He didn't do that according to
anything except for the pleasure of His will, not your will, according
to the pleasure of His will. He adopted you to the pleasure
of His will. He adopted you according as He
has chosen you in Christ Jesus after the pleasure of His will. Verse 6, to the praise of the
glory of His grace. The reason He did it is so that
He would be glorified. Not that you have done something
good. Not that you have caused yourself
to differ. Not so that you could stand before
God and say, thank God I made the decision to do this or to
do that. I was watching the thread on the internet earlier yesterday. of these guys going back and
forth, someone said, had mentioned something, you know, who here
has accepted Jesus Christ at a Christian concert? And one
guy came on there and said, nobody accepts Jesus, Jesus must accept
them. I thought, hey, that's great,
man, this guy obviously knows some truth here. Well, I began
to watch this thread, and I mean, everybody started attacking that
guy immediately. that started attacking him and
everything. Why? Because the natural man
thinks that he can accept and do and claim something. Well, God doesn't give us any
room to claim anything. He says, to the praise of the
Lord of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted. See, that's
what that guy was saying right there. We have to be accepted
by Him. We don't accept Jesus. Jesus
must accept us. We must be accepted in the Beloved. There again, that's a work that
we don't do. We don't accept Jesus, He accepts us. It says
in verse 7, in whom we have redemption, that's a work, and that's a work
that we don't do, that Jesus did. Through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. Again, we don't
do that, God did that. Wherein He hath abounded towards
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, so there's revelation, of the mystery of
God's will, that isn't something that we attain to ourselves. That's something that God did.
According to His good pleasure, which He had purposed in Himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in Him. So there again, that's
a work of God that doesn't involve anything that we do. It says,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who, here's the word, who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. Who is the one
who is doing the work? Is it you? No. It's God who does
the work. It is God who works in you both
the will and to do His good pleasure. It's the work of God. that we should be to the praise
of His glory. So it is God who worketh all
things that we should be to the praise of His glory. So if we
are the faithful in Christ Jesus, if we are His workmanship, if
we are the ones who are the servants of Christ Jesus, and He is the
one who does the work, then that's not us. We can't claim any of
it. He's the one doing the works. And the works that are being
done are spiritual works, not fleshly works, because we are
the ones who do fleshly works. He's the one that does spiritual
works. We can't do spiritual works. Only that which is of
the Spirit does spiritual works. And we are flesh. Now, let me
just say, because I can already hear an objection saying, yeah,
but you've been born again, therefore you've been made spiritual, or
you've been made life. Therefore, because you are now
life, and have life, then you are able to do spiritual things. Brethren, listen, whenever we
were born from above, there was nothing that was done to this
fleshly man. Nothing changed about it. The
flesh is just flesh. It continues to just be flesh.
Nothing happened. That's an error of Reformed thinking,
Protestant thinking, that has been infiltrated, especially
into Baptist churches, has been infiltrated in all these churches
that are out there today, is that whenever you are born again,
that there is a change that happens in this fleshly man. That something
happens, that you get better. Listen, you did not become life,
you received life. There was something that was
outside of you that you received. It is a new creation. It is something
from heaven Not from here on earth. So God didn't take your
old self and rework it to make it where it will now function
and do good things. That's not what God did, no.
God put something completely new in you. Christ is life, and
if you have life, it isn't that you have life in yourself. You
have the one who is life. Christ. And Christ's life is
what produces the works. As I've said before, you look
out here, say we had a cherry tree out here in our yard. That
cherry tree, the fruit that comes off there, that cherry that comes
off there, that branch didn't produce that. That cherry didn't
produce itself. It came from the life that flows
through the makeup of that tree. There is life in that tree. And
that life produces the outward stem, it produces the bark, it
produces the leaves, the branches, it produces the cherry. All of
that flows out of the work of the life in the tree. Brethren,
everything that flows from us comes from the life that is in
us and there is only one who is life, and that is Christ Jesus.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. In Him is life. He is life. So there is only
one who is the derivative, or there is only one who is life,
and we are the derivatives of that life if we are His children. There is a spiritual life that
flows from the life and that spiritual life that is given
to us produces spiritual fruit. We can't claim that fruit to
be ours because we're not life. We just have been given life. So whenever we're looking at
what this is saying here, this isn't God giving you life in
yourself and now with the ability that God has given you, Now you
can work out these things. It is not that. Now I would rather
hear somebody say that than to say that we can just do by our
own will, choose to work on Christ. I'd rather hear somebody say,
well, God's caused you to be born again and given you a spiritual
ability. Now you can get out there and
do that. I'd rather hear that than the other alternative. But
brethren, even that is not biblical. What's biblical? is that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Therefore, in
my flesh, I produce no good thing, because evil is present with
me always. I serve the law of sin always
in my flesh. But I find there is another law
in me that wars against that law. There is the law that keeps
the law of God in my mind. There is that seed that is incorruptible that is inside there with the
corruptible seed. There is that seed that cannot
sin. There is that seed that is faithful. There is that seed that is born
of God in true righteousness and holiness. And through that,
The life of Christ produces works in us. In whom we also have obtained
an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of Him
who, Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will. So there it tells me there that I don't do things at the
whim of my own will. I don't do them because I've
worked up the means, because I've appropriated this or appropriated
that, or gained knowledge, or decided to do this, or listened
to the admonition, or listened to the encouragement, or listened
to the rebuke or reproof, and now I've changed my mind, now
I'm going to do this. Now, does things happen like that? Absolutely,
but God is the one who orchestrates every bit of that. It isn't just
me just doing it. And so for the person to say
that God does not predestinate And by providence, control every
single action, including our obedience, including our disobedience. God is controlling every bit
of that. And so if God is controlling that, then it isn't me that's
appropriating the means just by my knowledge and my, you know,
I heard a printed Baptist preacher this week talking about he doesn't
believe that God predestinates everything. Okay? And he said, you know, we have
a temporal salvation that we must work out, that we must do,
we must appropriate the meaning. And that's what he said. And
I said, that's going to... that he in whom we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
If we've been predestinated, it isn't just predestinated to
eternal salvation, but being predestinated to have worked
in us all things after the counsel of His own will. God is working
in you to do His good pleasure and He's doing that according
to the counsel of His own will. He's doing that according to
His purpose before the foundation of the world. He's doing that
to the pleasure of His will, to the praise and the glory of
His grace. It's not just eternal salvation. It's just not the
legal things of God that God has predestinated, but it's the
temporal, experiential things that God has predestinated. He's
predestinated our experience of that salvation that Christ
has bought for and paid for by His blood. Everything we experience
as the work of God in us, God predestinated it. He has an exact
time when each of it will be manifested in us He has an exact
time when each one of it will be felt within us. He has an
exact time when it shall be held, and that we might continue to
experience like Paul, that wretchedness of our soul, so that we continue
to see and look and hope in Christ Jesus? Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ, and whom ye
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, and whom also, after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Now someone can isolate
that verse. See, there we had to do all that.
But again, who is it that worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will? Which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
His glory. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him." Did he say give you the ability to
keep the law? Did he say to give you the ability
to work out your own salvation? give you the ability to appropriate
the means? No, He said that He might give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him, the One who is doing the work, the One who has saved
you. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to us who believe according to thee. Here it is, working of
his mighty power, which he wrought. in Christ Jesus
when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right
hand in heavenly places. Now, brethren, has any of this
said anything about works of the flesh, works that we do,
outward, external things that we do? No. This is all stuff
that is worked in for us, on our behalf, and it is worked
in us, and it is a work, not that we do, but a work that is
done in us that God does. God is doing a work. He's the
one working, and the works are internal spiritual works, not
external fleshly works. He says, "...far above all principality,
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to behead
over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all In all, now, there's a lot that can be
said about that passage right there, but I'll have to save
that for another day. Now, here it goes in chapter
two. And you, hath he quickened? There's
a work. Did you do anything for your
own quickening? And you, hath he quickened who were dead? No,
we didn't do nothing for our quickening. Why? Because we were
dead. Trespasses and sins. Where and in times past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince,
the power of the air, the spirit that thou worketh in the children,
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." Were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. Not children under wrath, but
children of wrath. Okay, there's a big difference
there. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, have quickened
us together with Christ by grace you're saved. That's something
that's done apart from us. And have raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We were
resurrected when Christ was resurrected. We was given life when Christ
was given life. Did we do anything for that?
No. that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.
Did He say that in the ages to come that we might pay Him back
or pay homage to Him or even show worship to Him by doing
the law, by keeping the law, by working righteousness for
Him? No. It says that He did all these
things. He quickened us and raised us
up and made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
towards us through Christ. It's to show us His work. It's
Christ's work that's going to be on display. Matter of fact,
brethren, if you think about it, At the end of things, whenever
we're all around the throne of God, and we're worshiping God,
what are we worshiping? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. He hath done great things. He hath worked all the good works. He is the faithful servant. Well done, thy good and faithful
servant. Well, that's Jesus, brethren.
That's Jesus, not you. That's Jesus. We are going to be celebrating
His works. All of His deeds. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. Now that faith is not your faith.
That not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Not of
works. So there it is. Not of works.
lest any man should boast." Now, obviously, this is not talking
about God's works. It's talking about your works,
because it's talking about man boasting. So it has to be man's
works for man to boast. Man boasting in his own works. So the works that are being talked
about here is not of works, lest any man should boast. But we
know that salvation is by works, but it's not our works. Salvation
is by grace through faith, which faith is a work, but it's the
work of God. It was Christ's work of faithfulness. It was Christ's work of righteousness
that justified us. So the works that are in context
here is the works of Christ, His faith. For by grace are ye
saved through faith. And I think that if you will
look back into Romans chapter 3 and chapter 4 you will find,
and in Galatians, you will find that the faith that is in context
here in Ephesians 2.8 is not our God-given faith, but actually
the faithfulness of Christ. And if you look at Romans 3,
Romans 4, Galatians, Other places in Scripture, it's the faith
of Christ that justified us. For by grace are ye saved. It was a gift, an unmerited gift. We're not worthy of it. We didn't
earn it. We didn't work for it. It is
a gift of grace, but it is through the work of faith, therefore
Christ boasts in what He has done, we boast in what Christ
has done. Why? Because it was His work. Not of works of any man should
boast, for we are, and here's where our context is, for we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Whose good works? Well, it says
here, for we are his workmanship. So if we are his workmanship,
that means that we are the ones who are the ones being worked
on, right? We are his workmanship. We are
the ones that are being worked on. So if we're the ones being
worked on, how can we be the ones doing the work? We are the
ones being worked on. Okay? I'm out there yesterday,
got the hood up on my daughter's car, putting some oil in her
car. That was my workmanship. The car can't boast anything.
The car didn't do anything. It was just sitting there. I
was working on the car, so whose works was it? It was my works.
I can't claim that, that car can't claim that work for itself.
We are his workmanship. The one being worked on can't
claim the works. They are His works. It's His workmanship. And this
workmanship, this work being done, is created in Christ Jesus. The workmanship that is being
manifested is in Christ Jesus. His body is being manifested. His seed, His generation that
was in Him from the foundation of the world that has the same
life that He is, for He is life. He's the original. And so everything
that comes from Him comes from Him with the same life that is
in Him. Just as in Adam, all men came
forth with that Adamic life. Why? Because Adam was the first.
And everything that sprang forth, sprang forth after His kind.
So in Christ Jesus, all things come forth after His kind. And so therefore, we are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Not created in Adam, but
created in Christ Jesus. Therefore, it's a spiritual creation. Because we learn in Corinthians
that He is a man from heaven. that He is the progenitor of
the spiritual race, not the fleshly race or the natural race. Adam
is the progenitor of the fleshly, natural race. Christ is the progenitor
of the heavenly, spiritual race. That's 1 Corinthians 15. So we
are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. But everyone thinks
that those good works are talking about our good works. Unto our
good works. No, we are created in Christ
Jesus unto His good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in His good works, that we should be exercised in
His good works, that we should manifest the good works of Christ. Notice if you would, what are
we to walk in? It says, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in Them. What is them referring
to? The good works. Well, what are we to walk in?
Our good works? No. His good works. So brethren, I believe that it's
an error for us to apply Ephesians 2.10 to our flesh, to what we
do in the Adamic man. Look if you would with me. Let's
just kind of reiterate some of these things. Look with me in
John chapter 6 and verse 63. Jesus says here, He says, It
is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The flesh, that means zero. The flesh, there is no profit
in the natural Adamic man. There's no profit in him at all.
There's no profit in you. There's no profit in what you
do. There's no profit in the flesh. The flesh profiteth or
avails to God or gives to God or merits to God anything. It can't do anything. Why? Because what Isaiah said. All
of our righteousnesses are filthy rags. We are of all things unclean
and iniquity. That's what we are in the natural
man. And brethren, it's going to always
be corrupt. It's going to always stay corrupt.
Look if you would at Romans chapter 7. What Paul said, I've already
mentioned it a few times here. But in Romans chapter 7, notice
if you would, Paul again, verse 18, He says, for I know that
in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing, for to will is
to present with me, but how to perform that which is good. We're talking about good works,
right? Ephesians 2.10 is talking about
good works that we should walk in then. And Paul here is saying,
how to perform that which is good, I find not. He didn't say,
eludes me every now and then. He says, I don't find. I find
not. Drop down to verse 21. He said,
I find in the law that whenever I would do good, evil is present
with me. So Paul is saying that in the
flesh, I can't do anything and I never will do anything good. Look if you would in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 again. Again, I just kind of quoted
these things, but I'd like for us to read them for ourselves
to see, you know, this isn't just some, you know, harebrained
idea. or theology from some weirdo. This is Scripture. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 and verse 50. It says, not to say that I'm
not a weirdo. I know that. It says 1 Corinthians
15 and 50, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. So that tells me that This corruption
is never going to become incorruptible. It's never going to inherit incorruption.
God's not going to change this corruption into incorruption. This corruption will remain corruption. A good tree cannot produce bad
fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. This tree will continue
to be its tree. Well, the verse is escaping me. Him who commits iniquity, committed
iniquity still? I mean, he's going to continue
to be who he is. He's going to continue to be
who that is. And as I mentioned earlier, I
think the reason for this is we do not understand the New
Covenant. The New Covenant is exactly what
it says there. It's not the old covenant reworked. It's not the old covenant fulfilled
in us. It is a new covenant. And therefore, it has new principles. It has new laws. It has new everything. Look with me, if you would, back
in Ezekiel chapter 36. And I think this pertains to
what we're talking about. Ezekiel 36. Look with me if you would. Verse
25. It says, Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give to you, and a new spirit. See, it isn't
talking about changing your heart and changing your spirit. He
says, a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you. I'm going
to give you a new mind. I'm going to give you a new spirit. It's one that you didn't have
before. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And
here it is, verse 27. And I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statues and ye shall keep
my judgments and do them." Now, what did you do to do that? Nothing. You didn't do anything to do
that. That's the work of God. It's God's work to change your
heart, to change your mind. It's God's work to cause you
to walk in His statutes and to cause you to keep His judgments
and do them. That's God's work. It's not your
work. It's not your works. It's not
your outflow of works from that inward life that God gave you
to appropriate the means that is before you. No, it's God working
in you, causing you. The word there is cause. And
to cause you, people want to say, well, that makes you a robot,
that makes you a puppet. I'm just saying what the Scripture
says. And cause you. It didn't say to entice you.
It didn't say to encourage you. It didn't say to, you know, pat
you on the tush and push you out the door to get busy. It
says to cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep
my judgments and do them. Ye shall. There's no denying
it. You're going to do his statutes
and his judgments. You're going to do them. So that's
why I always have said that we will do all the works that God
has ordained for us to do or to walk in, no more and no less. Why? Because God is the one who
is causing us to do them. So you say, well, so you mean
to say if we're not doing enough, then God didn't want us to do
more? Absolutely. That's exactly what I'm saying.
I know people ain't going to like that answer. I know people
are going to say that I'm making God to be the author of sin whenever
I say stuff like that. But all I can say is the Bible
here says that the judgments and the statutes of God, the
works that God has ordained for us, that we should walk in them
or shall walk in them, that's a hard shall. And if we shall
walk in them, he's saying the way that we do that is because
he causes us to walk in them. And if He causes us to walk in
them, that means I cannot cause myself to walk in them. I cannot
cause myself not to walk in them. I cannot keep God from doing
His works in me. He is sovereign and He does His
sovereign work in His people when and how He sees fit. And
so if I do this many works or have this many works done in
me, I can't make it anymore and I can't make it any less because
God is the one causing it. God causes that. And so if He
doesn't have me doing something or walking some way or keeping
His statute somehow, if He is the one that is keeping me and
not causing me to do that, surely that is my flesh that is all
left to itself But that is also God's purpose and God's plan
that the statutes, the judgments, all the things and works not
be done at that time. He has preordained every work
for us to keep them. Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians. because the question's gonna
come up, well, what are the statutes?
Thought you just said that it's not the moral law. It's not the
Ten Commandments, it's not the moral law, preacher. You keep
saying that, you keep saying that. So what are the statutes?
What are these things that he's telling us to walk in? Well, I can tell you for a fact,
and this is, a lot of times, brother, whenever you come to
Scripture, A lot of times you can know what something says
by what it doesn't say. But a lot of times the Bible
does say something explicitly, and we do know the Bible says
some explicit things about the moral law or the Ten Commandments
or the Old Covenant law, okay? In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, look
with me if you would, down to, where do I want to go? It was
verse 6. It says, Who hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament or the New Covenant, not of the
letter. Brethren, I pray today that I'm
not a minister of the letter, but a minister of the Spirit. It says not of the letter, but
of the Spirit. We have so many preachers out
there that are ministers of the letter. But what does it say here? For
the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. The Old Covenant
brings nothing but death. The New Covenant brings nothing
but what? Life. Old Covenant death. New Covenant life. Old Covenant,
nothing but disobedience. New Covenant, nothing but obedience. Under the Old Covenant, it was
do and live. Under the New Covenant, it is
already done, imputed, given, already performed. He goes on to say, verse 7, but
if the ministration of death written and engraved in stones
was glory." So there again, that's what I was talking about earlier.
The Old Covenant is a ministration of death. That means it ministers
death. To preach the law, to teach the
law, to hold to the law, to hope in the law is only a ministration
of death. It's a ministration of death.
It says, But if the ministration of death, written and engraved
in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance, which glory was to be done away with, how shall
not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the
ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. So we should see a far greater
glory in the ministration of the Spirit and not the ministration
of the letter. So I don't think this is talking
about that He shall cause us to walk in the ministration of
death. Because the ministration of the Law, the ministration
of the Old Covenant is a ministration of death. He's not causing us
to walk in those statutes and to keep those judgments. The new covenant, as it says
here, is a ministration that giveth life. See, this is a ministration
that giveth life. So this work or this life of
God in us is not for our outward fleshly man to walk in the ministration
of death but it is to walk in the ministration of life, the
One who is life, to look to the One who is life, to look to the
One who did keep all the righteousness of God. What are the statutes? Well, brethren, the statutes
are the very things that we've been looking at. The salvation
statutes. The conditions and the commands
of salvation. It's not moral statutes. It's
not moral conditions or moral commands. It's salvific commands. It's salvific statutes that we
are to walk, and God causes us to walk, in the salvific works
of Christ Jesus. What are the commands? Well,
in John chapter 3, God says, Unless ye be born again, you
cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven. Is that a command or a condition
or a statute that you can walk in? That you can perform? That
you can enact? No. That's something that God
has to do for you. But God causes us to walk in
those works of quickening by His power. By His working. So what's the conditions that
God requires? Being born again. Well, who is
the one that can do the works of being born again? Not us.
It's not a moral command. It's not a moral condition. It's
a salvific spiritual condition. There is a spiritual condition.
Unless you are born again, that's a spiritual condition. Because
we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. So there's a spiritual
condition that must be had for us to work and experience the
salvation of God. He must be born again. God does that. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, nor can he, because they are
spiritually discerned. They are foolishness to him.
But what does the Bible say? That he gives us the Spirit that
we might know what has been freely given to us. Not that we might
walk in the statutes of God. No, that we might know what has
been freely given to us. What's already been worked on
our behalf. The works that's already been given. The blessings
that's already been given to us in heavenly places. The very
acts and works of God. That's what the conditions are. What about the commands? What
about the commands? Well, repent. Believe. Continue to repent. Continue
to believe. Grow in grace. Grow in the knowledge
of God. Brother, how do you do that? How do you do those things? 51 years old and been on the
Lord's brought me along this way. I don't know how long, but
as long as I've been on the way, I don't know how to do that.
Well, someone will say, well, yeah, you do. Just get on your
knees and ask forgiveness. What brings my heart to do that? Because
sometimes I don't feel that. I don't feel that. I mean, that's
like prayer. Everyone talks all this stuff
about prayer and how you've got to be praying all the time and
the powerhouse of the church is the prayers and all this kind
of stuff. How do you do that? I find myself a lot of times
I can't pray. I don't feel like praying. I'm not given to prayer. I can
surely do it out of rote. I can surely do it by command
and bow my head and say some words. But for my heart to really
be moved to say something, to try to reach out to God for anything,
I don't always find that. But there are times that God
surely moves within my heart, and I pray, and I pray like I've
never prayed before a lot of times. Don't know where it comes
from other than it comes from God. What causes me to turn from my
thinking this way and go to thinking this way? Was it because the
preacher was such a good orator? Was it because you taught systematic
theology just right? Was it because your apologetics
was so sound that I just had to change my mind because the
evidence was so clear to me? Well, that's what most people
out there think. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible
says that repentance is something that comes That's not from worldly
sorrow, not from human sorrow. It's a godly sorrow, and if it's
a godly sorrow, it must be given by God. Repentance comes, I'm
wrong. Well, where did that repentance
come from? By the teacher that taught you. That is wrong. Not your preacher,
not your mommy or daddy or grandpa or grandma or aunt or uncle or
mom. uncles or whoever, it was God that taught you that. Who
teaches me to persevere? Not me. I don't persevere. I fail every
day. I fall every day. Were it not
before the holding hand of God, I would have already went back
and went away and forgotten everything that I've ever heard and done.
And listen, I surely wouldn't continue to preach a message
that most people hate. that most people are going to
throw rocks at you at whenever they hear that. Listen, it's
only been a wonder that someone hasn't thrown a rock at most
of us for what we preach. Well, what are the judgments
that they're talking about there, that you will keep my judgments?
What are the judgments? Brother, keeping the judgments
of God, I believe, are keeping or being obedient in faith by
understanding, by acknowledging, by trusting, by hoping that Christ
was judged in their place. We're keeping the judgments of
God. What was the judgment of God?
Well, the judgment of God on His children was in Christ Jesus. The judgment for sin was on Christ
Jesus. The judgment of righteousness
was upon Christ Jesus. And then we look to Him. We look to Christ. We trust in
Christ. We hope in Christ. Again, those
aren't works that I can do on my own. Those are things that
are worked in me by God. Those are things that are done
in me. God commands the spiritual things,
and the natural man cannot enact those things. They don't understand
it. We quoted 1 Corinthians 2 and
verse 14. The natural man does not receive
these things, nor can he. So what God commands, God works,
and He does that in the elect alone. What God commands, He
works in His people. If God says, you know, believe,
what is it? It is given unto you, not only
to believe, it is the work of God that ye believe. Okay, it's
God's words. If He says to repent, He said,
you repent, but with a godly repentance, a godly sorrow. You've
been given a godly repentance. You have to be given and granted
repentance. So back in Ephesians chapter
2 and verse 10, is these works our works or are they God's works? It's talking about all the supernatural
works of God in the elect from the time that they were elected
until the time of glory. Those are the works that God
is talking about here that we were ordained to walk in. not
ordained to produce, not ordained to carry out, but to walk in,
to be exercised in, to be manifested in. So it's our knowledge of what
God is doing in us. It is knowing what Christ has
done for us. Now, someone might ask, well,
is all of that supernatural? I mean, I thought it was study
to show thyself approved. Can't you just study the Bible? Well, brethren, to understand
the doctrines of God, it has to be revealed. That, again,
is a spiritual thing. It is a supernatural thing. Now,
one thing in this Ephesians 1 through 3 is talking about any physical
thing that we do. It's all talking about a supernatural,
spiritual work. I'm reminded of a couple of verses
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I won't end with this. I know
I've gone really long. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5
and verse 23, the Bible says, And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly And that's holy with a W, W-H-O-L-L-Y, completely. And I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. Again, this isn't a call to action
on your part. You're not preserving yourself.
You're not persevering or preserving yourself. You are not keeping your soul
and spirit in control. You are not strangling that old
man and keeping him at bay. No, it's God. It's God who's
doing that. It's God who is doing all that
work in you. I'm also reminded of the 57th Psalm. Let me just
read that and that will be the last thing I read. Psalm 57,
look if you would at verse 2, a prayer that I pray often. In fact, I prayed it this morning
before coming in here. Psalm 55, look at verse 2. I'll start at verse one. Give
ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me. I'm sorry, I
meant 55, I meant 57. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. And here it is, I will cry unto
God, most high, unto God that performeth all things for me."
That's my prayer, is that I not trust in the things that I try
to do, lean not on my own understanding, that I might not lean on my arm
of flesh, as Paul said, but that I might trust and look that God
is performing all things for me. Known unto God are all His
works. Did He say that He would do all
His pleasure? That known unto Him are all His
works. The end from the beginning, everything, He's working after
the council. He's working after the council. It's God who works. It's God
who is doing these. It's God's works in you, not
your outworking of God in you. It's God's work in you to will
and to do His good pleasure. It's God's work in you that you
might walk in His statutes, and those statutes are not, again,
moral statutes, but they're spiritual statutes. They're salvific statutes,
that you might walk in repentance, might walk in faith, might walk
in hope, My walk in preservation, my walk in all these things,
these are supernatural works that God does in the child of
grace. May we always boost in what He
does. Anybody have any questions or comments? Things you'd like
to add or corrections or anything? Questions? Proofs? Well, it's good to be back with
you guys again today. I pray that the Lord has blessed you. Let's go to hymn and prayer. Father, we thank you again for
the day, and we thank you for your grace and your mercy. We
thank you for Christ Jesus, and we thank you for the marvelous
works that you do on our behalf, and you do in us. We thank you,
Father, for this glorious salvation. We pray, Lord, that you might
feed your people today by these words. I pray, Lord, that the
things that I say may have been in accordance with your word,
in accordance with the truth, Lord, I pray that you might be
with us as we leave this place, that you might keep us safe,
that you might continue to uphold us, grow us in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you again for salvation
that's in Christ Jesus. We thank you for shedding your
blood for our sin, that there is forgiveness for all that sin
that we committed. And Lord, that we find peace
and love and hope in Christ Jesus. Father, we know that there's
nothing that we do in ourselves that we merit. There's nothing
that we can do to be accepted by you. There's nothing that
we can do to get your favor, but it's truly and purely by
grace alone. So we're grateful for that. Again,
we thank you for this time of the day that we had together.
We ask you to bless it all in Jesus name we pray. Amen.