Ephesians - Chapter 2 review

We're going to do something a little different today. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read through the entire chapter, and what I've chosen to do is I've divided the sections of Ephesians where periods exist, except for one exception to that, where there are two periods in one of these areas. And so as we read through here, I want each one of you, everybody's going to participate today unless you're reluctant to do so or unwilling to do so. And Tom, are you going to do it twice? Is that what you're saying here? Okay, all right.

So, you know, my task, Roger said, you know, go through, pick out key verses and kind of review it that way. But as I thought more about that, and the Lord led me to do this a little bit, Here's a class, and this is Sunday school if you will, this is not the sanctuary and more formal kind of setting, so we're going to look at this in sections, and while we're reading this I want you to kind of identify sections 1 and sections 2 for each one of you, and we're going to go around the room and have you tell me why you've chosen those areas. So let's read this together.

Verses 1-3, And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we are all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." Okay, that's one choice you have.

4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 3 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it's a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. Verse 10 stands alone, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Verses 11 and 12, therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. Verse 13, another standalone, But now in Christ Jesus you, who once were far off, have been brought nigh or near by the blood of Christ. verses 14 to 16, For he himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 and 18, and he came and preached peace to you who were afar off, and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19-22 Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

I'm going to pause here for just maybe a minute, 30 seconds to a minute, to have you pick your one and two, and then we're going to go around the room. Tom, you have your hand up here. I want you to pick which section of Ephesians 2 you choose as the one that's most meaningful to you. Okay? First and second choice. Yes, Tom? The first one is one. Tom, would you like to be first? Okay, well, let's hold on here for a second. I'll hold that for the first and the last one. For one reason, it'll be a brief question. All right. Why don't you get us rolling, Tom?

What's number one for you? up in this one freed slaves prayer of thanks and it goes like this, Lord we ain't what we want to be, we ain't what we ought to be, and we ain't what we going to be, but thank you Lord we ain't what we was. So which section of that relates to that Tom? It has more to do with what we were before we came to Christ, and we knew that we were under the gun when the Holy Spirit was convicting us. And on the last part, we ain't what we're going to be, would be the last one, 19-22, just basically summing it all up, saying this is what you're going to be.

And it's a growth process. And it has nothing to do with us, it has more to do with the Holy Spirit connecting us and growing us in the Lord. So it covers all three phases. And that's all I want to say. Alright, so 19-22 is your second choice or your first? Second. Second.

Your first was what? one and two one and three okay in terms of where you once were right okay okay all right let's let's go around the room Roger going to you next okay all right so I I'll just read if I go back and look at the occasions and how I benefited from the occasions I think eight and nine can be of great interest and the number two is the verse right after because it talks about our works and it puts it in the context Christ is working through us.

You know, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are to do good works, but they're His works, not our works. Okay, and what's special about 8 and 9 to you? Well, you know, the fact that it's by grace, you know, because people want to be saved by works. I mean, you look across all of, in fact, a lot of Christianity, they want to be saved by works. They want to put their works forward as their proof that they should be accepted by God. In Scripture, you know, 8 and 9 is absolutely the opposite of that. It's totally by His grace. And the vehicle is by faith. It's just such a wonderful passage. And it goes on being a gift of God, not of works.

So we can't boast about that. No. All we can do is be thankful and thank the Lord for His marvelous grace. Okay. We could boast about His grace though, right? Absolutely. And Paul talks about that. Okay, good. Alright, let's go to Carolyn. I've got verse 10 as number one and 89 as number two.

Okay, and tell us why. Well, the 10 to me speaks of a purpose for us. You know, that he's got a plan for us and there's a reason that each one of us is here and kind of have a job to do and he's laid it out for us. What's special about 10 do you think? Well, that was 10, so then 8 and 9. Before you go to 8 and 9, I'm going to put 10 as one of my top two. So there's something special in 10 to me. Do you kind of identify with where I'm coming from, Patty? What I like about 10 is it's his workmanship.

You know, it's not us. If you read The Hungry Heart today, boy, I tell you, the old man shows up all the time. We've got to leave that behind. We need to take a step back and we have this rest and peace, and it's his workmanship. You know, that takes law totally out of it. You know, when law's there, we're always trying to make the flesh measure up in some way. But when it's his workmanship, it's by our faith through the power of the Spirit that allows that to be shown.

Go ahead now, Beck. I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. So 8 and 9 then? Same reason? It just kind of sums up to me a lot of what the gospel is about. It simplifies everything. It's like one line and this is the whole thing. And again, like Roger said, it's not what we do. It's the gift that he's given us. And I think they kind of go together that way. Okay, good. Who wants to go next? Riga?

So just because this is very applicable to me, I put number one as the last verses. You know, I have spent a long time not having, being a stranger and a foreigner. And one of the reasons I wanted to move back here was to be, have fellowship and be around, you know, other Christians and to feel that. So for me, this is really powerful and personal. And then my second is eight and nine.

I just love that God saved me in spite of myself. He's so nicely shown me that if left up to my own devices, I'm going to screw it up really quickly. And in spite of that, because he's gracious, he has saved us and me personally, and it's amazing to me. Okay, good.

Nora, do you want to share your thoughts about this? I take 8 and 9. Just let me interrupt just a second. I mean 8 and 9 are versus goodness. They should be our lifeblood, right? I'm almost saying exclude 8 and 9 because everybody is going to put that at the top of their list. Okay, go ahead Nora, I'm sorry. If any of these pick up no votes, I'm sure you have some comments. It's a gift from God. We can't save ourselves. The Lord saved us. It's beautiful. It's a gift. And not our can, but His Word can save you. Okay. Steve, how about you? I would say one is four through seven.

I guess my experience over some years has been experiencing and realizing God's mercy even though I was dead and trespassed. That separation was a reality and yet he still loved me. And then also through the whole process he makes us alive with Christ and raise us up together to make us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And that to me has established the knowledge of that position that he's graced us with. And that same grace sees us through to the upcoming future and ages to come. It's a consistent ongoing call.

I find it hard, don't you, to select just two of these passages. Okay, Patty, how about you? Well, number one was verse 10. I like being his workmanship. The second one was just who God is, being rich, and who we are while we were dead. he's done was making us alive together, like Steve was saying. But the future there too, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, that it's not just, it's our salvation, but it's much more than that. Yeah, kind of, I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. The three tenses of the verb, being saved. Okay, Pat, how about you?

The question is, I'm going to give you more time. These sections are divided by periods, basically, kind of themes throughout Ephesians 2. We're reviewing Ephesians 2 today. So I want you to kind of pick one and two for you in terms of personal application of these verses. So I'll let you ponder that.

Randy, you're next. one of my favorite chapters in the Bible says, this feels unfair, like which one of your kids do you love most? Okay, you want to quit there then? So I have to say 4-7, especially verse 7, I love the eternal perspective of verse 7 there, just mind-blowing, because we don't grow in mercy I'm pretty cool with that.

And then probably eight or nine right after that. But then I feel like I've really shorted 10. Dispensational. It's not fair. There's a lot of fans in here, so you don't have to feel bad for four or seven. OK, not to you. Well, I had already chosen eight and nine. OK, so we should have said no, eight, nine, no, eight, nine discrimination.

And I like 17 and 18 through him by one spirit. I like that in one spirit. And we have access to the father. I thought without him, we would never have access to the father. So I thought that was just OK. Good, Dave. I did like 13 first, but now Jesus Christ, who we're going so far off, we're all nearby, but that's where it all started. And then, well, that's what he did. And then in 8 and 9, it's our faith in him, that's where our relationship starts with Christ. Now in verse 13, how do you interpret far off? Do you remember in context what we talked about when we looked at being far off?

Well, we're a sinner and we're just a mark. Separated. But in context you'd release to the Gentile nations, right? Which we all fall underneath that tent, right? Even though we weren't there at the time. We're clearly not Jews. And so we were far off like every other non-Jew in the world.

And so the personal application. In the corner, forgive me. What's your name? Abigail. I should know that. And Margaret would kill me if she were in the room. Abigail, you want to share with us? For right now, I think 14 through 16 is pretty great. I'm going through finals right now. You need some peace, right? Pretty great. And then for the second one, I think the 8 through 9. OK. Alright, Pat, have you had time to ponder here? Yeah, I do like Tim.

It's a continuation. We're not done yet. He has a plan for our lives. What do you make of God preparing this beforehand? Are we robots here? I think that one song that says, He's still working on me, make me what the moon and the stars, sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How heart loving and gracious he must be, he's still working on me. How many songs do you know anyway?

OK, Pat, second one. I just got the one. Oh, you do. OK. It's OK. So Margaret, who knows where Margaret is preparing for what she has her selections made. Oh, she she. I'm not I'm not. I'm not going to touch that one. All right, so I think Randy said it well, which one of your kids do you love most? I mean, this is a tough deal to really do. I kind of picked one and three because I kind of walked lost for entirely all of my life. Sometimes the flesh falls back into one to three, right?

By the way, and you, he made alive, right? That's in italics, but it's still. And you, who were dead in trespasses and sins? I mean, we're all dead in trespasses and sins, right? And that's a pretty magnificent act on the Lord's behalf, to take us all who are dead in trespasses and sins, in which we once walked. And by the way, the flesh is still capable of walking there, but that's not who we are.

So I think 1 in 3 just gives that constant reminder of the lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, and of the mind. It's all anti-cross. So that speaks to me, and I remind myself constantly of who I am in the flesh. It's not pretty. And I like 14 through 16, and He Himself is our peace. Now, again, 8 and 9, how can you dismiss that? But He's made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Isn't that amazing when we think about our position and how much freedom we have in the Lord? I mean, that freedom is not to sin, but the freedom is to live a life without sin and to walk without law.

And I think 14 through 16 encompasses that. So at this point, I'd like to just pause and kind of see where we should go today. I think this is really what I intended, to have everyone participate a little bit in what we were going to do, rather than go pick selected verses and spend a lot of time there.

So your thoughts? Should we drill down on a few of these and discuss them in more detail? Or should we, in fact, move in direction? Roger, what's your thought? There's plenty to remember in these sections. I think we've been doing part of it already. Well maybe what we should do is look at, we've got another 20 minutes or so, let's look at each section and just have an open discussion about these. And so I've kind of begun verses 1 through 3.

So we've been made alive and that's not who we once were. The Spirit now works in the sons of disobedience, that's each and every one of us, among whom we all had conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, etc. So is this something that we're bringing to mind each day? I think people sometimes spend too much time studying the old man. They're not looking at the Lord Jesus Christ sufficiently.

2 Corinthians 3.18, that mirror image of who we are in Christ is where we should be. Not trying to learn more about the old man.

But I think we need to understand that we still have been saved from this wretched condition. Randy, any thoughts? As you were just mentioning, this passage, I kind of was looking in reverse engineering verse one. If you were to say it in a negative statement here, anyone who's not saved is dead in their trespasses and sins. And that's the... But they don't think so though, right? Right, and that's the poverty of our culture, that we're wealthy in first world American wealth for the most part of the nation and we're happy in that wealth and we have no eternal perspective.

And instead if we as believers recognize that this death that is part of the trespasses and sins are there then that demands that we as believers at least consider the importance of the gospel and not be afraid to preach it. And I say that to myself as much as anybody else, because sometimes our culture tells us, oh well, the HR department is going to be called if you preach the gospel. You know, whatever else might be there, but there are real souls that are really in that state. We were once there, but we shouldn't exclude anyone in the presentation of the gospel.

Okay, so what do you make of verses like Christ himself was tempted as we, but did not sin. What do you make of that and how that relates to 1 through 3? Well, that's the identification. We're identified with the one who did not fall into sin despite being tempted by it. Well, and I'm grateful that the Lord understands. He was tempted, we are tempted, but he is God, so he didn't walk down that road, but he knows what we're going through. He gets it.

You could argue the Greek text, which is typically translated as tempted there, rather than tested, but I kind of like tested better because what it says about our lives is that he was tested to prove who he really was. We can fall into sin, we have to believe the Lord Jesus Christ had no sin capability. but yet we are really tested to prove who we are, not really tempted to sin as indicated in James. Right Roger? Actually, Brian and I remember J. Verne McGee. I'm Leviticus now. And he's doing a good job bringing Leviticus to the cross anyway. He's a great example.

He lives in Texas and he has a train trestle and they would move the engines onto that and they would basically they're testing the And they would tie the whistle down. So it was a loud deal. So they would rev the engines up and make sure that this trestle didn't break under... And he uses that example to...

Test it to prove that it was wrong. Christ was tested to prove who he was. Not to fail. And that's the Lord's desire. He never... It says that in James. He never tests us to break us. He tests us to show us who we are. That's really true. Is everything okay? Okay. Do you want to share your verses before we continue going through the chapter? Oh, yeah. My number one verse was, For by grace you have been saved from faith and not of sin. But that was a gimme. You missed a lot of conversation. Okay. My second one was, And he came and preached peace to you who were far off. We both have access by one spirit to the Father. So I like the fact that we have access. We don't have to go through a priest or a pastor or anyone. We can talk directly to the Lord face to face. an error, so we have that access.

What Randy said was really stellar in saying that which kid do you like most in terms of the entire chapter. Love, love, love most. I don't know where that puts you. Let's talk privately a little later. Whatever he thinks he can't say. Keep in mind that's Christ love, it's unequivocal. And if you just scan the page, the amazing thing in consistency is that it's always His work. He made us alive. God is rich in mercy. By grace you've been saved. He is our peace. It's his workmanship. It's all positional truth, isn't it?

I think again, I've said this many times, so forgive me, but if we fall into strife and struggles, exams, Abigail, all kinds of stuff, you've still got to study. You've got a human brain. You're going to be tested on material, but yet that citizenship means that basically we're positioned and well-founded in all God's grace eternally. It doesn't take the trials away, but allows you to believe that through the trials, including exams, He's going to mold you to the image of His Son through those trials.

And so that's so critically important. His workmanship is in us to conform us to the image of His Son. That's the purpose. of each and everyone. Praying for God's will in your life. What's God's will in your life? To be conformed to the image of his Son. There's no red Chevrolet versus a black Ford. You know, buy the car you want. Who cares? But yet God's image is to convert us and transform us to the nature of his Son. Yeah, Pat. I have a question on this. This sounds pretty fearful.

Walking according to the Prince of the Tower The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, it sounds like either the Holy Spirit can be working in you, or it sounds like Satan can be working in you. No, no. The sons of disobedience are not those who are saved. Well, what's the spirit that's working in the sons of disobedience? What spirit is that? The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, in 1 through 3. Yeah, the prince of the power of the air. Are you still there to tempt? Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, you know, positionally, Satan's been done away with eternally. Spiritually, positionally.

Let's turn to Hebrews 2.14. Now, Satan's still alive and well. He's still the prince of the power of this air, and ultimately calls and works through the sons of disobedience, which we once were. But keep in mind, I don't need Satan to influence my life.

I've got the old man. The sin nature is still in each and every one of us. I was just spending time with my family in Pennsylvania. Very dear, older Christian women. And they are like obsessed with that Satan is the one in their life. And I'm like, what about your sin nature? You do a good job of your own and they have no concept of this. Oh no, it's Satan. Well, keep in mind there are three things that are anti-Cross, anti-Christ in each of our lives.

It's the world system that we live in. This is all about the earth, right? The world system, the values of this earth. We're rewarded for intelligence, good looks, or athleticism, or whatever else. But that has nothing to do with eternal security and position. The second thing is the old nature is still there. And so we're tested, what we dealt with a few minutes ago, we're tested to prove who we really are.

And then Satan, yes, Satan is alive and well, but somebody read Hebrews 2.14. Yeah, Reagan? I got it. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.

So positionally Satan has been done away with, but unfortunately, it's kind of like That example of the boat, where somebody gets saved on a boat and is put behind... Actually, I think, what's the story? Somebody gets put behind bars? The captain is put behind bars. And there's a new captain appointed, but the captain is still yelling orders behind the bar, although he has no longer any authority. So that's kind of where Satan is, Pat. Satan has been crucified positionally. He's still alive and well, but he's behind bars, still shouting orders.

But yet there's a new captain on board, which is our new nature in Christ Jesus, led by the Spirit. I think that's a reasonably good analogy. It's not perfect, but it's reasonable. Any other thoughts on that? The Holy Spirit is indwelling all of us once we're saved. In 1-3, he looked at 1-3.

Well, as the Hebrews passage says, it's the devil and those angels who have fallen with him that are persuading secularism. So the spirit who now works in the sense of disobedience are fallen angels. It's Satan and his minion, and they do his bidding. But the thing is that the sons of disobedience is not us. We're sons of Christ. We're sons of God, and so that's not us. But that spirit, we don't have to be worried about Satan possessing us, but the flesh can still call out to us and try to woo us into disobedience, and that's why we need to be abiding. We're walking by the spirit. Any other thoughts on that? So, Pat, is that clear? Well, I thought the whole point was the Spirit is working in the sons of David.

Disobedient. Well, but look what you have to read. You have to read the sentence ahead of that. And you he made alive. So you believers. But then it says. who were dead and trespassing. And according to the power of the prince of the air, right? So before we were saved, that's who we were.

Right. But that's not who we are now. I'm not saying that. So the spirit is the spirit. That's what the Hebrews passage is about. It's about Satan. Because that's who was that's who controlled our life before. But he doesn't have to control our life now. Again, that's based on position. Crucified, buried with Him, baptismed unto death, risen with Him, and newness of life. And we are His workmanship.

So, jump ahead there. Okay, so 4-7, that God who is rich in mercy. What's mercy? God's rich in mercy, but the Old Testament's got a lot of mercy in it. God's disposition to be kind towards us due to the work of Christ on the cross. Alright, but define mercy. That's my definition of mercy. Yeah, so Abigail, if you flunk, you're never mine. So, yeah, mercy is just not giving, just do. I mean, we're all due to die, which we will physically, but spiritually, you know, mercy is there to bring us to salvation by His great grace. And that's related to his great love with which he loved us, historic and current and future.

Again, when we were dead in trespasses, Pat, when we were dead, that's positionally dead, not conditionally dead. We can sometimes wax in conditional death all the time, but we're positionally in Christ. Now we were dead in trespasses and sins. We're no longer dead in them. We confess them when we get back in fellowship.

The cross is final. And that, ultimately, is the process by which we're made alive under Christ Jesus. By grace, you've been saved. By the way, 8 and 9 is kind of stated in 4 to 7. And we're raised up together. Position. We sit together in heavenly places in Christ. I'm not sure what happens to this either. In the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches. So anyway, that's kind of, I was saved. I'm being saved by positional truth. And one day, we'll be saved. Any other thoughts on 4 through 7? I was saved and am being saved. And to come, ages to come, he's going to show us exceeding grace. There's a positional element to it, a conditional element to it, and an internal element to it. It's such a great way to say it. Okay, so eight and nine.

Now let's say you're out to witness Tuesday morning in your workplace or in your neighborhood and somebody's curious about this term grace they've heard about. What do you mean you're saved by grace? So how would you explain what being saved by grace is? Tom, how would you explain that to someone who is interested in what's going on in your life? They're not saved, but you're telling them that you've got to be saved by grace.

I don't understand this. What are you saying? God puts all the bad behind and sees you as all good in his son. Other thoughts? How would you tell someone who is unsaved about the life you are living? and how that came to be by grace. How would you explain that? I'll quote Mike Doyle, he says that ultimately this is the most difficult term to explain to anybody, including the church.

Yeah, Brandon, what are your thoughts here? This is one of those, I wish I had a pencil and a napkin kind of a thing when I'm talking to people about it, because I think Paul actually does a tremendous job of establishing mercy, rooted in love, and then covered in grace. layers to it, that God's very nature is love, and that leads him to be merciful to it, to be predisposed to want to be kind to us, so that he pours it out in grace, where it is his gift, the Greek word for grace. Gift, right. Thankfulness. Tom, another thought. kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control. And that was a great summary verse by Mr. Nauman in California.

He laid it out and it's something that's right there discussed in the body of all these verses we're looking at. be overjoyed by looking at each one of these, and then go beyond overjoyed if you put the whole thing together. And isn't it neat in verse 4 that mercy precedes grace? Yes, Steve?

Well, through the whole verse there, grace replaced law. And so it's like through our faith that grace operates. And it's not of ourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works. So it's like I don't have to do my own self-efforts any longer because grace substituted all that. Okay, then let's continue the verse then.

It's the gift of God, which, a gift, of course, is something you don't give back, right? You may not like a gift if it's given by a relative or a friend, but you say thank you and you keep it. But not of works lest anyone should boast. Shouldn't one not boast about grace, or is it works we shouldn't be boasting of here? Yeah, works.

Okay, and then let's put on the self-righteous hat as believers too. How do we deal with that if you do something presumably good that the world may think is good? Well, then you're focusing on yourself. I think so. I think the walk goes without recognizing to God be the glory. We're taking credit for ourselves. I would claim that there are a lot of unsafe people who live a quote outwardly better life than people who are saved and we just have to accept that for what it's worth I mean so to look at behavior as an entire evidence of salvation is a mistaken identity.

Well Bob that question came up actually in Mike Burrell's competency study and actually I thought about it after you left and the thing I was thinking about the fact is that people outside of Christ they're focusing on looking their best and being their best at some level. They want to be accepted by the world. They want to look good.

So what is our focus to be? Our focus is to be on Christ. So that means that we're not focused on I'm not saying that. But our focus is not there. It's on Christ. That's the difference. The world's focused on making themselves look good and coming off good. We're focused on Christ. And whatever He would have us do, we're focused on Him. So there's a different focus.

So when you compare the world man, he may look pretty shiny. And the believer may not look so shiny because Paul grieved over those who were lost. And we grieve with our brothers and sisters. So we're not always happy, happy, happy. Well, and the question was, that I found interesting, was that you look at non-believers who seem very content and happy and their life is wonderful. And so there was, you know, the question was, well, what about those people? You know, where everything seems rosy and great and here, yeah, like are they, it was just an interesting thought process, I agree, I thought about it too. Okay, so is it like this, let's keep looking at Christ? Yeah, no, yeah. What's wrong with that? I'm looking at Christ. You should be looking down. I'm looking down. And if Miles has had one thing to say that's impacted my life is keep looking down.

You know, it's amazing. I've run into some people in the academic space. In fact, I'll be with a couple of them at the American Diabetes Association meeting at the end of June. So, Sherita Goldins, an African-American woman at Hopkins, and Meredith Hawkins is at Albert Einstein in New York, and these are both believers.

And when I respond by email when we're talking spiritual things, and I say, keep looking down, they're totally confused about what that's all about. Even though you've explained it to them. You go to the next step and try to have them understand a little bit about position, and they just don't get it. I'm not being critical of that. What's it take to become engaged in and live positionally in terms of the exchange life? His workmanship. What makes us willing to accept his workmanship?

When you compare what Jesus was tempted by Satan and what it might put in Satan putting Jesus on this high mountain saying I'm going to give all this to you And basically, figuratively, Christ shot him dead. He said, you shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shall you serve. And it just made Satan run. Made Satan run. He couldn't handle that.

I think chapter 1 has established an operating system of grace in such clear terms that Neuter's the ability for the flesh to produce works that mean anything but everybody's misunderstanding of where righteousness comes from means I have to produce righteousness and so they focus on themselves and am I performing using our favorite term of metrics what are my metrics? am I producing enough righteousness? is my ratio good enough? where Ephesians 1 says that Your righteousness is in Christ.

He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Let me read, this is from Today's Hungry Heart, and the title of it, I'm not going to read the whole thing, it's a Spirit-Motivated Surrender. And this is a quote. If a believer surrenders or lays aside anything without an adequate divine motive, he will either secretly hanker after it and probably long to return to it, or he will take credit to himself for having given it up and will thus reveal self-righteousness and spiritual pride. A certain school of religious teachers make much of surrender as the way to attain blessing, but it ends in self-sufficiency because the only motive that is presented for it is the acquisition of a better spiritual state. or power for service, or something of that kind, a divine motive and attraction is needed if souls are to be drawn into the race and prepared to surrender in a truly spiritual way, and this divine motive and attraction is our risen Lord in glory.

That's Coates. I'll tell you, I don't know if anybody reads some of these commentaries, but Charles Coates by far hits me deep. And there's just something about his commentaries that really are very, very special. So if you've not had an opportunity to read Charles Coates, I really recommend it. Steve?

Well, there was a famous pastor in town that coined a phrase, smile, look up, and trust. And they even recorded it and slapped it on an LP with the London Phil background. That's pretty amazing. Kind of relates to this, doesn't it? Very much. All right, let's continue.

So Grace, we just kind of went through what Grace had, we'd explain it. I'm not sure we can adequately explain it. It's one of those heavenly attributes that we don't completely understand, but it's really entirely cross-based. And to really understand Grace, you have to understand the cross, everything that precedes it. and everything that follows it. And that's complicated. But grace is God's eternal gift with no merit on our part. So it's that simple and that difficult.

Again, I think we've reflected on verse 10 in numerous ways where His workmanship, that's neat. Because it's not like we're robots. Would you like to be a robot where God's just dictating every thought and deed and direction? No, that's not what He saved us onto. saved his son to a new life where he gets the glory for his workmanship. And boy, you know what that does? It takes the pressure off, doesn't it? We have pressure here. Yes, Randy. Five minutes. Were you going to say something or is just that comment? Five minute warning.

We have way more verses than that. Alright, so I think 11 and 12 relate to the fact that Gentile nations were far off and have come, and we're part of that, so in a sense we identify with that, being a far off. 14 through 16 is again the section, one of the ones I picked, for he himself is our peace. Boy, Abigail, peace for exams and everything. I mean, that doesn't mean you don't have to study. You have to realize, again, we're not robots and God's going to put specific facts in our mind. Who has made both one. Why both? What's both one? The Jews and the Gentiles. Okay, right. Again, relating to the nations of the Jewish people and also the Gentiles.

And he's having abolished in his place the enmity that is the law of commandments. What was the purpose of the law? to convict sin. Law was our schoolmaster, wasn't it, to bring us to Christ. That's Galatians 4, 25 I think. So that's all been abolished. There's no legal principles. Nora coming in this morning was speeding with her walker and I was going to ticket her and David reminded me that there was no law. I said, try to explain that to the policeman who pulls you over. Anyway, well, I'm living under grace, there's no law, right?

See you downtown. Okay, and he came, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, came and preached peace to you who are far off, and to those who were near. So the Jews heard this too, right? I mean, everybody hears this message, directly or indirectly. and one spirit. Jews don't have a special spirit. What's the goal of the Jew? The Jewish nation? Even today, what's the goal of the Jewish nation? The land and peace on earth with a ruler, right?

Well, someday it's going to come, but anyway. They're still waiting for that Messiah. And now that we have our foreign embassy in Jerusalem, there's a few issues being created there, right? Okay, so let's end by looking at 19 and 22 and read it and think about it out loud.

Now, therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built up in the foundation of the apostles and prophets. You know, the apostles and prophets, I mean, you know, the prophets mostly of the Old Testament drew us to Christ, and the teachers are prophets of the New Testament. Apostles really are furthering that cause. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, the foundation being set on him, in whom the whole buildings being fit together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And we're being built together for a dwelling place in the Spirit. So that dwelling place is where? Right now, right here. We're the temple of the Holy Spirit.

All right, so I think we've taken a look at Ephesians 2 and all the blessings and important factual information we have here. So any parting thoughts before we move on to Ephesians 3? Who teaches next week, Roger? Randy, you're up next week? Okay. So what are you thinking about Ephesians 3, Randy, in terms of what lies ahead?

Does the theme change? If it's hard to pick a verse in chapter 2, chapter 3 is no better. Chapter 3 verses 14 through the end of the chapter are I think some of the most life-changing verses for the body as a whole where we start to see how we integrate together and then 4 just more about the mystery of who we are in Christ and the church and how that builds into us becoming one in one family. So it's a humdinger of a chapter. Well the neat thing about 3 is it's transitional to 4.

And now we're going to see how the church is founded on the same principles that Paul has outlined in 1 and 2, but then 4 is kind of what that walk really looks like. It's a case in point of the firm foundation we have positionally as to how that should enable us on a day-to-day and week-to-week and month-to-month basis as we walk here. Remember, generally Paul's epistles, the first part is doctrine, and the second part is application of that doctrine to our new life in Christ. Any other thoughts, Tom? now, in one key verse, with that one key word.

But now Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Hallelujah! Let it be, because it is! Thank you. Based on that stellar comment, would you close us in prayer, please? Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the super-abundant, not just magical, but true in you Word of God Amen.