The Unconverted “Believer” (15): The Good Works of True Believers 05/23/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Well pastor Jason will come and read for us our new testament passage and today is acts 19

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One other matter we're going to return to next week, I think it's appropriate to return using our hymnals next week

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Thankfully already has been faithfully duplicating these hymns for us now for what about 15 months or so quite a long time

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So we'll plan on doing that next week also already so Acts chapter 19 we continue to read of the gospel spreading out into the

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Roman world Into Europe formally and then Jason will pray for us

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Acts 19 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus There he found some disciples and he said to them.

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Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed and They said no, we have not even heard that there is a

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Holy Spirit And he said into what then were you baptized? They said into John's baptism and Paul said

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John baptized with the baptism of repentance Telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him.

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That is Jesus on Hearing this they were baptized in the name of the

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Lord Jesus And when Paul laid his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophecy

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There were about 12 men in all and he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly

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Reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief speaking evil of the way before the congregation

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He withdrew from them and took the disciples with him reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the

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Lord both Jews and Greeks and God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that he had touched that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the

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Evil spirits came out of them Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the

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Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits Saying I adjure you by the

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Jesus whom Paul proclaims Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named

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Sceva were doing this but the evil spirit answered them Jesus I know and Paul I recognize but who are you and The man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded and this became known to all the residents of Ephesus both

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Jews and Greeks and Fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord. Jesus was extolled and many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices and a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all and They counted the value of them and found it to be 50 ,000 pieces of silver

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So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily Now after these events

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Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Ikea and go to Jerusalem saying after I have

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Been there. I must also see Rome and having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers

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Timothy and Erastus He himself stayed in Asia for a while About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the way

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For a man named Demetrius a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis brought no little business to the craftsmen

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These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades and said Men, you know that from this business

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We have our wealth and you see in here that not only in Ephesus But in almost all of Asia this

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Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people Saying that God's made with hands are not

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God's and there is danger Not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess

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Artemis may be counted as nothing and that she may even be disposed from her magnificence

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She whom all Asia and the world worship When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out great is

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Artemis of the Ephesians So the city was filled with confusion and they rushed together into the theater dragging with them

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Gaius and aristocrats Macedonians who were Paul's companions and travel but when

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Paul wished to go into the crowd the disciples would not let him and Even some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater

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Now some cried out one thing some another for the assembly was in confusion and most of them did not know why they had come together

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Some of the crowd prompted Alexander whom the Jews had put forward and Alexander motioning with his hand

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Wanted to make a defense to the crowd But when they recognized that he was a Jew for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice

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Great is Artemis of the Ephesians and when the town clerk had quieted the crowd

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He said men of Ephesus who is there who does not know that the city of the

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Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis and Of the sacred stone that fell from the sky

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Seeing them that these things cannot be denied. You ought to be quiet and do nothing rash For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess

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If therefore Demetrius or the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone

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The courts are opened and there are pro councils let them bring charges against one another

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But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly for we really are in danger of being charged with writing today since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion and When he had said these things he dismissed the assembly

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Let's pray our father God we rejoice that you are the one true

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God and That God's made with hands are no gods at all and Lord we confess that we often worship and serve the creature rather than the

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Creator and Lord we are thankful that you have delivered us from this sin and we pray

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Lord that you would always take preeminence in our lives that you would always be first and foremost in our lives and As we behold you in the scriptures

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Lord We pray that you would speak to us clearly so that we might know you that we might know

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Your work that we might know the power of the resurrection And Lord, we thank you for all of these things

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So help us now Lord as we open up the word help us to focus and be intent on what the

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Word of God states We pray that the Spirit would guide us and lead us and that we would leave here and apply these truths to our lives

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To your praise glory and honor Thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles, please to Ephesians chapter 2 Some time ago

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I commented that I hope that in this series You know that you really don't hear anything new that we're rehearsing things that we're all been instructed in informed about But there are some things that need to be reinforced

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Some things that we already know that we need to hear again. And certainly that is the case today And so throughout this series that we have entitled the unconverted believer dealing with nominal

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Christianity we've made frequent reference to the matter of good works the good works of true believers and How necessary they are?

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We've certainly emphasized that we're not saved by our works. That's heresy works righteousness That is our good works are not the ground

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On which God saves his people not the basis, but rather it's the works of Jesus Christ, obviously

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Nevertheless good works are essential to salvation Not everybody believes that God good works characterized the life of the true

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Christian Good works are the evidence that a person has been born again of the

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Holy Spirit has exercised true Repentance from sin true saving faith and is living as a true

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Christian Good works are one basis of personal assurance of salvation and we'll start addressing that matter of biblical assurance next

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Lord's Day Lord willing and As we set forth last Lord's Day our good works will one day undergo the

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Lord's examination on the Day of Judgment Revelation 20 Jesus Christ who will distinguish by the works of true believers.

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He will distinguish them from Hypocrites and unbelievers Well today we want to Address more clearly and fully what the

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Holy Scriptures revealed to be the nature of good works Because there is a lot of confusion and error respecting this what our good works and how are these good works produced in our lives and We'll do so by first affirming that God saves us by his sovereign work not by our works and second we'll show that God has created us as his people in order that we would produce good works and Then third we'll show from the

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Word of God what God has declared to be good works in contrast to what? Fallen people wrongly assumed to be good works and So in order to set these matters before us we want to consider a very familiar passage

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I trust it's familiar to us all and that is Ephesians 2 particularly verses 8 through 10

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And so God saves us by a sovereign work not ours and that's what the Apostle declared

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Really in the first two chapters of the epistle to the Ephesians We may see the need for Christian to perform good works when we consider the purpose for which

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God Brings us to salvation That's a very important statement

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And so I want to read the first 11 verses of Ephesians 2 to get the context in which we read verses 8 through 10

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Paul wrote and you he got made alive Who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world?

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According to the prince of the power of the air that would be the devil the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience

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In other words in all unbelievers and on Christians among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh

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Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath just as the others

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There was no difference between us and all others in the world, but God Who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us?

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Even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace, you've been saved and Raised is up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus And then here are the verses to which you want to give a special attention

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For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

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It is the gift of God Not of works lest anyone should boast For we are his workmanship

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Created in Christ Jesus for good works Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

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The Apostle Paul was instructing these new Christians in the church at Ephesus that God was really the sole cause for them coming to new life in Christ Since Paul had first heard of their of the two evidences of their conversion their faith in Jesus Christ Number one and secondly their love for other

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Christians Paul had continually prayed to God on their behalf He thanked

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God repeatedly that God had brought them salvation he knew who Was responsible and then

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Paul also continually prayed that God would give them Understanding that it was his sovereign grace. It had brought them from sin into a state of salvation

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It was when they were in a state of spiritual death Both unwilling and unable to come to Christ that God caused them to become alive in Christ Due to God's unconditional election of them as sinners.

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He stated that earlier in chapter 1 God purposed to bestow salvation upon them because he loved them from eternity loved them in Christ It was not due to any desire or effort on their part they were just like everybody else sinners

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They were spiritually dead. They couldn't respond or come to Christ Ephesians 2 1 through 3, which we've already read declare their fallen condition when

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God brought them to receive new life Again, Paul wrote you he

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God made alive who were dead and trespasses and sins Spiritually dead in which you once walked according to the course of this world

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According to the prince of the power of the air the devil was our Lord The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience the devil is at work in this fallen world

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You either belong to God or you belong to the devil Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves

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We're all at one time within his kingdom the kingdom of the devil And the way we serve the devil is by serving ourselves he wanted

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Adam and Eve to Serve themselves eat of that fruit.

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That's how the devil controls people He entices you tempts you to serve yourself in serving yourself.

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You're serving the devil Becoming a Christian you're serving God Entirely different when you're a sinner you serve yourself the loss of our flesh our sinful desires

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Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. These are the things we wanted to do Where it was by by nature.

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We were children of wrath just like all others There was no difference between us and anybody else in the world

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All under sin all under the power of the devil, but God went to work

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To save his people due to his love for them. He showed his mercy toward them

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It was a work holy and solely of his grace He intervened and this is what

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Paul stated in verses 4 through 7 but God see in contrast to Who we were?

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But God who is rich in mercy Because of his great love with which he loved us

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Paul's talking about himself and Christians Even when we were dead and trespasses we were

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Spiritually dead in our lawlessness against God's law He made us alive together with Christ and then this parenthetical statement reiterating by grace you've been saved and raised us up together and Made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus And then he gives a purpose clause for the purpose that in the ages to come

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He might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus we're never going to arrive at the place when we have learned and heard it all regarding the riches of his grace toward us

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Eternity is going to be an unveiling of his grace toward us

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So God had taken his people from spiritual death had enabled them to rise on the spiritual life

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It was a spiritual resurrection. That's what's being described here the first resurrection say of Revelation 20

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And not only did he rise and cause him to rise from the spirit from spiritual death, but he caused him to ascend positionally from their state of spiritual death

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Cause him to rise Ascend to be seated with the Lord Jesus the say their

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Savior their Lord on his heavenly throne with him in him We're reigning with Christ presently it's a reign of grace and so he is sharing his reign with us through his grace in our salvation our victory over sin our resisting temptation

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When we're able to defeat the devil when we were able to see when when people out of the devil's kingdom into the kingdom of God We're reigning with Christ and furthering his kingdom in this fallen world.

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It's a wonderful privilege That he's given us an opportunity We've got a fight far greater than David or ever dealt with with Goliath and We can see wonderful victories in this glorious Struggle of the kingdom of God against the kingdom of the devil the king and the devil cannot prevent

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His people from coming into the kingdom when God purposes to save their souls Paul then explained further the nature of this work of God's grace in their salvation in verse 8

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Paul state restated the truth for by grace you have been saved Notice the tense of the verb.

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It's actually a participle It's a past tense. You have been saved the word for by the way for you've been saved

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Have been saved is a conjunction and that word for is an explanatory conjunction

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He's explaining more fully what he had already set forth They're coming alive together with Christ and salvation was holy due to God working in them and upon them

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Earlier Paul had written that this great power that God had put forth to bring them out of their state of spiritual death

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Was the same power that God the Father used to raise Jesus out of his grave to come to physical life

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Resurrection life the same power God used to bring Jesus forth from the dead He used you to in in bringing you forth from spiritual death on the spiritual life same power

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Paul argues that toward the end of chapter 1 and that was one of the reasons Paul was prayed for this church that he wanted

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God to open the eyes of their understanding that they would see this You're running around looking for the power of God to heal people what now he said you need to realize the power of God has

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Already been at work in you He raised you from the dead Amazing Now frequently salvation is set forth in the

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New Testament as a future prospect for believers And we emphasize that a great deal because nobody else seems to be emphasizing it

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They all talk about salvation as something in the past only I was once saved

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But here it is set forth as a past experience

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Yes, one day we shall receive salvation the Word of God Declares that we're heirs of salvation.

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That means we'll inherit salvation one day But here salvation is set forth as the present possession of the

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Christian When we we were saved when God had caused us to be raised from spiritual death onto spiritual life

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When we'd come to believe on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior We were saved and Therefore if you're saved you have

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God alone to thank and to praise for you formerly were unconcerned and unable to come to Christ The devil had you in his grip

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You were spiritually dead. You were void of the desire and the capability to believe in Christ But due to God's love for you in Christ through his mercy upon you his work of sovereign grace in you

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He brought you to salvation in Jesus Christ he saved you from your sin He alone gets the glory.

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He alone gets the credit He brought you out of your state of spiritual death and sin on the spiritual life in union with Jesus Christ it is a work of God's sovereign grace and That is what distinguishes us as reformed frankly

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We believe in the sovereignty of God in bringing salvation to sinners How did

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God bring you to experience salvation by his grace? He tells us how we read for by God's grace

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You have been saved and here it is through faith Now Armenians those who are not reformed those who are not

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Calvinistic Armenians teach that saving faith is the sinner's contribution to his salvation that In which he's he's born again really of his own free will

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They would say something like this God offers salvation to all by his grace and then the sinner who responds in faith of his own free will

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Receives that gift of salvation. God has done his part in Having his son die, but you must do your part in believing this and by these two acts

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God and yours you become saved It's a cooperative effort your effort and God's effort and that's what

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Armenians teach non -reformed people Technically, this is what is called synergism

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That's taken from a Greek word It means the two sin means together s

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Y n together together with it means to God and fallen man work together in order to bring about salvation and that second part of the word

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Ergism is from the Greek word ergo meaning to work you're working together with God Between the two of you you come up with salvation.

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That's synergism. That's Armenian ism. That's that's Pelagian ism historically and It's not biblical

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The Bible teaches monergism Which means that God works alone mono at the beginning of that word

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God works alone To bring salvation to his people monergism is what historic reform

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Christianity is affirmed and proclaimed And so Armenians teach that man fallen man has free will in the sense that he has the ability in and of himself

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Granted with some assistance from God To come to Christ for salvation

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They have to a high opinion of fallen man and to low opinion of God frankly this passage however and This verse of Ephesians 2a does not support their unscriptural teaching of synergism

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Salvation is not a cooperative effort of God and man for it is wholly a work of God's grace

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Now granted every true Christian had come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his free will

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God doesn't force anybody to come to Christ Everyone who comes to Christ comes of his free will

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Because he came to desire salvation in Jesus Christ But it was only due to the operation of God's sovereign grace in his soul that he began to desire to come to Christ That he came to understand that he was a sinner and helpless and needed a

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Savior we love God because he first loved us and so Don't misunderstand this way being reformed

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We're not denying that the an appeal to men and women to come to Christ.

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We urge them to do so We urge them to freely do so But we know if they're coming to Christ as we are offering

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Christ in the gospel and they do come the only reason they're coming It's because God had been doing a work of grace in their soul

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Giving them the desire and the ability to come to Christ in repentance and faith That's the only way it's going to take place and so this verse teaches that God saves his people by grace and He does so through faith and those two prepositions are extremely important To be precise.

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God does not save his people by faith Now we commonly talk that way and it's understandable that we do

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Really God saves us by his grace It is by God's grace that he enables and moves those he has loved in Christ from eternity

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To exercise faith in Christ and receive salvation through that faith again We freely came to Christ, but it's because he gave us the power to do so through his grace

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He gave us a new heart a new desire to know him and submit to him it wasn't there before Some of us were like the

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Apostle Paul we hated Christianity despised it Rejected it reacted to it wanted nothing to do with it

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How is it that we came? Became ones like Paul following Jesus Christ because the

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Lord Jesus did a work of grace in our soul It says

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Paul wrote to the Christians in the church at Philippi is God who works in you Both the will and to do for his good pleasure

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There's the desire and the ability that's a good definition of grace God working in you both to will to desire and to do of his good pleasure

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When God purposed to save us from our sin He put forth his power to cause us to come to him in faith and repentance

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It's a spiritual resurrection as Paul declares in Ephesians 2 It was wholly due to his grace operative upon us and in us

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He made us as the old King James stated willing in the day of his power He put forth his power and we found ourselves desirous and willing to come to Christ We wouldn't have had he not loved us and had mercy upon us

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It's not because we're more willing more intelligent Less offensive less sinful than anybody else

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Most of us could testify that we were the worst of the lot because God gets glory and the and the greater sinner he saves the greater glory gets and That's what

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Paul reasons in first Corinthians. Why not many among us are mighty or wise

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That are called but he calls the foolish things of the world Because he gets glory from it

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God's in the business of saving sinners great sinners and we ought to have that confidence in God And and confidence in the message of the gospel if we preach the gospel faithfully

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We'd be surprised who ends up getting converted When God's power is at work, we need to pray to that end

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We need to be faithful to make sure we're given their proper message biblical message But that is the instrument the

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Word of God that God uses to to put forth his power of grace Which leads to saving faith in the sinner?

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That saving faith is due to a work of God's sovereign grace in a sinner is abundantly clear in the

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Word of God It's not like faith is your contribution and God's contributed his grace between the two of you you come up with salvation

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We read in the case of Lydia Having come to salvation. She was a Jewish probably

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Luke recorded in the book of Acts Paul Had an encounter with this businesswoman.

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She was a wealthy woman actually from Asia Minor and He encountered her beside a river outside of the city of Philippi We know there were a few

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Jews in Philippi because there probably wasn't a Jewish synagogue And when there weren't ten

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Jewish men in a region to establish a synagogue formal synagogue But few

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Jews present would go down to the river on Sabbath and meet together and pray together so Paul went down there on the

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Sabbath figuring that he could find a Jew or two and That's what we read in Acts 16 on the

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Sabbath day We Luke and his writing and Paul went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily

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Made and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there now a certain woman named

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Lydia who heard us She was a seller of purple a very expensive cloth Only for rich people could buy that from the city of Thyatira who worshiped

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God and here it is The Lord opened her heart. That's grace Lover open her heart to heed to respond to the things spoken by Paul And when she and her household were baptized

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She begged us saying if you judge me to be faithful to the Lord come to my house and stay and so she persuaded us

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So why was it that Lydia gave heed to Paul's message? That he declared it was because the

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Lord had opened her heart. That's a work of grace This describes the work of saving grace in her soul

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God and his Providence had directed her to the riverside that day God had moved Paul to go to the same place on this day

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For he knew that he would probably meet with some Jews there and when Paul spoke the gospel to her the

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Lord gave her Understanding of what he said gave her the ability to believe what Paul was saying was true

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And he gave her the desire and willingness to embrace and commit herself in faith and faithfulness to Jesus Christ God saved her by his grace through faith

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Having opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul Salvation is solely by God's grace and This is set forth also in Luke's account of the success of the gospel

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Through Apollos in the region of Achaia. That's where Corinth was located We read about that in Acts 18 now a certain

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Jew named Apollos he wasn't a Christian yet He only knew

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John the Baptist message before Christ had come Jew named Apollos from born in Alexandria Egypt.

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He was an eloquent man mighty in the scriptures He knew the Hebrew Old Testament. He came to Ephesus This man had been instructed in the way of the

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Lord being fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught Accurately the things of the Lord though. He knew only the baptism of John So we began to speak boldly in the synagogue when

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Aquila and his wife Priscilla heard him they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately and When he desired to cross to Achaia the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him and when he arrived he greatly helped those

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Who did he help those who believed through grace? It takes the grace of God to believe it's the work of God and Then it of course speaks of Apollos's effort for he vigorously refuted the

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Jews publicly Showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the

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Christ And so here we read of Apollos having greatly helped Christians whom Luke described as having believed through grace again

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We see saving faith is due to the work of God's grace God saves people through saving faith that he creates and sustains in them by his grace

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Now as we return to Ephesians 2 we read next that Paul had set forth the entire work of salvation as God's work for us not our works again

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Paul wrote verse 8 for by grace You've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

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It's the gift of God. How could that not be clearer? You're not saved by yourself of yourself

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Salvation which comes by God's grace through faith is not of yourselves again. This repudiates our minions

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Who say that salvation is of yourself of your own free will? The Word of God says it's not of yourself rather.

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It's the gift of God This humbles man and men doesn't like to be humbled and it glorifies

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God and People tend not want to give full glory to God Now There's some debate as to what the word the pronoun it

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Refers to what is the antecedent for the pronoun yet in verse 8, which again reads for by grace

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You've been saved through faith and not of yourself. It is the grace of the gift of God What does it the pronoun referred to a pronoun always has an antecedent?

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That it is taken the place of some say Paul intended the pronoun yet to refer to faith

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The faith is the gift of God it is the gift of God faith is a gift of God and although we could rightly say

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That saving faith is a gift of God and we've already shown. This is so nevertheless. That'd be too narrow an interpretation within this verse

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It refers to everything that goes on before All of salvation is a work of God's grace all of salvation is a gift as one wrote the context demands that this and he uses the word this instead of it because He's using the

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ESV translation The context demands this be understood by salvation by grace as a whole including faith or faithfulness

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Through which it's received God's magnificent rescue from death wrath and bondage is all of grace and neither originates in nor is affected by the readers

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Instead it's God's own gift a point which Paul goes out of his way to emphasize

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By changing the normal word order and contrasting God's with yours the particular word for gift though common enough

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Does not appear elsewhere in the Pauline corpus in other words this Greek word for gift is nowhere else in Paul's letters in the

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New Testament Other words with a similar meaning are used to speak of God's gift of righteousness and life in Christ This gift speaks about salvation.

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It's in its entirety Fallen people can take no credit for their salvation

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From first to last the application of redemption is due to the work of God's sovereign grace bestowed on undeserving helpless damned sinners

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But even when they were in their sin God had loved them from eternity Again, Ephesians 1 he speaks about that.

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He loved us in Christ In God's sovereign will in his decree and eternity all who would ever be redeemed by Christ.

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He chose to be in Christ And that's why he loves us not because we're more lovable than anybody else, but because he loves his son supremely infinitely

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Everlastingly and he purposed to see us in his son. He loves us with the same love.

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He loves his son that is Something that I don't know that we can ever

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Really come to grip with He loves us with an everlasting love and So he purposed to save he purposed to work and saving them from his sin because he loved them

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God is loving to all people. He's merciful. He's patient even with the ungodly the unjust but he has a love for his own

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That is unique He doesn't call the unregenerate out there my beloved.

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He calls Christians my beloved because he loves them in Christ And if you're a

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Christian or if one day you become a Christian It's because God has had a love for you the same love that he had love for his son from eternity

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He would not let you perish. He would do whatever it took to save you from sin

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Well Paul went on to declare in verse 9 the entire sentence reads again for by grace You've been saved through faith that not of yourself.

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It's the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast If anyone takes credit for his coming to salvation through faith in Christ, he's either ignorant or he's in error

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To claim that you came to faith in Christ of yourself due to your own ability of your own free will

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You're claiming that you are saved by your own works. You've made faith at work Something you produced yourself and God doesn't save anybody according to their works

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The result of that kind of thinking could result in the Christian boasting of his own ability Look at me.

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I was less sinful than you. Look at me I was more intelligent than you because I believe you didn't pat me on the back

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I'm better than you God doesn't save anybody so in a way that they can have that kind of attitude and that outlook toward anybody

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He saves us in such a way that we are humbled before him and forever grateful because we know

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We know there was nothing we could have done would have done wanted to do should you know, nothing?

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That would have commended us in any way or brought us to Christ He had to have taken action or it wouldn't have happened and so God saves people in a manner that They can only give the glory or credit to God Now it's rather commonplace

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Actually up to this point. We've been in an introductory material now. We're getting to verse 10.

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This is the important part It's rather commonplace for when people quote this passage to stop at the end of verse 9

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But when we're talking about the good works of Christians we need to get into verse 10 Again the entire statement reads

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For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God not of works unless anyone should boast

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For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus so he's reiterating in another way

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All declared they were not saved by our works, but rather we are the result of God at work

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We are his workmanship. You're not saved by your works, but by his it's God's sovereign work of grace it saves sinners through Christ and By the way here.

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We have an additional word about our salvation. It's described in terms of a creation Earlier it was in the form of a resurrection here.

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It's a creation created in Christ Jesus one wrote of this verse

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God salvation has already been described in terms of a resurrection from the dead a

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Liberation from slavery a rescue from condemnation now it's spoken of as a new creation and a further reason is given why this salvation is not of human origin and Therefore cannot be the basis of human boasting.

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It is God's workmanship from first to last Believers have been created in Christ Jesus for good works

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These good works cannot be the ground of our salvation or the subject of our boasting Since it's the goal of the new creation not the cause of it the goal of it

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They are the fruit of salvation not its basis or cause so once again in this magnificent paragraph

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The Apostle makes clear that we are wholly dependent on God's gracious sovereign activity for our salvation

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You could no more save yourself than you could go out and create a world You are his creation.

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You are his Workmanship a new creation in Christ Jesus here are the words of John Calvin commenting on this verse

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Ephesians 2 10 What remains now for free will in other words it obliterates it

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You know as the Arminians are teaching if all the good works which proceed from us are

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Acknowledged to have been the gifts of the Holy Spirit of God. In other words, what do you do? It's free will then let

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God let godly readers weigh carefully the Apostles words. He does not say that we're assisted by God He does not say that the will is prepared and then is left to to run in its own strength

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He does not say that the power of choosing a right is bestowed upon us and that we are afterwards left to make our own choice

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Such as the idle talk in which those persons who do their utmost to undervalue the grace of God are accustomed to indulge

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But the Apostle affirms that we are God's work and that everything good in us is his creation

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By which he means that the whole man is formed by his hand to be good It's not the mere power of choosing a right or some indescribable kind of preparation or even assistance

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But the right will itself which is his workmanship Otherwise Paul's argument would have no force

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He means to prove that man does not in any way procure salvation for himself But obtains it as a free gift from God.

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The proof is that man is nothing but by divine grace Whoever then makes the very smallest claim for man apart from the grace of God allows him to that extent ability to procure or earn salvation

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Which is you know, so contrary to the Word of God, it's ridiculous But again, all of what we've said up to this point is really to get to this point next

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Point number two God has created his people to what purpose? Why does

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God save us just trying to get us to avoid hell or just to escape sin

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And oftentimes an anemic gospel is presented this way Here's the gospel.

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This is how you can have your sins forgiven This is how you can get eternal life, but that's not what Paul says here as to the purpose for which

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God saved us Again let's read it in context

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For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves It's a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast for we as are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for now there there's that's not an explanatory for that is a a

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For that begins a purpose clause. He tells us the purpose for which God saved us for good works

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Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them Why did

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God save you for good works? That's why good works are absolutely essential to being what's true a

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Christian that's that's a purpose which God saved you and me Not just to escape hell as what a blessing that is

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You know this hope this current creation has fallen ever since Adam and Eve Well, he's going to create a new heavens and earth.

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He's in the business of creating a people that are going to inhabit it one day And These are people that are responsive to the

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Lord whose lives are characterized by good works as the Bible defines them Matthew Henry the great reformed commentator

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Wrote the Apostle having before ascribed this change to divine grace in exclusion of works

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Lest he should seem thereby to discourage good works He here observes that though the change is to be ascribed to nothing

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But that nature we are his workmanship We are the workmanship of God yet God in his new creation has designed and prepared us for good works

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Created on to good works with the design that we should be fruitful in them Wherever God by his grace implants good principles

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They are intended to be for good works Which God hath before ordained that is decreed or appointed or the words may be read to which

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God hath before prepared us that is by blessing us with the knowledge of his will and and with with us believers of it and with us believers in the

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Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit given to us as well and by Producing such a change in us that we should walk in them or glorify

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God by exemplary Conversation or the way we live by our present our perseverance and holiness

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He created us to be a holy people. He created us to be characterized by good works

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If good works do not characterize your life. You're not a Christian Good works as defined by the

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Bible and that's all important The point that Paul was making is that we were not saved by our works

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But God saved us by his work in order that he might produce in us good works In other words the purpose of God saving us was so that we would become submissive

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Compliant even obedient followers of Christ ones whose lives are characterized by good works

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Some say the only difference between Christians and non -christians or Christians are forgiven no Christians are a new kind of people

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Anyone is in crisis a new creation old things have passed away behold all things become new It's a new life

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We're no longer living for ourselves. We're living for Christ If we're thinking rightly believing rightly now, we're still we still struggle with sin, obviously

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The point again that we wish to stress here is that the primary purpose which God has saved us from our sin

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He did so that we might produce good works in our lives This reveals a great deficiency in the way the message of the gospel of salvation is often portrayed and proclaimed

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The purpose the end or the goal of salvation is commonly thought is To save us from damnation to forgive us of our sins

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But that's not what Paul declared in this passage The primary goal or end is so that we would be his people living lives in conformity to his will to live lives characterized by good works

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Salvation is a reversal of the fall of mankind When Adam and Eve fell into sin they and the whole human race they have to refuse to live for God But rather purpose to live for themselves

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That's what sin is. They didn't live according to the will of God, but according to their own sinful nature their father nature

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Their works were evil works. They were not done in obedience to God not performed according to the standard of God's righteousness

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Scriptures elsewhere state this same truth that God saves us so that we would live lives characterized by good works

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Consider what Paul wrote to Titus to Titus for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men

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Teaching us that denied on godliness On godliness and worldly lusts we should do what we should live soberly

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Righteously and godly in the present age See he saved us that we might live as Christians Looking for the blessed hope and glorious a period of our great

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God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us That another purpose clause.

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Why did Jesus Christ give himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and Purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works

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You cannot take good works away from the idea of salvation They characterize people who have received salvation

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So why did God save us simply or primarily to escape his punishment of us for our sin?

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Well, yes He's done that but his primary desire and design was to create a new people who are loving

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Submissive and compliant and doing as will that they would be zealous of good works And this is why

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Paul would write to Titus in the following chapter these words this is a faithful saying and These things

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I want to affirm constantly that those who believed in God should be careful to maintain good works

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This is why God saved you These things are good and profitable to men now again

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Paul made it very clear They were not saved by our works. Obviously rather he saved us so that we would live doing good works

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To live characterized by good works is the end and the nature of being saved by God's grace through faith alone apart from works

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So Ordering our lives in order to do good works is the course that leads to our full and final salvation

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For example, Paul wrote to Timothy Command those who are rich in the present age not to be haughty not to trust in uncertain riches

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But then living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy let them do good. Why?

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So that they may be rich in good works Ready to give willing to share storing up for themselves a good foundation

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For the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life Say the good works are the course the narrow Road that we're following the highway of holiness that Isaiah spoke about on our way to heaven

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And then the Apostle wrote to the churches of Galatia That the life of doing good is like sowing seed that will one day reap the harvest of eternal life

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Don't be deceived Paul says about this matter. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows in this life

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He'll also reap for he who sows to his flesh you live in sin

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We'll let the flesh reap corruption that's damnation But he who sows to the

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Spirit will have the Spirit reap everlasting life And let us not grow weary while doing good

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Why should we not grow weary while doing good for in due season? We shall reap if we do not lose heart.

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What is the reaping here? The reaping here is everlasting life It is the consequence of sowing these good things throughout our life

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We're not saved because of them not on the basis of them But we're saved on to them and they lead us on to eternal life

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This is the end or goal of our salvation a life ordered not according to our own sinful desires and will

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But to order our lives according to the will of God and this is why the scriptures can declare

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Fourthly the world is passing away the lost of it But he who does the will of God abides forever.

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This is what true Christians do As much as I hate to do it we got to stop here there's no way in the world

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I'm going to get through the next five pages in the next five minutes It's too important and So we'll stop here and we'll talk more carefully and clearly about the nature of these good works

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What the world thinks are good works and what the Bible says are good works are two different things

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In fact, the scriptures say the time come can come when people call good evil and evil good

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Aren't we seeing that in a world today? And so the things that we'd very desire and we aspire to as being good

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Set forth in the scriptures the world now views as evil but they're good works if they're in accordance with the

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Word of God and So it's important that we understand this and now of course,

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I'll be able to expand on a little bit more this coming week Important matter. Let's pray Father help us.

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We pray to Understand these things we thank you our God for the new life in Christ that our salvation is

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Much much more than the forgiveness of sins But it's deliverance our

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God Even a resurrection on to new life a life characterized by Desiring our

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God and doing your will Obviously our God not perfectly We're plagued by sin.

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There's not a day. We don't go through without sinning against you But now our God where as before we rejoiced in that we lamented

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We wish our God that every thought we had were pure thoughts Every truth our

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God It's in your word. We would understand and embrace as our own that our wills

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Lord would be conformed to your will That we would do the things that please you you've put within us our

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God. There's love for you There's love for the truth and there's love for righteousness

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And we just pray that you would fill us with the Holy Spirit to enable us to live this way

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Don't allow our God the devil to tempt us don't allow our own flesh to draw us away

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But help us our God as we go forth from this place to do so trusting thanking

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Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who will empower us and enable us to live for him in This in this kingdom in this new creation of which we have made us a part