Series: Ephesians
Title: Good Works
Text: Ephesians 2: 10
Date: October 6, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Ephesians 2: 10: For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should [shall] walk in them.
Our
text begins with the word “For”
because verse 10 is putting finality to, as well as adding one more needed
truth to, all that was written before.
From
the beginning of the epistle, God declares that every aspect of a believer’s
salvation, beginning to end, as well as every step throughout our lives,
including the believer’s good works, is all by the grace of God, so that the
believer has absolutely no room to boast of anything—not even our good works.
Ephesians 2: 1 gives a general statement of what the natural born state
of God’s elect was (the italics are added by the translators so we can take
them out)—Ephesians 2:1: And you, who were dead in trespasses and
sins;
The next two verses elaborates—reminding believers of our
former walk and conduct—Ephesians 2: 2:
Wherein [in death, in trespasses and in sins] in time past ye 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: 3: Among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Verse 4 begins describing how God interrupts his elect,
saving us by his grace. He even interjects with that very statement—Ephesians 2: 4: But God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5: Even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6: And
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus:
Verse 7
declares why God quickened us, raised us up and made us to sit together in
heaven in Christ—Ephesians 2: 7: That in
the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Verses
8-9 summarizes all that was said up to this point, declaring why it is the
exceeding riches of his grace that God will spend ages showing us—Ephesians 2: 8: For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9: Not of
works, lest any man should boast.
So we
see the context is declaring the truth that believers “are what we are by the grace of God.” (1 Co 15:10)
Verse
10 is a most instructive verse because it does two things:
1) it
gives an answer to what God knows sinners will say when they hear that
salvation is NOT of works
2) it
gives an answer to what God knows sinners will say when they hear that his people
are created UNTO good works.
Ephesians 2: 9: Not of works, lest any man
should boast.
Lest
any vainly conclude that since we are not saved by works, then the believer
does no good works, verse 10 says, Ephesians 2: 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…”
Lest
hearing that, any attempt to boast of their good works, it says of our good
works, Ephesians 2: 10:…“which God hath before ordained that we [shall] walk in them.”
Proposition: Sinners are not saved by our works but every sinner saved
by God’s grace shall walk in good works because God has before ordained those
works which we shall walk in.
I. BELIEVERS ARE NOT SAVED BY OUR WORKS, WE
ARE GOD’S WORKMANSHIP CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO GOOD WORKS
God’s Workmanship Created in Christ Jesus
If our
salvation in any way was by our works—we would be our workmanship.—“Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works…
The
Greek word translated “workmanship” is “poi-a-ma”. It is where we get the word,
“poem.” (Turn to 2 Cor 3: 3)
2 Corinthians 3:3…ye are manifestly declared to be the
epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Believers
are God’s poem—the epistle of Christ. We are God’s workmanship. The “we” is not our fleshly man born of
Adam—that man is still nothing but sin and shall soon return to the dust—Paul
said, “in me, that is IN MY FLESH, dwelleth NO GOOD THING;” (Ro 7: 18)
God
makes a new creation—a newborn child—within the old man of flesh.
2 Corinthian 5: 17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.
Our new
man is not a reformation of our old man—nothing of our old man of flesh is
involved or used of God. When Christ is formed within a sinner that sinner
becomes a new man in Christ Jesus. It is
not merely a change from a lower nature to a higher, but we go from being
separated from Christ to being united with Christ.
The
only other place “poy-ay-mah” is used in the New Testament is
Romans 1: 20: For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, [poy-ay-mah], even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Psalm 19: 1: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth his handywork.
But the
things made in heaven and earth do not show God’s greatest “workmanship”. His
eternal power and Godhead is manifest in the new birth when he creates a new
child of grace in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 100:3: Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that
hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his
pasture.
This
word “created” in Christ Jesus means “to make habitable.” Ephesians 2: 22: ye
also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Can we boast that this was by our works? Of
course not—we were dead. In time past, we walked according to the course of this
world, under the power of Satan, according to the lusts of our flesh—we were
under the dominion of Satan and sin.
What
happened? Christ sent us the gospel—Paul said, “Ye are the epistle of Christ
ministered by us” Paul was just an
earthen vessel. Believers were not
Paul’s workmanship. God’s preacher does
nothing but preach the gospel as Christ gives him to preach.
1 Corinthians 3: 5: Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6: I have
planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7: So then neither is he
that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the
increase… 9: For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye
are God’s building.
But
through the gospel, Christ came and bound Satan who ruled our house and Christ
spoiled his goods—Christ delivered us from Satan’s power. We can’t boast of
that work! We’re God’s workmanship!
The
Spirit of the living God entered in and used nothing of us—but gave us a new
heart and Christ wrote the gospel on our hearts. He made us to behold that “we
are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.”
·
God the Father blessed
us according as he chose us IN CHRIST
·
God predestinated us
unto the adoption of children is BY JESUS CHRIST
·
IN CHRIST we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the
riches of Gods’ grace.
·
God gave us faith to
lay hold of Christ—“IN WHOM ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salavation.”
·
In the end God shall
gather us together IN ONE—EVEN IN CHRIST JESUS
We are
God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
Unto Good Works
None of
the workmanship was by our works—but his grace in creating us in Christ Jesus
is unto good works—for the first time, we began to “do truth.” What is that?
John 3:21: But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The
result of God’s workmanship is that his child walks continually works God
wrought:
Walk
by Faith and Repentance
Zechariah 12:10) “And I will pour upon…[them]…the spirit of
grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,
and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.”
Before
we walked according to the course of this world. Now we walk by faith
continually and we never stop repenting.
Note:
God tells us what constitutes a good work. For example: for any work to be a
good work it must be done in faith with Christ as its object—“walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had yet being uncircumcised.”
That
eliminates most of what men call “good works.” It may be a good work in
itself—but not before God—“for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom 14: 13)
Walk
in Love and work by love
1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is
of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God….19: We love
him, because he first loved us.
A man
could be a generous giver—but except it be done in faith constrained by the
love of Christ—it is not a “good work” with God.
1 Corinthians 13:3: And though I bestow all my goods to
feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing.
Galatians 5: 6: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 7: Ye
did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
We
walk in submission and worshipping God
Jeremiah 32:39: And I will give them ONE HEART, and ONE
WAY, that they may fear ME for ever.
After
they cast the blind man out of the synagogue—Christ came to him, and found him
and revealed himself to him,
John 9: 38: And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped
him.
Philippians 3:3: For we are the circumcision, which worship
God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh.
Remember
Saul? He brought back the best sheep to
sacrifice to God. Was that a good work?
No, he did not submit to God…
1 Samuel 15; 22: And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23: For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry.
A man
can sacrifice much and it not be a “good work” because it is not submission to
God or true worship of God.
Psalm 51:17: the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou
wilt not despise.
By
God’s workmanship creating us anew in Christ Jesus we persevere—
Jeremiah 32: 40: And I will make an everlasting covenant
with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put
my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
A man
may be doing what appears to others as “many wonderful works” yet be drawn away
from Christ and joined with will-worshippers because of a fear of persecution.
Hebrews 6: 10: For God is
not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed
toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11:
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto the end: 12: That ye be not slothful, but followers of
them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
God makes us to walk in good works—our walk is altogether
new:
·
Walk in newness of
Spirit (Rom 7: 6)
·
Walk in newness of
life. (Rom 6: 4)
·
Henceforth walk not as
other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind (Eph 4: 7)
·
Walk in love, as
Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Eph 5: 2)
·
Walk in wisdom toward
them that are without, redeeming the time. (Col 4: 5)
·
If we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 Jn 1: 7)
·
I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 Jo 1: 4)
II. EVERY BELIEVER SHALL WALK IN GOOD WORKS BECAUSE
GOD HAS BEFORE ORDAINED THE WORKS WHICH WE SHALL WALK IN—Ephesians 2: 10:…which GOD HATH
BEFORE ORDAINED that we shall walk in them.
This
part of verse 10 further takes away all room for boasting by declaring that
even the good works which the believer shall do is not of himself but good
works are “ordained before” of God, which God brings every believer to walk
in—therefore we shall walk in them—“not ought to, we shall!”
We see
an example of this in the making of the tabernacle in the wilderness. God gave
Moses the pattern for all the work that God before ordained to be done. All of the works involved in making
the tabernacle and everything in it were works God ordained before to be
done.
God ordained that the children of Israel would offer all
the materials needed from a willing heart. So first, God provided them with all
the materials needed, by giving the Egyptians a heart to give those items to
his people just before they left Israel.
Exodus 3: 21: And I will
give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to
pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22: But every woman shall borrow
of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver,
and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon
your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
Not only did God provide the materials necessary, God also
gave a willing heart to the people to offer those materials, because God before
ordained they would.
Exodus 35: 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred
him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S
offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his
service, and for the holy garments. 22: And they came, both men and women, as
many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings,
and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering
of gold unto the LORD….29: The children of Israel brought a willing offering
unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for
all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of
Moses.
See, God before ordained this work that they were to bring
these items. So first, God before
prepared the workers, providing them with all the items they were to bring and
gave them the heart to offer them—so they walked in the work God before
ordained.
Furthermore, God ordained someone would do the work of
making those items into curtains and furnishings. The making of those items was a work God
before ordained. So God provided the workers, gave them wisdom, and they made
all things necessary to do the work.
Exodus 35: 25: And all the
women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which
they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine
linen….30: And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath
called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
31: And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding,
and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; 32: And to devise curious
works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 33: And in the cutting of
stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning
work. 34: And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab,
the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35: Them hath he filled with wisdom
of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning
workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in
fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that
devise cunning work…36: 1: Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise
hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work
all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the
LORD had commanded. 2: And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise
hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart
stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: 3: And they received of Moses
all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the
service of the sanctuary, to make it withal…39: 32: Thus was all the work of
the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of
Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.
2 Co 9:8: And God is able
to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in
all things, may abound to every good work:
So you
see these are not works specifically laid out in the scriptures, where God says
now it’s up to you to do them. Nor are these works which men speak of, which
seem good in the vainly religious world’s judgment.
These
are not works you set out to do to be seen of men so everyone around you will
think you love God—that is self-righteousness and men who do things to be seen
of men—have their reward. Self-righteous
folks will say in the day of judgment, “When did we not do these works!”
Believers’ will say, “Lord, when did we do these things.”
These works are the everyday life
of a believer! These are works God has
prepared for you for each day which when you come to them you shall do them not
even giving a second thought to them being good works—they are works of faith,
labors of love, done with submissive hearts to God, as unto the Lord, as you
persevere in faith. You don’t have to worry and
second guess yourselves. When the ordained
time comes, God will have equipped us for everything necessary to do the work,
God will stir your heart to do it—and you will do “what you can do.” Remember,
that alabaster box of ointment?—Christ said, “she hath done what she could.”
These
are works of a new creature which God created, performed by us by God’s grace,
all of which was in God’s mind and all ordained before we were ever born. There
is not a possibility that you will not do them. So we have no room to boast
even in our good works.
Ephesians 2:
10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Amen!