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Eric Floyd

Saved by Grace

Ephesians 2
Eric Floyd • July, 10 2026 • Video & Audio
387 Sermons
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Eric Floyd
Eric Floyd • July, 10 2026
387 sermons
Grace Conference NJ 2026

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Good evening. It's truly a pleasure to be here with you all this evening. I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to preach. And it's also a joy and a privilege to preach beside my brother Paul. I count that a true honor. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2.

We're going to look at the first 10 verses of the Lord willing this evening. And I believe this is one of our favorite subjects. One of our favorite subjects in God's word, the salvation of sinners. by the grace of God. And I have just three points. The first is this, what we were by nature. What we were by nature. Second, what God has done for us in Christ. And then third, our future and present blessings. Look at Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you, hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. This is what we were by nature. This is what we are by nature. Dead. Dead in sin.

If you look on to verse 12, it says that at that time you were without Christ. Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenant of promise having no hope and without God in this world Dead Dead in trespasses without God without Christ without his spirit dead Dead in original sin dead through actual sin Simply said, we were dead.

In the book of Isaiah, we read this, that our iniquities have separated us, have separated us from our God. And our sins, he's hid his face from us. God's word declares that the carnal mind is enmity with God. And this death, this enmity, it goes all the way back to Adam. Trace it all the way back to the garden. When Adam fell, when Adam sinned, we sinned in him. By one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. No one's excluded there, for all have sinned. Back to our text, verse 2, wherein in times past you walked 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.

Sin and evil, that's our path. That's the path we take. That's the way we read in scripture. There's a way that seems right to man. Comes natural to us, doesn't it? Very natural to us. A way that seems right to man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. I walk, that's a description of our tenor of life.

Back in the Old Testament, Samuel, when he was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. Two sons. And this is how they were described. It says, his sons walked not in his ways. Their walk, our tenor of life. And listen, they turned aside to Lucre. They turned aside to bribes. They perverted judgment. in times past. That's what the text says here. You walked according to the course of this world. Sin. That's our daily employment. That's our daily enjoyment. Our occupation. And we read here of the course and custom of this world. The custom, the manner of this life, completely apart from God's.

He said that your thoughts, he said, my thoughts aren't your thoughts. Your thoughts aren't my thoughts. Your ways aren't my ways, saith the Lord. We walked as carnal men walk, not as spiritual. Paul wrote that to the Christians. He said, you are yet carnal. How do we know that? Because among you still is envy and strife and division. Are you not carnal? We walked according to the custom of this world. And he said, you walk this way. You walked according to the prince of the power of the air.

Who's that? Well, that's the devil. That's Satan. Our Lord, he spoke to those religious bunch over there in John chapter 8. Remember that? He spoke to those men, and they said, we're not sinners. We're not. God's our father. We'd be not born of fornication. Man's still convinced to that this day that he's not a sinner. We have to be brought to know that, don't we? That we're dead in trespasses and sin.

Our Lord looked at those men and he said this. He said, I'll tell you who your father is. You are of your father the devil. That's exactly, that's exactly who you are. And you'll do what your father, you're just gonna follow his steps. He was a murderer from the beginning. He abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. And when he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own. For he's a liar and the father of it. You walked, that was our walk, the course, the course, of the prince of the power of the air.

Verse three, among whom, maybe you said that wasn't me, that's not me. What's it say here? Among whom also we all, we all had our conversation in times past, fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, as others.

That's our condition. That's our conduct. That's the state in which we live and walk. The lust of the flesh. Isn't that what we're taking up with this body? This flesh, it's fleshly appetite, the desires of this world, the lust of the flesh. He said fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind. Our will and thoughts.

It's not just this flesh that's corrupt. We're rotten to the core. Our affection, our understanding, our will, from the sole of the foot to the top of the head. Nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. And we sin, listen, because we desire to sin. We sin because of what we are, sinners. We walked in darkness because we loved darkness rather than light.

In John 3, 19, our Lord said this. He said, this is condemnation. Light has come into the world. That's not what men love, is it? Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Go back to Ephesians 2, look at verse 3. We were by nature the children of wrath. The cause of our sin, the cause of our miserable condition, and we're born We're born dead in trespasses and sin.

I heard a few of you talking about little ones. And you know, we teach our little ones many things. We want them to learn to do this. We want them to learn to do that. But you know the one thing we do not have to teach them is to lie. None of us ever had to give our children a lesson in that, did we? We didn't have to have a lesson in it.

It comes to us naturally. We come forth from the womb speaking lies. We were, by nature, children of wrath. That's the first point, what we were, what we are, by nature. I'm so thankful. Aren't we thankful that that just Scripture doesn't just end right there, that there's more. Look at verse four. Here we see what God has done for us in Christ. But God. Don't we love that three letter word? But.

But God, who is rich in mercy, For his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sin, and hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved. God who is rich in mercy, he's merciful. And we read this, his mercy endureth forever. He's merciful, he's righteous, he's just, and his mercy is plenteous. It's free. It's infinite in Christ. Only in one place, only in one person, in Christ. And his love and his mercy for his chosen people is everlasting. And it's all for reasons found in himself. Nothing found in us, no foreseen merit found in any creature. But according to his purpose and grace given in Christ Jesus, before the world began.

Even, even. You know, it's easy. It's easier. It's easy to be nice to someone who's nice to me. It's easy to love someone who loves me. What do we read here? His mercy, His love, His grace toward us, listen, even when we were dead in trespasses and sin. He quickened us. He gave us life, union, fellowship with His Son. He found us. He found us dead. Remember that Samaritan? He found that man. How was he? Left for dead, wasn't he? He didn't leave him there, did he? Job asked this. He said, if a man die, shall he live again? Ezekiel, remember that valley of bones? Can these bones live? That's a good question, isn't it? Lord, thou knowest, thou knowest. And what'd he say?

Prophesy, preach to them, preach to those dead bones. And he said, the Lord will cause breath to go into them. And they rose up a mighty army. Life, Lazarus, he lay dead in the grave. And the Lord spoke. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. That's what he's done for sinners. That's what he's done for his people. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin.

When our Lord lived on this earth, we lived in him. When he died, we died in him. When he was risen and ascended and seated, we're in him. Isn't that a glorious, glorious thought? Quickened together in Christ. In regeneration, in the new birth, a sinner, dead, spiritually dead, is made alive in Christ. given a new nature, given a new heart, made a new creature. Christ is our life. He's the author of life. He's the source of life. He is our life.

That's what Paul wrote to the Colossians in Colossians 3. He said, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, Then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Life, life by his grace. By grace are you saved. The gift of his grace. What has he done for us in Christ? He has quickened us together. Gave us life, saved us by his grace. And then last, our present and future blessings and glory. Read on here in Ephesians two, look at verse six and seven. Hath 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 and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

He made us. Think about just those few words. He made us. You know, if we go back in Psalm 23, he made us lie down in green pastures. You know, you would think if there was anything a sheep could do by itself, it would be to lay down, wouldn't it? He made us. He makes us lie down in green pasture. Isn't that the work of the shepherd? To protect the sheep? To do what's right for the sheep? What else do we read in scripture?

He made us righteous. He made us righteous. He made us the very righteousness of God in Him. What else did he make us do? He made us willing. He had to. He made us willing in the day of his power. David wrote in Psalm 100, he said, know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that made us.

Not we, not we ourselves. We're his people, the sheep of his pasture. When we're made to do something, it's typically against our will, isn't it? Otherwise, we wouldn't have to be made to do it. Almighty God, we read here, he made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

I've got two boys. Abby and I have got two boys. And when they were younger, there were a few times when they had disagreements. And it wasn't often, but there were times when they would disagree. And if it happened in the house and we seen it, we had a small couch, sometimes a small chair, and we'd make them go sit together until, Whatever it was, they were over it.

And Abby would always throw this in there. She'd say, your brothers, brothers love each other. You know, I'm confident. I'm confident they would have never done that on their own. Our Lord, he made us sit together in heavenly places. And we're, listen, we're His. We're His. How do people know that we're His? Is it based on what we wear? How we talk? How will men know that we're His people? Turn with me to John 13. You already know the answer to this. Let's read it. John 13. Look at verse 34. A new commandment, John 13, 34. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, is I have loved you, that you also love one another. And by this, by this one thing, shall all men know that you're my disciples.

What is it? If you love one another. having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, our present and future blessings in glory. He made us sit together in this world and in the world to come. That spiritual resurrection from death, our sin and separation from God, well, that'll be no more. together spiritual life in union with Christ our federal head our great our great high priest he who has entered in to the heavens and we're loved forgiven accepted and made one with God in him and throughout eternity we read here listen displayed as trophies of His grace. Where did He find us? Dead, dead in trespasses and sin. He made us set together in heavenly places.

Look at verse eight and nine. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Redeemed. Redeemed from death and sin to life and glory in his son. All by the free grace of God. His electing grace, his redeeming grace, his calling grace. It's all of him. Who gets the glory? He gets the glory. Repentance, faith, sanctification, Eternal glory, all ours, but by His grace. For by grace are you saved?

Faith. Faith in Christ. It's the way, it's the means, it's the instrument by which we receive salvation. Saving faith. It's not the product of man. Man would love to Man wants glory for everything. What do we read about faith? It's the gift. It's the gift of God. We don't earn gifts. Wouldn't that be a terrible thought? Gifts are given, and they're given out of love, and they're to be received. When we receive salvation by faith, God gets all the glory. Any works of righteousness that might be done, listen, they're by the grace of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Spurgeon wrote this. He said, our business is to hold up Christ.

To what end did he die if we could be saved by our works? Why was it necessary that he hang on the tree if our merit could somehow open the way of salvation? How could Almighty God permit and ordain such a death if we could be saved by our merit? Why would he have sweat great drops of blood? Why would his hands and feet have to be nailed to the cross? Why would he cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

If we could have been saved by our own accord, by our own effort, we can't be saved any other way apart from Christ. And that just shuts us up to Him, doesn't it? To come to Him, to rest in Him. Salvation is of the Lord. Quickly, look with me at verse 10.

Again, in Ephesians 2, where His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus and two good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them, Men say a lot of foolish things. They say, if I believe what you preach, then I could just live however I wanted to without consequence. As if the grace of God would allow men to live sinfully and recklessly. Where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus and two good works. Darkness doesn't produce light, does it? Filth doesn't produce purity. Hell doesn't bring forth heaven. Depravity doesn't produce grace.

If we're truly believers, if we are saved, if we are Christians, we're God's workmanship. That word workmanship, some of the old writers, they translate it as masterpieces. God's elect are masterpieces. That would make us his best work, his highest work, his signature work, the work by which he is glorified. pause at your house one time, you made a guitar.

That guitar didn't make itself. Our life is the creation of God in Christ Jesus. Go all the way back to creation. This world was nothing. And God spoke. He created this world. out of nothing. In a spiritual creation, isn't that what he did for us? He created life where there was none. Just like this world, we were without form, void, but the Spirit of God moved upon us. And where we were in darkness, God gave light. where we were dead, he gave us life.

I tell you, there's only one way I could be ever classified as a masterpiece. That's in his son, in Christ Jesus, that which he made. We looked at that earlier. He made us. It's he, it's he that made us. his people, the sheep of his pasture. And he makes us lie down in those green pastures. He makes us righteous. He makes us willing in the day of his power. His workmanship. He's the potter. We're the clay. And I read of two things made by the potter. One is a vessel of dishonor. and the other is a vessel of honor.

His workmanship created in Christ Jesus before the world began. What we were by nature, what were we? Dead, dead in trespasses of sin. What has God done for us in Christ? Quickened us together, given us life, saved us by his grace. What are our present and future blessings and glory? were his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. I pray the Lord bless his word.
Eric Floyd
About Eric Floyd
Eric Floyd is Pastor at Grace Fellowship Church 2536 Dogwood Ridge Road, Wheelersburg, OH.45694 He can be reached at 740-307-1592
Broadcaster:
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, NJ
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