Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
This is speaking to those who are saints and who are
faithful in Christ Jesus. We are God’s holy people, and to be holy is to be
different from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of
Jesus Christ. And we are to be holy in all our conduct (1 Peter 1:13-16). And
to be faithful is to be full of faith as well as it is to be authentic, true,
dependable, and trustworthy. And this faith is authored and perfected by Jesus
Christ, and it is gifted to us by God, and it is not of our own doing or of the
flesh or of the will of man.
And we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God
the Father first draws us to Christ, i.e. unless he persuades us as to his
holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of
our sins and to walk humbly before our God in obedience to his commands (New
Covenant). So this faith is not of ourselves, but of God, so we can’t create in
our own minds what that faith should look like. So we have to get our
understanding of what this faith looks like from the Scriptures.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; John 6:44; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:13]
But now we have a good example of it in these first three
verses here. We were once dead in the trespasses and sins in which we ONCE walked.
And we ONCE lived in the passions of our flesh, and we were by nature children
of wrath, like the rest of mankind. So, this means we no longer are walking (in
conduct, in practice) in our sins, and we are no longer living in the passions
of our flesh, because we were crucified with Christ in death to sin and we were
raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin
but as slaves to God and to his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23). And so we are no
longer children of wrath.
Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Now this did not come about as a result of our own fleshly
works. We can do nothing in ourselves to earn or to deserve our own salvation.
And the faith we need to have salvation doesn’t come from ourselves, either,
but it is gifted to us by God and it is God-persuaded faith. But it is faith we
must put into daily practice in the power of God’s Spirit. For, again, our
faith is authored by Jesus Christ, and it is gifted to us by God, so it is
going to align with God’s will and purpose for our lives. So even though our
salvation comes from God, we must walk in that salvation from sin, by God’s
grace.
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So, our salvation comes from the Lord, and it is only by his
grace that any of us can be saved from our slavery to sin and no longer walk in
sin but now walk in his holiness and righteousness. But we are also saved
through faith, and this faith comes from God, and is persuaded by God, and this
is not of our own doing, not a result of our own fleshly works. So, when we
exercise this faith, and we put it into practice, by God’s grace, then it
results in us no longer walking in sin and in the passions of our flesh, and
that is how we know that it is genuine faith.
Now we are not saved as a result of our own fleshly works.
But our salvation is not absent of works. For we are God’s workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them. And the Scriptures teach that we must forsake our lives of sin to
follow the Lord Jesus in obedience. And if sin is what we still practice, and
if it is what we obey, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not
what we practice and obey, then we will not inherit eternal life with God. So,
please read what the Scriptures teach our faith must look like.
The Prayer
Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis
I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
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