Ephesians 2:1-10

Please take out your copy of God's Word, which I hope you have with you today.

I suppose it would have made sense for me to preach a text from the book of John, but I'm not.

Turn with me please to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Every Sunday when we gather together as a church, we gather in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Every sermon given in the fellowship of our church is a resurrection sermon.

The application of which would not be possible if Jesus was not raised.

If you ever find yourself hearing a sermon with application that would be possible apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

then you are not hearing a gospel sermon and you may not be gathered with a Christian church.

The resurrection of Jesus is central to all that the church is and to all that the church does.

The resurrection is the pendule on which the great hinge of the gospel swings.

Everything that we believe falls apart without it.

The true Christian church has always believed this.

A.W. Tozer, the 20th century pastor, theologian, the quotation on your bulletin said,

we understand, he's referring to the gospel church,

we understand and acknowledge that the resurrection has placed a glorious crown upon all of Christ's sufferings.

So our text for today is Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10.

Ephesians 2:1–10

And I do want us to take a particular pause and think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means for us.

But if you're a guest with us today, I want you to know that this is not an odd Sunday for us.

We do this week in and week out.

Before I read for our benefit Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 10,

Ephesians 2:1–10

I want to remind you, beloved, this is God's word to us.

It was written for his glory and for our good.

And as such, we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

I begin in verse 1.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,

following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,

carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,

and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses,

made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved.

And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God,

not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Note with me from the text, resurrection phrases, right,

that tie this text together in verses 5 and 6.

Verse 5, Paul says,

We were dead, but God made us alive together with Christ.

And in verse 6,

Not only were we made alive,

but also God raised us up with him being Christ.

So as we consider this text,

I want our attention to be drawn to the centrality of the resurrection to the Christian faith.

But before we do this,

and in brief,

I want to ask and answer in brief the question,

How can we know that Jesus was raised from the dead?

I recognize that there may be some with us today that place a massive question mark at the end of that sentence.

How is it even possible that we can know that this Jesus,

this historical figure, was in fact raised from the dead?

Now, I'm going to do this briefly because despite all of the best of apologetic cases,

the fact remains that those who follow Jesus Christ do so from faith.

We believe that Jesus is raised.

We believe that he has brought light to our darkened hearts.

But the apologetic cases can be helpful.

And I would like to make two of them,

these assertions to you this morning concerning the resurrection.

First, we have in the Bible the record that Jesus stated that he would be raised from the dead.

This historical document, the scripture,

if you don't take it as God's word, which we do as a church,

but if you take it as a historical document,

it's recorded that Jesus said in places like Mark chapter 8 and verse 31,

Mark 8 · chapter mention

31, and Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man,

he's referring to himself, must suffer many things

and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes

and be killed and after three days rise again.

Jesus said this about himself and he said it in many places.

There's lots of historical veracity to Jesus saying such things.

And we have to wrestle with this Jesus.

I said during the Leithuae time, right?

Jesus cannot merely be a good teacher.

He is the truth that holds all truths together.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity,

which is why I did that time with the kids this morning.

He said,

I am trying here,

so he's made this extensive case,

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying

the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus.

I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher,

but I don't accept his claim to be God.

That is the one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said

would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic

on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg,

or else he would be the devil of hell.

You must make your choice.

Either this man was and is the Son of God,

or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut him up for a fool.

You can spit at him and kill him as a demon,

or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense

about his being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us.

He did not intend to.

Now, it seems to me obvious

that he was neither a lunatic nor a fiend,

and consequently, however strange or terrifying

or unlikely it may seem,

I have to accept the view that he was and is God.

And so, Lewis lays out for us this apologetic argument.

People will refer to lunatic, liar, or Lord.

But I must say that it is flawed a bit.

And Lewis actually later wrote about the very flaw of such an argument,

because there is one other option available.

That he was a legend.

And you may be entertaining that idea.

Yeah, but what if this is all just a farce?

It's all just a story made up.

Right?

This is an elaboration on a man who existed.

We know he was crucified.

But the biblical authors just turned him into a legend.

So this brings me to my second apologetic point.

Why?

I think it's impossible for us to believe

that he was created as a legend.

Because the disciples were transformed.

Those who claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ

were changed.

After his resurrection.

In Acts chapter 2 and verse 32.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

This is from Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost.

He said,

This Jesus God raised up.

And of that we all are witnesses.

We have actually seen the raised Jesus Christ.

Now remember that this was the very same Peter

who had denied that he even knew Jesus.

The disciples,

in seeing the risen Christ,

were transformed from mice to men.

They were a band of bumblers following Jesus around.

Arguing about the meaning of Jesus' parables

and who would be the greatest in the kingdom.

What happened?

What happened to cause these men

to turn out into the world

as proclaimers of Jesus' resurrection?

None of these men opted to support a legend

that Jesus had risen for their own benefit.

None of them built a big building,

gathered large crowds,

or built a mansion on the Sea of Galilee.

None of them jetted across the country

in a jet to share the message

that so many clamored to hear.

It was not profitable

for these men to declare

that Jesus was the Christ.

This was an audacious claim

that Jesus was raised from the dead.

And it ultimately cost each of these men

great suffering,

and for most,

their very lives.

Now, we have some biblical record

of what happened to the apostles

and the broader disciples.

Much of what I'm about to share with you

comes from church history.

And again, you might go,

well, but that's church history, right?

You're making a great claim

that the Bible speaks truth about Jesus.

And now we're dipping off into church history

once again.

It is not an effective propaganda machine

to say the leaders of our church

died in this way.

It's not helpful

for the recruitment of people

unless these people

are radically transformed

by the same grace of God.

So let me give you some examples, right?

Stephen, not an apostle,

one of the early deacons,

was stoned to death,

the very first Christian martyr.

James was killed with a sword

by Herod Agrippa.

Peter was crucified upside down.

Andrew was crucified on an olive tree

in a town called Patre in Achaia.

Thomas was run through with spears,

tormented with red-hot plates,

and finally burned alive.

Philip was tortured and then crucified in Phrygia.

Matthew was beheaded at Naddever.

Bartholomew was flayed and then crucified.

The other James,

again, we want to be known as the other James, right?

was beaten to death with a club.

Simon, crucified in Syria.

Judas Thaddeus, different Judas,

was beaten to death with sticks in Mesopotamia.

Matthias was stoned

while being crucified in Ethiopia.

Paul was beheaded in Rome.

And as far as we know,

John died a natural death,

but it's widely rumored

that he was scarred horribly

by being burned in boiling oil.

It's not a profitable thing to say

that Jesus was raised from the dead

when the easier thing to do

would have been rather just call him

a good moral teacher, right?

He's just one in the line of many prophets

in the Mosaic tradition.

In Acts 5, verses 40 and 42,

Acts 5:40

we get the conclusion of this trial

where all of the apostles are rounded up

and they're tried before the Sanhedrin.

And then in verse 40 we read,

when they had called in the apostles,

they beat them and charged them

not to speak in the name of Jesus

and let them go.

Then they left the presence of the council,

rejoicing that they were counted worthy

to suffer dishonor for the name.

And every day in the temple

and from house to house,

they did not cease teaching and preaching

that the Christ is Jesus.

Men radically changed

by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

John chapter 2 and verse 22

John 2 · chapter mention

records for us,

when therefore Jesus was raised from the dead,

his disciples remembered

that he had said this,

that he had said this would happen,

that he had said this,

and they believed the scripture

and the word that Jesus had spoken.

And they all together had this attitude

that Paul expresses in Romans 8, 18,

where he wrote,

for I consider that the sufferings

of this present time

are not worth comparing

with the glory

that is to be revealed to us.

Having believed in this risen Christ

who is now seated in glory

at the right hand of the Father,

and that we also will receive

this resurrection one day.

I think this is a powerful case

against this idea

that Jesus was a legend.

And so,

was he a liar,

a lunatic,

and all of the apostles along with?

Or is he Lord?

And he is.

I stated in the introduction

that all the Christian

believes would fall apart

without the resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

The pendle, by the way,

is that little pin

that goes down

on the inside of a hinge.

If you don't know

what that word is,

that's a pendle.

So let me show you this morning,

briefly,

three ways,

three ways from our text

that Christian belief

would fall apart

without the resurrection.

Without the reality

of the resurrection,

we would not have,

number one,

protection from the wrath

of God.

Protection from the wrath

of God.

We see in verses

one through three,

apart from Christ,

this is who we are.

If you're not found

in Christ this morning,

this is you,

verses one through three.

If you're found

in Christ this morning,

this was you,

which is who Paul is writing

to,

Ephesian believers.

So past tense for us

who are in Christ,

present tense for those

who are not.

And we see that we were dead

in trespasses and sins.

We walked in them.

This was the way

of our very living rebellion

against a most holy God.

We followed the way

of the world around us.

We follow Satan himself,

the prince of the power

of the air.

We are,

we are,

were,

sons of disobedience

and were or are

by nature,

by our very being,

children of wrath.

Paul writes in Romans 1, 18,

saying,

for the wrath of God

is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness

and unrighteousness

of men

who by their unrighteousness

suppress the truth.

Beloved,

we have sinned

against a most holy God.

We have committed

egregious sin

against him.

Whether you have

the drug addict

under the bridge story

or whether you simply

didn't obey

the command of your parents,

we are all guilty of sin

and it is weighty

before a God

who is of infinite holiness.

And the promise to us

of the Bible

is that God must punish sin.

In his perfect justice,

he must punish that sin.

And this is,

that punishment

is the wrath of God.

poured out on sinners.

This is a great problem.

This is bad news.

Praise be to God

for the good news

of the life, death,

and resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

For it is by faith

in Jesus' person and work

that we are changed

from sons of disobedience

to sons of obedience,

from children of wrath

to children of mercy

and grace.

Paul again,

1 Thessalonians 1,

1 Thessalonians 1:9

verses 9 and 10,

writes to the Thessalonian church,

For they themselves

report concerning us

the kind of reception

we had among you,

and how you turned

to God

from idols

to serve the living

and true God

and to wait

for his Son

from heaven

whom he raised

from the dead,

Jesus,

who delivers us

from the wrath

to come.

As God's wrath

is poured out

in the final day

of judgment

on mankind,

we will find ourselves

safe and secure

in Christ.

Delivered,

protected

from the wrath

of God.

Paul wrote also

in Romans 5,

Romans 5:9

verses 9 and 10,

Since therefore

we have now been justified,

declared righteous

by Jesus' blood,

much more shall we be saved

by him

from the wrath

of God.

We are saved

by God

from God

to God.

Verse 10,

For if while we were enemies

we were reconciled to God

by the death of his Son,

much more,

now that we are reconciled,

shall we be saved

by his life.

On that great day

of judgment,

by what will you plead

the mercy

of God?

Only those

who plead

the accomplished

work of Christ

will have entry

into the kingdom of heaven.

Only those

who stand before God

and say,

of no merit

of mine,

but all

of Christ

will be allowed

into the kingdom.

Will you join us

there?

Oh, I pray,

I pray

that you would.

If you have not

seen your need

of protection

from the wrath

of God,

I pray that you would

feel the weight

of offense

against him.

See that the penalty

of your sin

is death

forever

and run in faith

to our risen Lord.

Without the reality

of the resurrection,

this living Christ,

we would not have

protection

from the wrath

of God.

Jesus would merely be

a lunatic

or a liar,

but he's not.

He's the Lord

of heaven

and earth.

And,

we have this protection

from the wrath

of God

because

our sin

is pardoned.

So, without the reality

of the resurrection,

we would not have

our sin

pardoned.

We can look at

verses 4 through 9

of Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2,

which begins,

but God.

And I'm so thankful

for these conjunctions

in the Holy Writ.

There are many of them

that lays out for us

who we once were

and then says,

in spite of

who you are,

God.

God acts.

God is gracious.

God is,

our text says,

rich in mercy

and full

of great

love

for mankind.

So,

even when,

even when we were

dead

in our trespasses,

right?

Enemies of God,

sons of disobedience,

by nature,

children of wrath,

right?

Pitted against Him,

His absolute

enemies

because of His

great love,

because He's

rich in mercy,

He made us alive

together with Christ.

And then Paul inserts,

by grace,

you have

been saved,

right?

This is not a thing

of our doing,

verse 8,

and this is not

your own doing.

It's a gift

of God.

Our very ability

to believe,

right?

We've been saved

by grace

through faith.

This faith

is not our own doing.

It's a gift

that is granted

to us

in our deadness,

right?

The gospel

is not a picture

of us drowning

at sea

and being thrown

a life raft,

right?

All we must do

is climb into

the security,

right?

The picture

of the gospel

is we are dead

at the bottom

of the sea,

right?

We are rotting

corpses.

Little fish

are picking away

at you.

And Christ

dives in.

And Christ

brings you

to the surface

and breathes

life into you.

You are raised

up with

Him.

Not a result

of works.

I cannot say

I climbed

into the raft.

Good for me.

But all my glory

due to Christ

is given Him

because I can say

I was dead

and Christ

delivered me

from this death.

Here we find

at the center

4-9

these two phrases

that I originally

drew your attention

to.

Verse 5

we were dead

but God made us

alive together

with Christ.

And in verse 6

we've been

raised up

with

Him.

Look at it

a little more

broadly,

right?

Look at the

context of

verses 5 and 6.

we were dead

because of sin

but have been

made alive

because of Christ.

We have in Him

the pardon

of our sin

and His righteousness

is given to us

because God

is gracious

toward mankind.

By grace

we have

been saved.

1 Peter 1-3

Peter says,

Blessed be the

God and Father

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

according to

His great

mercy

He has

caused us

to be born

again

to a living

hope

through

the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

from the dead.

We have a

living hope

because our

Savior

lives.

And then Paul

writes in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15

and verse

17

and if

Christ

has not

been raised.

He postulates

what if

this Jesus

was not

raised?

He says

your faith

is futile

and you are

still

in your sins.

If Christ

had not

been raised

we would

not have

the pardon

of our sins

and we are

all wasting

our time

this morning.

We should

turn into

a hiking

club

instead

because it's

a beautiful

day

and we have

the Appalachian

Trail just

north of us

but rather

we gather

as Christ

Church

to praise

our risen

Lord.

We have

been

changed

from

one kind

to another

kind.

We are not

differing

in degree

we are

differing

in kind.

We have

been transitioned

from those

who were

enemies

to those

who were

friends.

Our sins

have been

pardoned.

We have

been made

new.

We have

been made

alive

to live

eternally

with our

God

as His

people

for

His

praise.

Luke

writes in

Luke chapter

Luke 20:36

20

verse 36

They

cannot

die

anymore

He's quoting

Jesus

because they

are equal

to angels

and are

sons of

God

being

sons

of the

resurrection.

And Paul

writes in

Romans chapter

Romans 8:11

8

verse 11

If the

spirit of

him who

raised

Jesus

from the

dead

dwells

in you

he who

raised

Christ

Jesus

from the

dead

will also

give

life to

your

mortal

bodies

through

his

spirit

who

dwells

in

you.

So

without

the reality

of the

resurrection

we would

not have

protection

from

the

wrath

of

God.

We

would

not

have

our

sin

pardoned.

And

thirdly

we

would

not

have

the

presence

of

Jesus.

Notice

verse 10

of Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

For

we are

His

workmanship

like

He's

created

us

created

in

Christ

Jesus

for

good

works

which

God

prepared

beforehand

that

we

should

walk

in

them.

So

having

been

made

this

new

kind

we

begin

to

evidence

our

changedness

in the

way that

we go

and live.

God

prepared

beforehand

good

works

for us

to

carry

out.

It

is

granted

to us

to walk

in good

works

and we

do so

with the

presence

and

therefore

the

power

of

Jesus

Christ.

How do

we

do

this?

Why am

I

making

pulling

out

of

Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

the

presence

of

Jesus

would

not

be

ours?

We've

been

given

this

task

to

walk

in

these

good

works.

How

is it

that we

do

this?

I'm

saying

to

you

we

do

it

with

the

presence

of

Christ.

Let

me

show

you.

John

John 14:15

chapter

14

verse

15

and

following

Jesus

said

if you

love

me

you

will

keep

my

commandments.

And I

don't

believe

that

verse

16

is

conditioned

on

verse

15.

If you

love

me

you

will

keep

my

commandments

!

give

another

helper

to

be

with

you

forever

even

the

spirit

of

truth

whom

the

world

cannot

receive

because

it

neither

sees

him

nor

knows

him.

You

know

him

for

he

dwells

with

you

and

will

be

in

you.

I

will

not

leave

you

as

orphans

I

will

come

to

you.

So

notice

that

Jesus

says

I'm

going

to

send

to

you

the

helper

the

spirit

right

we've

heard

him

as

the

holy

spirit

but

then

he

very

quickly

in

verse

18

says

I

will

not

leave

you

as

orphans

I

will

come

to

you.

It's

very

trinitarian

idea

carried

here.

Jesus

himself

is

with

us

as

the

spirit

is

with

us.

And

then

verse

19

yet

a

little

while

and

the

world

will

see

me

no

more

but

you

will

see

me

because

I

live

you

also

will

live.

So

without

the

resurrection

we

don't

have

the

presence

of

Jesus.

Paul

writes

again

boy

I'm

using

Paul

this

morning

aren't

I?

Romans

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter

8

beginning

in

verse

9

and

then

through

11

which

I

read

previously

Paul

wrote

you

however

are not

in

the

flesh

but

in

the

spirit

if

in

fact

the

spirit

of

God

dwells

in

you

anyone

who

does

not

have

the

spirit

of

Christ

does

not

belong

to

him

but

if

Christ

is

in

you

although

the

body

is

dead

because

of

sin

the

spirit

is

life

because

of

righteousness

you see

the

beauty

that

Paul

weaves

there

with

his

language

right

you

however

not

in

the

flesh

but

in

the

spirit

in

fact

the

spirit

of

God

dwells

in

you

anyone

who

does

not

have

the

spirit

of

Christ

changing

his

name

his

title

the

spirit

Christ

is

in

you

so

we

have

the

presence

we

have

the

presence

of

Christ

if

we

have

the

spirit

of

Christ

and

then

verse

11

if

the

spirit

of

him

who

raised

Jesus

from

the

dead

dwells

in

you

he

raised

Christ

Jesus

from

the

dead

will

also

give

life

to

your

mortal

bodies

through

his

spirit

who

dwells

in

you

this

is

how

Jesus

makes

good

on

this

text

Ephesians

2

10

right

where

his

workmanship

created

in

Christ

Jesus

for

good

works

that

we

should

walk

in

them

he

gives

us

himself

by

the

power

of

his

spirit

and

it's

how

he

makes

good

on

the

!

Matthew

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

chapter

28

the

last

half

of

verse

20

where

he

said

behold

I

am

with

you

always

to

the

end

of

the

age

and

this

is

a

sure

promise

Paul

writes

in

Romans

Romans 6:9

chapter

6

verse

9

we

know

that

Christ

being

raised

from

the

dead

will

never

die

again

death

no

longer

has

dominion

over

him

we

have

a

risen

Christ

who

died

once

was

raised

and

will

never

die

again

so

we

have

his

presence

now

and

will

have

his

presence

forever

without

the reality

of the

resurrection

however

we would

not have

protection

from the

wrath

of

God

our

sin

pardoned

or

the

presence

of

Jesus

praise

be

to

God

that

Jesus

was

in

fact

raised

from

the

dead

and

that

all

things

hold

together

in

him

do

you

believe

this

no

then

believe

it

today

I

want

you

to

be

protected

from

the

wrath

of

God

because

of

the

pardon

of

your

sin

and

I

want

you

to

experience

the

presence

of

Jesus

Christ

our

Lord

beloved

is

the

goodness

of

these

realities

warming

your

hearts

this

morning

we

are

slow

learners

and

we

are

quick

to

forget

God's

good

promises

to

us

which

are

made

sure

by

the

resurrection

of

Jesus

Christ

if

your

heart

has

grown

cold

to

these

great

truths

warm

your

hearts

at

the

fire

of

Ephesians

Ephesians 2:1–10

chapter

2

verses

1

through

10

which

places

at

its

very

center

the

resurrection

of

Jesus

Christ