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EPHESIANS 2:1-10
Lesson #06
GET OUT OF THE GRAVEYARD BY KNOWING THE TRUTH
- Memory verse: Eph 2:1
- Read Eph 2:1-10 To the body of Christ: Get out of the graveyard!
- Paul wants the Christian to stop living in the graveyard of past sin. In order to get us to stop living there, he explains to us 4 basic truths we should know:
- =1= Know what man’s condition is before salvation. (2:1-3)
- He is dead spiritually because of sin (1)
- The unbeliever is spiritually unable to respond to, receive, and to understand spiritual things.
- All non-believers are walking dead people.
- The only difference between one and another is the state of decay.
- They do not need resuscitation, they need resurrection!
- The unbeliever is spiritually unable to respond to, receive, and to understand spiritual things.
- He is disobedient. (2-3)
- Man’s disobedience to God comes from pressures from the values and attitudes of the world system, from the selfishness of the flesh nature, and from the temptations of the devil.
- To be disobedient is his nature.
- He cannot change it. He cannot help being disobedient. Many times we expect people to act like Christians when they are not. They are only doing what comes naturally as a non-believer.
- Disobedience characterizes man’s deeds.
- He is depraved (3)
- In the dictionary, the word, depraved, means = to be morally bad, evil or corrupt.
- In the Bible, “depraved” does not mean he is an evil person. He may be a good person. It means he cannot do anything to meet God’s standards or to please God.
- The lost sinner lives to please the appetites of the flesh and the desires of the mind.
- Depravity characterizes man’s nature.
- He is doomed (3)
- John 3:18 tells us the non-believer is already condemned even before the judgment comes.
- The reason of this condemnation is because the wages of sin automatically results in death.
- He is dead spiritually because of sin (1)
- =2= Know what work God did for you! (2:4-9)
- How did God get your attention when you were the non-believer?
- He loved you! (4)
- God loved you because love is one of God’s characteristics.
- When God extends that love to man, it becomes “grace” and “mercy”. (2:4,7)
- The riches of grace and mercy that God gives us enable us to be saved.
- In God’s mercy He does not give us what we deserve – death is the wages of sin. (Rom 6:23)
- In God’s grace He gives us what we do not deserve – salvation.
- Salvation is not a reward. It is a free, undeserved gift.
- We are not saved by good works, so that he rewards us with salvation.
- On Calvary God demonstrated His hatred for sin and his love for sinners.
- He “quickened” you! (5)
- The word, “quickened” means = to make alive.
- God did this when we were dead as a non-believer.
- How did God do this?
- By the power of the Holy Spirit
- By His word (Joh 5:24)
- Jesus spoke the word and Lazarus was raised physically from the dead.
- The Word of God raised you from the dead spiritually when you first heard it.
- He exalted you! (6)
- We are not raised from the dead and left in the graveyard where many Christians still live.
- We are raised with Christ by identifying ourselves with His crucifixion and resurrection that occurred almost 2,000 years ago.
- When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, so were you.
- Therefore, when Jesus ascended into heaven almost 2,000 years ago, so did you.
- Your position is in heaven sharing his throne.
- Your position is not in the graveyard.
- He keeps you! (7-9)
- God’s purpose in our redemption is not just to rescue us from hell.
- His ultimate purpose is that our life would glorify Him. (Eph 1:6,12,14)
- Therefore, He will work with us, guard and protect us so we will fulfill our eternal purpose of glorifying God.
- If we were saved by grace and not good works, we will not be lost by bad works.
- =3= Know what work God is doing in you! (10)
- You are His workmanship.
- The word, workmanship, in Greek is poiema. This is where our word, poem, comes from. It means a manufactured product.
- Therefore, our conversion to Christ is not the end of God’s work. It is only the beginning. (2Cor 5:17)
- He will continue to work in you to make you more like Christ.
- How does God work in you?
- He works through the presence of the Holy Spirit (Phil 2:13)
- He uses the Word of God (1The 2:13)
- To Convict you.
- To cleanse, nourish, and guide you.
- He uses prayer (Eph 3:20-21)
- Prayer releases God’s power in you as you exercise your faith.
- Prayer strengthens your faith.
- He uses suffering (1Pet 4:11-14)
- Suffering gets your attention so the Holy Spirit can minister to you.
- Suffering drives you to the Word and to prayer.
- =4= Know what work God wants to do through you! (10)
- Notice there is a progression to the Christian life.
- God completes one part before He begins on another part.
- God first works for us to bring us to salvation.
- Then God works in us to make us more like Christ.
- Then God can work through us to minister to other people.
- Biblical examples of this process:
- Moses spent 40 years in the desert before God called him to lead the people.
- David was anointed king as a youth but waited many years before he was given the position.
- What does God want you to do?
- Works
- Saving faith always results in a changed life (Jam 2:14-18)
- What are “works”?
- The Bible talks about several different kinds of works:
- Works of the law (Gal 2:16; 3:11)
- Keeping the law does not save you.
- We are saved by faith in the grace of Jesus Christ.
- Works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21)
- These are the works of darkness performed by non-believers.
- (Rom 13:12 Eph 5:11)
- Dead works (Heb 6:1)
- Works that lead to death (Rom 6:23) even though the person may think they lead to salvation.
- Dead works are any work that is initiated and energized by man and not God.
- Works of righteousness (Tit 3:5)
- Religious works that non-believers do that they think will save them.
- (Isa 64:6)
- Good works (Eph 2:10)
- These are the works Ephesians talks about. They are the good works in vs. 10 that are in contrast to verse 2 which are works the non-believer does for Satan.
- The believer’s works are not good because he, himself, is good, but because he has God in him and working through him. Therefore, the non-believer cannot do “good works”.
- These works glorify God. (Mat 5:16)
- These works are prepared by God for you to do.
- For the Christian, there is no such thing as luck or fate. God has a plan that He is working out in your life. It includes good works that are set aside for you to do. This is Gods predetermination (predestination) of events in His plan for your life.
- Works of the law (Gal 2:16; 3:11)
- =1= Know what man’s condition is before salvation. (2:1-3)
- How does a person get out of the graveyard?
- He accepts Christ as his personal savior.
- In doing this he is taking off the grave clothes and putting on the grace clothes.
- The grace clothes are the righteousness of Christ.
- He then gives the Holy Spirit permission to work in him, to change him.
- Then he lets the Holy Spirit work through him according to his position in heaven where believers are seated with Christ.
- He accepts Christ as his personal savior.
- Paul wants the Christian to stop living in the graveyard of past sin. In order to get us to stop living there, he explains to us 4 basic truths we should know:
- Summary:
- The phrase, in Christ, means we are members of his body:
- Because in the past He raised us to new life (2:6)
- Because in the present we are seated together with Christ in heaven (2:6)
- Because in the future we share the riches of His heavenly grace. (2:7)
- Review:
- Remember that the word, salvation, or, saved means = the act or process of bringing a person safe to a final destination.
- It includes:
- The point in time when you are born again.(Joh 3:3,15-16)
- The process of sanctification or maturing in your faith. (1Pet 1:9-10)
- All of God’s blessings in this life and the next.(Heb 2:3-4)
- Future deliverance from an eternal hell. (Rom 5:9)
- Therefore, when we say that we are saved by grace, it means that we enter into the salvation process by God’s grace.
- And we live the Christian life by God’s grace,
- We do not enter salvation by works, nor do we maintain our salvation by good works, nor do we lose our salvation by a lack of good works.
- Can a person lose his salvation? No.
- Read Heb 6:4-6
- `”Once enlightened”, “tasted the heavenly gift”, “partakers of the Holy Spirit” = these phrases refer to a true, born-again experience. (2Cor 4:3-6 Joh 4:10)
- It would appear that a person in this situation is truly saved.
- “Crucify to themselves Christ anew” = cutting yourself off from your belief in Christ as your savior by denying your relationship to Him.
- This situation may seem as though the person has lost his salvation as some people think.
- However, in the same way that it is not possible to reverse the natural birth process, it is not possible to reverse the spiritual birth process. (Joh 3:4)
- Is this situation then, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? (Mat 12:31-32) = cutting yourself off from the working of the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin and brings a person to Christ by attributing the things of God to Satan. No, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees who were non-believers in reference to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
- This situation in Hebrews 6 is a quenching of the Holy Spirit. (1The 5:19)
- Quenching the Holy Spirit is like snuffing out a candle.
- If the believer does not let the Holy Spirit work in his life, he does not let the Spirit convict him of sin nor produce spiritual change in his character.
- Therefore, the condition of a believer that crucifies to himself Christ anew is a believer in rebellion against God. He will receive no rewards in heaven, but he will be saved. (1Cor 3:15)
- This situation in Hebrews 6 is a quenching of the Holy Spirit. (1The 5:19)
- Read Heb 6:4-6
- The phrase, in Christ, means we are members of his body:
HOMEWORK
EPHESIANS 2:11-22
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework to the teacher for correction.
- Application of Eph 2:1-10
- What situations of suffering in your life today is God using to get your attention?
- What qualities of your character does god want to change?
- What good works is god prompting you to do for him?
- Preparation for Eph 2:11-22
- What was the condition of the Gentiles without Christ?
- How is the body of Christ like a temple building?
Memory verse: Ephesians 2:13
