Let's ask the Lord's blessing as we go to Him. Our Father, you are the rock and redeemer. You are the one who uses weak and fragile human instruments like me to speak your enduring and perfect truth. And we ask you now, Father, to awaken us spiritually to give to us the spirit in a special way so that these words that we contemplate would be for us eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen. I suppose one of the branches of philosophy that have had the most impact in our country is pragmatism. That is, Americans are pragmatic people. We tend to like things because they work. I have lower back problems. I can almost say I used to have lower back problems. J.D. Hayeson Bank in our congregation is something of a back magician. He's put me through all of these really severe stretching exercises and contortions. But I'm willing to go through all of that because it works. I can go like this. It actually works. You can think of I'm sure many things in your own existence that's the exact same way. We do things because not necessarily because their truth will be because they work. And spiritually what I tend to see in people's lives is a lot of times people will not really think of heaven and hell. They won't think of what it means really to be a follower of Jesus Christ until their life comes crashing down in one way or another. And in essence what they've come to admit and see is my life doesn't work when I'm in charge. Very basic but profound insight. It doesn't work when I'm in charge. God made me designed me and it makes a lot of sense to turn to Him and seek His insight so that life will work. But see it's still a pragmatic approach to faith. And when you look at the definition, just one definition of pragmatism, you see this. It stresses the priority of action over doctrine of experience over fixed principles. And it holds that the ideas borrow their meanings from their consequences and their truths from their verification. Pragmatism is very dangerous. Take one example. I was in China several years ago with a group of pastors from our country exploring how our church could partner as we now do. With individuals who were helping to grow particularly the house church movement there. Anyway, one of those who was there who knows a lot more about China than I do made the comment that he felt like it wasn't going to be too many years before the Chinese government basically went in a very capitalistic direction. And the reason was they said because they're a very pragmatic people and they're seeing that Marxism doesn't work and that's why they've already allowed a lot of free market thinking in their country. And so eventually they're going to get to the point where they say in order for this country to work we need to go the way of the West. All right, what sounds great, right? But see, what if what if the thinking were the other way around and what they recognize is no, the West isn't working. The economy in the West is not that stellar and they're having all sorts of difficulties internally and externally. We think that our system works best. You can see how dangerous that approach is and how suffocating and even lethal to the Christian movement in a country like China. So pragmatism seems good in many ways but it's very dangerous. Really it ought to be the truth of something that makes it work. And that's the direction the Bible takes. The Bible says in essence you need to listen. You need to give your attention to what this book says and shape your life by it because this is true, this is life. This is the way things really are, this reality. And as a consequence, it works. It fits. Not the other way around. And one of the things that the Bible teaches us from beginning to end is that the main message of life is about God. The truth of who God is and what God has done. And our eternal destiny and our temporal enjoyment in life here on earth is dependent upon the degree to which we really do give ourselves to that truth. It works but as a consequence of pouring ourselves in to that truth. And so what I want to do this morning is look with you at the passage that the Cummings read few minutes ago from Ephesians chapter two verses one through ten. The focus on the second half of that section clay handled the first part last week. I was joking with people that you know that's what associate pastors are for. They get to tell you the horrible wretched news that were all dead in our trespasses and sins. And I get to come along and tell you how wonderful it is that we've been made alive with Christ and united to him and all this great news about grace. Really both sermons I think you'll see fit together hand and glove both talking about the wondrous truths that are there in Christ that do work but they work because they are true and right and enduring. So open your Bibles if you have them or you can just use your order of worship and will look at Ephesians two and what I want to explore with you for a few minutes is first of all what is it that God has done since this is to be the focus of our lives what is God done and secondly why has he done this. This passage answers those two questions first of all what is God done well if you look at chapter two verse the end of verse five it says by grace you have been saved. And then again at the beginning of verse eight the very same chorus for by grace you have been saved there it's added through faith. So what has God done well first of all he has saved us and this is a very pregnant word the word save or salvation it literally means deliverance. What is God delivered us from all of the horrible things that Clay told you about last week that we were dead I mean a dead person can do very little as in nothing to change their condition God came in erupted into our lives and delivered us out of that death that condition of death. We were also seen as being estranged from God literally children of wrath that is the the just and abiding wrath of God upon those who have lived their lives Paul uses the word walk who have walked in their life apart from his commandments deserve his wrath. And God himself is the one who has delivered us saved us from that there's so much that could fit into this category. Now he has saved us how this is the critical piece by grace for by grace you have been saved so beautiful that on this Sunday providentially both of the little girls that were baptized have the middle and grace. In essence it ought to be all of our middle names because any of us who are can call the name of Christ we do so because God has gifted us with that that's really what the word grace means it's a gift. Therefore anything we deserve sometimes particularly spoiled little children think they deserve gifts maybe they deserve a whole number of gifts in their birth day. But really a gift is something that is not deserved it's not earned and the scriptures talk a lot about this even more clearly in the book of Romans chapter 6 23 a familiar verse the Apostle Paul says the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So you can trust their wages what is a wage for something you work for what have you and I worked for we have worked in our lives by walking apart from God we have worked in such a way as to earn there for death eternal We have a lot of strength from God nevertheless God in his goodness has given us a gift not only undeserved ill deserved and that gift is Jesus Christ himself. In essence when you look at the word for work or works that Paul uses in this passage the Greek word is air gone and it's where if you look up in the dictionary it's the root from which we get the word energy. All right can you hear energy or gone the same point and the idea is when you look at the definition for that word in English dictionary it's the capacity for action or accomplishment the question is what capacity to human beings naturally have to be accepted by God into his kingdom what capacity do we have. The great question sometimes called the Kennedy question because Dr. V. James Kennedy invented it I always thought for years it had to do with former president but no it's not that it's a minister. If you died today and stood before God and he said on what basis or why should I let you into my kingdom what would you say so many times when I ask that question of people the response has to do with something they've done well I've tried to be a good person. I've tried to go to church with frequency I've tried to avoid things that are sinful and wrong and you know the story but see the focus is on an urge the energy the work the ability to accomplish something on the part of that individual. And what the Bible is saying is human beings are not only spiritually challenged in this respect we have zero capacity right what did what did God say to Adam in the garden he said you're free to eat from all of these trees but just not this one and in the day that you eat of it you will be spiritually challenged he did not say that did he said you will die. And a dead person has zero capacity to change their condition that's the idea in verses one three three and that's why it's clay emphasized the beginning of verse four it's so critical that you see those two most important words but God why because God worked Christianity is about the work of one individual we are saved by works it's the work of God. His energy his capacity to redeem us for himself well how did he do this he did this through the person of Jesus Christ that is God sent his son Christ to live a life of obedience for us it's very important. Jesus how is it that were saved by works well Jesus merited God's favor for us by working in perfect obedience to the father his entire life I mean if all Jesus had to do is die on the cross why didn't he just die right after he was born. That may be a silly question but if you ever thought about it a lot of times we tend to say you know God will let me into his kingdom because Jesus died on the cross for me of course that's true but it's not all the truth that's what culminated his life of total obedience so he merited he worked God's favor by being perfectly obedient to him for 33 years and then died the death that you and I deserve. And then God raised him up and exalted him and seated him at his right hand and all of these things which we have addressed in the first chapter and half of the Ephesians are credited to us are given to us as a gift that is received through faith we are saved by grace through faith. Verse 8 what is faith faith is trust faith is trusting that I am while I am totally unable I have no energy or capacity to merit God's favor God has done all that is necessary in Christ and it is trusting in that. Let me give you a couple of pictures here I used to in this illustration talk about Troy Ackman but now I guess I need to use David Carr if you are standing if you and if David Carr and I were standing on one end of the Grand Canyon all right and you're standing on the other end the Grand Canyon which one of us is going to be able to throw a pass that you'll be able to catch. It's a little bit of yeah it's not that much of a trick question I mean you're with me because yeah mine will just put her a little bit it'll be a horrible spiral and it'll just die. The cars will be a magnificent pass I mean I don't know 50 60 yards or so perfect spiral same result neither of us even the greatest has zero capacity to reach the other end right. But what if we are abs our life and death depends on reaching the other end and Jesus Christ stands on that side of the Grand Canyon with us and says get on my back I am going to be able to jump to the other end to save your soul it's simply trusting it's climbing on Jesus's back it's his work he's going to do it I do nothing I'm simply believing. He's believing that he can not only throw a pass to the other end but himself make it all the way to the other end Jesus is the one that bridge that great golf between God and us and we are simply trusting by climbing on his back and what this passage teaches us is that even the faith to do that is part of that gift look at the wording that he gives us in verse eight. So by grace you've been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast now some would say that the statement and this is not your own doing is the gift of God is speaking specifically about faith. I think it's more fair it's better handling of the Greek to say that it refers to the whole statement about salvation which includes faith not excluding it including it so that all that we need to get from one end of that great golf to the other including the faith to climb on Jesus's back is gifted to us by God. All right now why why has God done all this why has he worked to give us grace very interesting so that you and I might in turn work God has given us grace so that there would be works that would come forth from it look at verse 10 Paul was gone out of his way to exclude the possibility that work has any role humanly in our salvation. Then he turns around and says verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Let's look at that for a second first of all that we are created for good works very clear in that phrase there in the Greek that this is a prepositional phrase dealing with purpose. This goal end result that is the end in the mind of God for which he saved us by grace is that you and I might in turn be an instrument through which really he works in the world if we are his workmanship is the way it said. The word walk here is very important Paul uses it seven times in the book of Ephesians and you notice it on the front end of this passage and the back end did you notice for instance in verse one and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked we were walking dead men dead men walking. Then you get to the end of verse 10 the end of the passage talking about good works that we have been creating Christ Jesus to do prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. If you go to chapter four of Ephesians which is the beginning of the whole second half Ephesians is divided into between one through three and four through six and we are going to spend August through early December. Fast and receive though in chapters four through six it's all about practical Christian living look at verse one I therefore this is chapter four a prisoner for the Lord remember Paul's writing this while imprisoned urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. What is that worthy walk look like that's what we have here in verse 10 really is the book of Ephesians in a nutshell that everything that needed to happen for you and me to be able to do an about face from walking in the direction of darkness and evil under the influence of the devil. And the way of this world and turn and walk in the way of light being useful in the hands of God walking as children of light as Paul will later say. Everything that's needed is accomplished by the work of God that's what grace is all about you and I contribute nothing but with though we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. It is a grace that is not alone it's a very important truth in the reformation some of you may be aware that the Pope that was on the seat of Peter during the reformation was named Pope Leo in that ironic. And you know he was not the most flattering his history was not that flattering he was not the greatest of the post in my view he needed some funds to finish building out Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and so he sent one of his minions around a guy named John Tetzel to go throughout the land particularly among the uneducated and hold out a pale and he sang a little birds that went out. You know if you contribute a little money to the coffer here you can buy your friends and family out of purgatory now I bring this up not to disparage the Roman Catholic Church seriously because the reality is as Michael Horton shows in his book putting amazing back into grace that the same approach. That you and I can surely contribute something our work surely do something for God that same concept is found throughout Protestantism but the interesting thing that this was the this was the event that really sparked the Protestant reformation that we are saved by grace and not any works that we do nothing can merit God's favor. Nevertheless the resounding course of the reformation was we are not saved by grace we are not saved by works but by a grace that is accompanied by works that is that works are the evidence the fruit that that grace has taken root in our life just like a tree that is alive we know is alive because. There are leaves that come forth in the spring and fruit that comes forth from it and so in the Christian's life that is genuinely alive there will be fruit that emerges from it and this word walk gives us that perspective that Christianity is always a movement in fact all of life is a movement we're never just static we're never inert there's always energy we're always moving in one direction or. Another and the question is which direction are you moving in who are you moving towards or who are you following the prince of the power of the air or Christ this is talking about Christian discipleship it is necessarily tied to the grace that saves us. I ran across something this week that I thought was very interesting I'd never noticed this Dietrich Bonhoff or points this out in his wonderful book called the cost of discipleship do you know what the first and last words were in the gospels that Jesus speaks to Peter if you go to the beginning of the gospel of Mark and the end of the gospel of John the exact same words follow me. That is our life that we exist to follow Christ and there's no such thing as being a Christian saying we are saved but remaining in a condition of lukewarm existence the Christian is the one who is energized by the work of Christ in us to live a life of fruitfulness for God through Christ. What's the motivation to do this well it's because of everything that has been done for us and that's why Paul goes to such great pains in this passage verse seven for instance is a great example of this to to remind us that it is God's goodness his grace that motivates us why has God saved us let me retreat to verse six he raised us up with him seated us with him in the heavenly places so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ it's always grace that motivates us to live this Christian life of following Christ at every point. Now if that's the purpose for which God has worked this grace in us that grace might work that there might be a pragmatic outflow of it is that all there is to it or is there even a greater purpose or end why does God save us. The interesting words that are used here at the end of verse nine give us a clue he says he says that we are saved not as a result of works why so that no one may boast the idea here is that if there's even one little ounce of room for human merit human accomplishment what will we do. We'll boast about it we'll put our confidence in that we'll trust in our ability to accomplish something after all that's the American way you just put your mind to something and you can do it. And so Paul says we must exclude every possibility of boasting but is Paul ruling out boasting overall. No in fact what he's been doing from the very first verse in Ephesians all the way up till now is boasting he's been boasting in the glory of God's grace in the magnificence of the God who would be so good to undeserving centers like you and me and reach down into our life and snatch us out of the fire of his wrath and close us with the Lord Jesus Christ. And also raise us with Christ and feed us with him even right now in the heavenly places that we become God's trophies of grace in eternity it's all about boasting in fact the apostle Paul says it elsewhere in a different way in the epistle to the Galatians he said may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see the picture here is that God has done a great work and we must do everything we can as a people of God to exclude the human factor why not to beat us down but to have the focus in the place that brings the greatest glory to God and the greatest delight to human beings his grace alone. John Scott in his commentary on Ephesians talks about a man that he studied under while he was in seminary at Cambridge the Reverend Paul Gibson and he said that when this man retired as the principal of Ridley Hall at Cambridge there was a beautiful portrait painted of him and when it was unveiled Reverend Gibson said this he said that in the future I believe people will look at this. This painting and not ask who is that man but ask who painted that painting and that's exactly the right picture that Paul wants us to see in this passage that when people look at our lives throughout our life when people look at Christ the King Presbyterian Church they shouldn't look and see great people and marvel at how wonderful we are. Look at our life as a trophy of God's grace and marvel asking who is it that painted that picture may God received the glory and praise as we created in Christ work out the grace planted in us let's pray. Father thank you that you have gifted to us the Lord Jesus Christ we embrace him now some for the first time that we might walk in the way of Christ worthy of the calling that we have received and indeed bear fruit that will last. Amen.