2020-01-09 | Ephesians 2:8-10 | The Theology of Works
Alright well we’re there in Ephesians chapter number two. And on Wednesday nights, what we do is we walk through a book of the Bible. Wednesday night is our Bible study night of course. And we go verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through books of the Bible. And we started the book of Ephesians towards the end of last year and we took a break from it because of the holidays and of course Christmas and New Year’s and the special services and all of that. But we’re back into the book of Ephesians. And if you remember last time, you may not remember the last time, but if you remember last time, we went through the first seven verses of Ephesians chapter 2. So, tonight we’re going to pick right up right where we left off. And I’d like you to notice that we’re going to be dealing with just three verses tonight. We’ll finish the rest of the chapter next week. But I thought that these three verses were important enough that they would require their own sermon. And we’re going to be looking at some of the most famous verses in the Bible. You probably know them by memory. Ephesians 2:8-10.
The Bible says this, “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”. And what we’re going to do tonight is we’re going to take these verses phrase by phrase and walk through them. And I realize some of you are thinking to yourselves, “Good night. Ephesians 2:8 and 9? We know this. Do you we need this explained again?”. In Philippians 3:1 the Bible says “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.”. And here’s the thing, preaching on Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and 10, for me it’s not grievous. But you know what, for our church family it’s safe. It’s safe to be reminded about these things, to help us understand these things. And I think if you listen up and take some notes, you might learn something tonight.
But I always encourage you to take notes when we are studying through anything really, on the back of your chorus of the week, there’s a place for you to write down some notes. But if you don’t mind writing in your Bible, I’d like you to just write a few things in the margin of your Bible there in Ephesians 2:8. I realize some people aren’t comfortable writing in their Bible and that’s fine. But if you don’t, I’d like to take notes. In Ephesians 2:8, I’d like you to write the word “salvation”. And next to Ephesians 2:10, I’d like to write this word “sanctification”. So Ephesians 2:8 we’ve got the word salvation and at the beginning of Ephesians 2:10 I’d like you to write this word “sanctification”. And at the end of Ephesians 2:10, if you’ve got some room there, I’d like to write this word “service”. Salvation, sanctification, and service. The title of the sermon tonight is “A theology of works”. What I’d really like to do is give you a basic theology of works and what we mean by that, what the Bible teaches in regards to works and what is the role that works plays in the life of a believer.
And if you’re taking notes, here’s point number one. Point 1 – Salvation is not of works. Now we know that but it’s good to say salvation is not of works. Ephesians 2:8, notice the Bible says, “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”. And I’d like to keep your place there in Ephesians 2. That’s obviously our text for tonight. Go with me to the book of Romans if you would. The Bible is clear that salvation is not of works. And I realize I’m preaching to the choir and you know that. But it’s good for you to be reminded. Romans 4:4, the Bible says this “4 Now to him that worketh”. So here Paul is giving us an example of someone who wants to work their way to heaven.
And by the way, sometimes people will ask this question, they’ll say “How do you know which ones the right religion? There are so many hundreds of religions out there or thousands of religions out there. How do you know which ones the right religion?”. The truth is this, that there’s only really two religions out there and there’s two belief systems out there. One says that you earn your way to heaven by the works that you do. And there’s another one that says that salvation is a free gift, not of works. And really you can put any religion in any Church into those two categories. You say what does the Roman Catholic Church teach? They teach that you have to keep the seven sacraments, you have to do certain things, you better get catechized and baptized as a baby, and go to the confessional booth, and take communion, and you got to do this or you got to do that. That is works. And what do the Mormons teach? Repent of your sins, live a good life, get baptized and hopefully you’ll make it into heaven. It’s works. What are most of these false religions teaching? They teach works. They teach you how to work your way to heaven.
The Bible says in Romans 4:4 “4 Now to him that worketh is the reward” The reward is referring to heaven or what we get as a result of the work. And of course in Romans, he’s talking about heaven and salvation he said is a reward. Notice “not reckoned”. The word reckoned means computed, calculated, the way it comes about. He says look, “to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.”. Now here’s why he says that. Because if you think that you can work your way to heaven, you’re going to find yourself in debt. Because the amount of work that you need to do to get to heaven is not something you can do. You’ve already messed up. You’re already a sinner. You’ve already not kept the whole law. Because that’s what it takes to work your way to heaven. You must keep the entire law perfectly, without error. There’s only one person that was ever able to do that and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, he says “to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.”. Notice verse 5 “5 But to him that worketh not,”. I want you to notice this and I want you to clearly see what Paul says. Paul doesn’t say “now to him that worketh a little bit”. He doesn’t say “to him that worketh somewhat”. He says “to him that worketh not”. This guy did no works, never went to church, never got baptized, never read his Bible. Now I don’t think you should do that. I think you should go to church; I think you should get baptized; I think you should read your Bible, but can you be saved and not do those things? Well notice, he says “5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”. So, I want you to notice that in Romans 4:5, the Apostle Paul, and he’s given us a hypothetical example here. This is somebody who was trying to work their way to heaven. And he said now to him that worketh is as the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. Then he says this “5 But to him that worketh not,”. He said if somebody does no works. “but believeth” They have faith. “on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”.
Now in Romans 4:5 we learn this, that it is possible to have faith without works. I mean it says to him that worketh not but believeth. And you know I want to give you a theology of works. And we’re going to go to probably every major passage regarding works in the Bible. And one that I’m just going to quickly mention, and we’re not going to go there and go through it, because it would take too long, but the one you always hear is James chapter 2, right. “faith without works is dead”. And people try to tell you this. They’ll say well faith without works is dead. And then they’ll interpret that for you by saying therefore you cannot have faith without works. That’s not what Paul believed. Romans 4:5 said he believed that someone could work not but believe it. He believed that somebody could have no works and yet believe. So therefore you must be misinterpreting James chapter 2 in order to teach that you can’t have faith without works.
They’ll say “You must have works if you’re going to have faith”. And they’ll say “because faith without works is dead”. But is that what that means? I mean does faith without works mean that faith is inexistent without works? I mean think about the terminology dead. What if I was dead? What if I died? Does that mean I never existed? Does that mean that I’m no longer here? What does it mean? It means that I’m not alive. It means that I’m not active. I’m still here. If I drop dead right now, I’m not just going to disappear. Someone’s going to have to pick me up and you know take me somewhere, put me in a box and bury me somewhere. Hopefully you’ll come and cry a little bit but you know I’ll still be here. I just won’t be preaching anymore. I just won’t be active anymore. Faith without works is dead means that if you don’t have works that come along with your faith then your faith is dead. It’s inactive. It’s not alive. It’s not going to accomplish anything. It’s not going to do anything. But does that mean that you cannot have faith without works?
Well number one, you’re adding that interpretation to that phrase. And number two, Romans 4:5 clearly teaches “but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness”. According to the Bible, yes you can have faith without works. Notice verse 6 “6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth” It means to attribute, to ascribe, to give. God gives “righteousness without works,”. Why? Because salvation, very plainly, is not of works. Salvation is not something that you get through works. Let’s just take some time and just break down these famous well-known verses Ephesians 2:8 and 9. Why is it that salvation is not of works? And the answer is found in these verses. I want you to notice the first phrase in Ephesians 2:8.
Ephesians 2:8 “8 For by grace” Salvation is not of works. Because salvation is by grace. Now the word “by” means this, indicating the means or method by which something is achieved. How is it that salvation is achieved? What is the method? What is the means that God uses in order to save us? He tells us that it’s by grace. The word grace means free. It means unearned. The theological term is unmerited, which means undeserved favor or the unmerited favor of God. You say how is it? What is the means or the method for salvation? How can you and I be saved? Well, we are saved by grace. We are saved by the unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor, the free favor of God. And here’s what you need to understand, grace and works are at odds with each other. You cannot have grace and works. Go to Romans chapter number 11.
See, the people who want to add works to salvation, they always want to fight about faith and works. Faith and works. “Well faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead”. But here’s the problem. The problem is that the Bible says that we’re saved by grace and the Bible is clear that grace and works cannot, they are opposite of each other, they’re at enmity with each other, you cannot have both at the same time. And it’s simply because of this, because grace, though we use terminology like unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor of God, really when it comes down to it, all of that means it’s free. And often when we’re out soul-winning, I’ll give an example. I’ll say to somebody, “Hey, the Bible says here that salvation is by grace. And what that means is like at your house you probably have a grace period. Maybe your rent is due on the 1st or your payment is due on the 1st and they give you till the 5th to pay that. They call that a grace period. It’s free time. They don’t have to give you that time. They just give it to you for free. That’s the word grace. The word grace in regards to salvation, it means free.
What does the word works mean? Work means you earned it. It means you went to work for it. Now notice what the Bible says in Romans 11:6. “6 And if by grace,” What Paul says is look, if salvation is free, if it’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned gift. He says “6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works:”. He says look, if it’s free, you can’t earn it. Do you understand that otherwise grace is no more grace? He says look, if it’s free, you can’t earn it. Otherwise it’s not free. “But if it be of works,”. He says let’s say that all the false religions are right and you can earn it, you do have to get baptized, you do have to speak in tongues, you do have to repent of your sins, you do have to do whatever they decide you need to do; He says look, but if it be of works, if it’s something you earn, then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work.
Look, here’s what he is saying, it’s either free or it’s not. If it’s free then you can’t earn it. Otherwise free would not be free. And if you earn it then it can’t be free. Otherwise you’re not really earning it. So he says look, salvation, you say why do you guys believe that salvation is not of works, well here’s why, because it’s by grace. And the word “by” means the method in which salvation is achieved. And the means and the method that salvation is achieved is grace which is unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor of God.
Go back to Ephesians. Notice the next phrase. Not only do we see that salvation is not of works, because it is by grace. But we see also that salvation is not of works because it is through faith. Salvation is by grace which means it is free and you can’t earn it, you can’t work for it. And then the Bible tells us it’s through faith. He first stated that if Abraham were justified by works. Then he says “3 For what saith the scripture?”. Paul sounds like a Baptist. What does the Bible say? The Bible is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. “3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God,” And the word believed there means faith. “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”. How did Abraham get saved? Dispensationalism today, they want to tell us that in the Old Testament, under this other dispensation, people got saved by works and Noah got saved by getting in the ark.
Hold on a second, how does the Bible say that Abraham got saved? Guess what, he got saved the same way you and I got saved, by putting our faith, by having faith. It says Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That’s how Abraham got saved. If you’re saved, that’s how you got saved, through faith. The same way that water is funneled and delivered through a hose, God’s grace which is the means of our salvation, God’s unmerited, unearned, undeserved, favor, which is the only reason that you and I will ever see the gates of heaven, is funneled and delivered to us through faith. We’re saved by grace and we’re saved through faith.
I want you to notice thirdly, if you go back to Ephesians two, the Bible says “and that not of yourselves:”. I’d like to keep your place there of course and go to 2 Timothy 1. I want you to notice how these words in Ephesians 2:8 and 9 teaches that salvation is not of works. Every phrase in this verse reinforces the idea that salvation is not of works. Why? Because it’s by grace. Why? Because it’s through faith. Why? Because it’s not of yourselves. Now what does that mean? “not of yourselves”. It means that ourselves, yourselves, myself, is not the source of our salvation. Now we know that already because we’ve already learned that our salvation is grace which is funneled to us through faith. It didn’t come from us. The grace didn’t come from us. The faith did come from us. Salvation is not something that is produced from us. It is not of yourselves. I want you to notice that in 2nd Timothy 1:9 “9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,”. So, he didn’t save us according to our works but according to his own purpose. Don’t miss it. “and grace”. Because we’re saved by grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So, I want you to notice that he saved us and called us with a holy calling. But it’s not according to our works. Why? Because it’s not of yourselves. You are not the source of your own salvation.
Notice Titus 3:5, the Bible says this “5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done,”. The word “righteousness” there is referring to right things, good things that we’ve done. “5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”. Do you see that? How did you and I get saved? Well it wasn’t by the works of righteousness which we have done. It’s not of yourselves. It’s not according to our works but it’s by his mercy. By his mercy he saved us. And mercy is very much like grace. It basically means the same thing just in an opposite way. Grace means you get something you don’t deserve. Mercy means you don’t get something you do deserve. I deserve to go to hell and the mercy of God makes it so that I don’t get something I deserve. I don’t deserve to go to heaven and the grace of God makes it so that I get something that I don’t deserve. “for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves”. It’s not something you produce. It’s not according to our works. It’s not by works of righteousness which we have done.
We’re talking about salvation not being of works. How do we know? Well we know because it’s by grace. “By” is the means by which we are saved. And the means by which we are saved is grace which is unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor of God. And it’s through faith meaning that it’s funneled to us. The way that we get God’s grace is through faith. It’s his grace, our faith. And then he says “and that not of yourselves”. He says look, because I want to make sure you understand. This is not something you produce. This is not something you do. This is not something you work up or you work out. It’s not of yourselves. Then he says this, it is the gift of God. He says look, salvation is the gift of God.
Now we understand this. I mean you could talk to a young child and they would understand this. A gift, by definition, is free. You don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. If you earn it and if you work for it then it’s not a gift. Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”. The gift is free. Look, if you go to work and you work hard, 40 hours, 50 hours, 60 hours, however much you work all week long. And then your boss shows up on Friday and says “I’ve got a surprise for you. I’ve got a special gift for you. Merry Christmas. Happy birthday.”. And he has your paycheck. Would you be offended? This isn’t a gift. You worked for it. You earned it. A gift is free. Now if you did nothing and he says “I’ve got a gift for you. Here you go man”. That’s a gift.
“8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”. Now here’s where I wanted to talk about Calvinism or Calvinists. Calvinists will teach and they’ll take this Ephesians 2:8 and they’ll teach that it’s actually the faith that’s the gift. And they’ll say “See, God gives you the faith.”. And that’s why they don’t believe that we take part in salvation, that there’s any decision or choice that we make. Because they’ll say if you have faith it’s because God gave it to you. And they’ll say for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. And they’ll say “See, ‘it is the gift of God’ that’s referring to faith”. Now there’s lots of problems with that. But let me just show you the problem just in this verse.
Here’s what I think is interesting about Calvinism. They like to act like they’re all these really smart people, look at all these big books that I read, look how smart I am and then they go to Ephesians 2:8 and they’re like “it is the gift of God” is referring to faith. Now wait a minute. That doesn’t make any sense. If you look at it, it doesn’t make any sense if you read the Bible. But even if you just look at this verse, Ephesians 2:8, look at what it says. I want you to notice these two words “by grace”. Now that phrase “by grace”, when I was in in school, I went to a Christian school and I went through a curriculum that a lot of the home schoolers here use. It’s called ACE. It’s gotten a lot better but back then, the reputation was that it wasn’t really good. But I want you to notice this phrase “by grace”, that word, that phrase, “by grace” is a prepositional phrase. The word “by” is a preposition. Now a prepositional phrase, what it does is that it modifies the object in the sentence.
Notice he says “8 For by grace”. But that’s not a complete statement. You can’t just say “for by grace”, period. Do you understand that it’s a prepositional phrase that is modifying the object? Here’s the sentence “are ye saved”. Or if we were to turn it around without the prepositions, we would probably say “ye are saved”. “Ye” as a subject. “Are” is the present tense verb. “Saved” is the object that’s being modified by the prepositional phrase. “By grace saved” or “are saved” is by grace. Do you understand that here’s another prepositional phrase “through faith”? The word “through” is a preposition. “Through faith” is a prepositional phrase. It is modifying the idea, the object “are saved”. “Ye are” the subject. “Ye are saved” or “Are you saved?”, you could put a period there and it’d be a complete sentence. “For by grace”, prepositional phrase, that is modifying the “ye are saved” or “are you saved”. “Through faith”, prepositional phrase that is modifying “ye are saved” or “are ye saved”. Notice, “and that”. Now the word “that” is referring back to being saved. “that not of yourselves”. What’s not of yourselves? Being saved. “It is” referring back to “that” which is referring back to the “saved”. It is the gift of God. So what is the gift of God? It’s being saved. It’s not the faith.
You say well I don’t know if that’s really the right way. Well here’s the thing about prepositional phrases. You could actually put parentheses around them and cross them out when you’re dissecting a sentence. You can completely just remove a prepositional phrase and still have a complete sentence. In fact, when you’re dissecting sentences, they have you put parentheses around them because the parenthetical statement can be removed from a sentence and you’ll still have a complete sentence. You could remove “by grace” and “through faith” and have a complete sentence. So, here’s what’s interesting about the Calvinists. They’ll tell you, “the gift” is “faith”. But the word “faith” could be removed from this sentence and you still have a complete sentence. I mean just look at it and it’s clear unless you’ve got some bias, that being saved is a gift, not faith. They say “God gives you the faith in order to be saved but he chose you and he didn’t choose somebody else”. No, look. God gives you the grace and he gives it to you through your faith. You’ve got to funnel down that grace through faith.
You say “I don’t buy it”. How about this “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life”. It doesn’t say the gift is faith. It says the gift is eternal life. How about this in John 4:10 “10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”. Did it say give you faith? He said living water which was what he’s talking about. He’s using that as an example of salvation. Then he tells them that if you drink of the water then you’ll never thirst again because it’s everlasting. So, salvation is not of works. Why? Because it is the gift of God. And a gift by definition is free.
Let me give you the last one. Look at verse 9. “9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”. How do we know that it is not of works? Well, we know it’s not of works because it’s by grace. We know it’s not of works because it’s through faith. We know it’s not of works because it’s not of yourselves. We know it’s not of works because it is the gift of God. But here’s how we also know it’s not of works, because he says “lest”. He says unless “any man should boast”. Now what does the word boast mean? It means to brag. It means to gloat. It means to show off. Go to Romans chapter 4. The word “boast” means to brag, to show up, to gloat. There’s another word in our King James Bible that’s used synonymously with the word boast and it’s this word “glory”. Now the word glory can be used different ways in different contexts. But I want you to see it here in Romans 4:1. Remember, Paul is giving us this little discussion.
He says “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?”. He says look, let’s talk about Abraham. What is it that Abraham found? Because he says “Well Abraham started this whole thing called believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, calling upon the Lord that morphed into New Testament Christianity.”. He says what is it exactly that Abraham found? Verse 2 “2 For if”. Now he’s not saying that this happened. He’s just using this as a hypothetical. He says “2 For if Abraham were justified by works,”. He’s not saying Abraham was justified by works. But he’s saying let’s just pretend that Abraham was justified by works. “2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory;”. Here’s what he’s saying. Because the word glory means to brag, to gloat, to show off. If Abraham was justified by works, he would have something to boast about, brag about, show off about, gloat about.
But then Paul answers our question. He says “but not before God.”. You say why is that? Well, Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. Nobody’s going to get up to heaven and boast and brag and gloat before God. We all come short of the glory of God. But you say, “Salvation is not of works.” Ya, here’s why. Not only because it’s by grace, not only because it’s through faith, not only because it’s the gift of God, not only because it’s not of yourself, it’s also not of works. Here’s how salvation works, once you have it, you can’t boast about it. You can’t brag about it. You can’t gloat about it. You can’t show off about it.
I had a pastor who would often tell this story. He said he was out soulwinning one time and he knocked on a door. This elderly lady, very dignified lady, comes to the door. And he asked her this question, “Do you know if you were to die today, are you on your way to heaven?”. And she said “Oh sure. I believe I’m on my way to heaven.”. And he asked something along the lines of “What is it that gives you that confidence that you’re on your way to heaven? What are you trusting in to get you to heaven?”. And she began to give him this list of things. “I’ve taught Sunday School for 30 years. I raised good children. I live a good life. I volunteer. I give to the church. I give to this charity”. She had this whole list of reasons why she thought she was on her way to heaven. He opened up his Bible and went to Ephesians 2:8-9. He read these words “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”. And she said “Oh I’ve been boasting, haven’t I?”.
And really, if you are trusting in your works, like “I used to be a drug addict and I turned away from that.” then you are boasting. Salvation is this, I was a helpless sinner on my way to hell and Jesus saved me by grace. I didn’t deserve it by grace. I didn’t earn it by grace. It was unmerited. He did all the work and all I did was believe and he saved me. So, how do we know that salvation is not of works? Well we know because it’s by grace, we know because it’s through faith, we can know because it’s not of yourselves, we know because it is the gift of God, we know because once you have it, he says “lest any man should boast”.
Here’s point number one. Salvation is not of works. That was the longest point. I won’t go so long on the other ones. I promise. Here’s point number two. We understand that salvation is not of works but we also have to understand this, that salvation is just the first step in a new life called Christianity. Now for some people it may be the only step. All they ever do is get saved and praise the Lord for it. We’ll see them in heaven but that’s not God’s will. So, I want you to understand this. Number one, salvation is not of works. But number two sanctification is God working on us. Look at verse 10. He just gave us this great argument for why we don’t earn salvation and we don’t work for it. Then in verse 10 he says this “10 For we”. We who just realized that salvation is not of works, by grace through faith, not of yourselves, the gift of God. He says “10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,”. I love the fact that in the next verse he says, now wait a minute. I just got done explaining to you that salvation is not of works. But I want you to understand this. Once you get saved…You didn’t work to get saved but once you’re saved, God goes to work on you. “10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus”.
Go to Romans chapter 8. Do you understand that God is working on us? God is working on us to make us like Christ. Romans 8:28, the Bible says this. “28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”. Usually we go to this passage when somebody’s going through a trial or a struggle or something difficult. And that’s a good verse to go to. But the reason that Paul says this is because he’s about to tell us something in verse 29. He says this “29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate”. Here’s a good verse for Calvinists. “To be saved”, is that what it says? No. These people are already saved. “he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,”. What did God predestinate you to? What did he predestinate me to? He predestinated us once we got saved to be conformed to the image of his Son. And by the way, that’s why he says in verse 28 “Hey, all things work together for good”. Because hey Job, sometimes God allows things into our lives because he’s working on us. When we come forth, we shall come forth as gold. “29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”.
Here’s what I want you to see in Romans 8. God is working on you to make you like Christ. God wants you to be like Christ. That’s why we are called followers of Christ. We’re following in his footsteps. We’re disciples of Christ. We’re trying to live a disciplined life to be like Christ. That’s why they call us Christians. Because we’re supposed to be like Christ. He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Philippians 1:6 “6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”. You realize that God has begun a good work in you? God’s working on you. Now you don’t work to get saved but once you’re saved, there’s this process called sanctification. And God goes to work on you. God goes to work with you. And by the way, this is also the context in Philippians chapter 2. We have this other verse that people like to take out of context and try to add works to salvation. I’ll show it to you quickly in Philippians 2:12. And people don’t get that before you read Philippians 2:12, you would have read Philippians 2:6 which says “that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”. And in Philippians 2:12, the Bible says this, “12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,”. People love to take this verse out of context. They’ll say “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So you see that you got to work out your own salvation. You got to work out your own salvation. That proves that you got to work your way to heaven.”.
Well wait a minute. It says work out your own salvation. Now if instead it said work through your own salvation, I might see the point. Or if it said work to get your own salvation, I might see your point. Well he says work out your own salvation. The idea is this, you already have it. It’s just on the inside. And look, when you got saved it happened on the inside. You know that the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you. You know the new man was created, quickened inside of you. But God says look, I’ll save you on the inside all day long if that’s what you want. But I’d like for that salvation, I’d like for that spirituality, I’d like for that Holy Spirit to kind of work out of you a little bit. He says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He says look, salvation happens on the inside. You believe in your heart. You do it in your mind. You believe inside. But when on the inside, he says now we got to work it out. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You say, I think that’s just your spin on it. Okay, well look at verse 13.
“13 For it is God which worketh in you”. This is exactly what we’ve been seeing this whole time. God’s doing a work on you. He has begun a good work in you and he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. “13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”. Let me tell you something, salvation is not of works. Sanctification is God working on you. And God is going to work in you. You say when will it be done? Until the day of Christ. Until the rapture. Until you get rid of this corruptible flesh and put on immortality. The bible says “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”. God will begin. He has begun a good work in you and he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
So, I said number 1 salvation is not of works. And I said number 2 sanctification is God working in you. Number three, we’ll do this quickly, go back to Ephesians. Service is us working for God. You say “for salvation?”. Did you miss the first 20 minutes of the sermon? You say “No, well why would I work for God?”. Maybe because if you deserve to die and go to hell, and you were given something you didn’t deserve, and you got grace, unmerited, undeserved. Maybe just because you love, maybe just because you’re grateful, maybe just because you’re thankful. Service is us working for God.
Ephesians 2:10 “10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”. That we should walk in what? Good works. Ephesians 4:11. “11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;”. That’s me. So why are you in my life? God gave me to you. “and teachers;”. Why? Here’s why. “12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”. You say, “Ever since I came to Verity Baptist Church, Pastor has me so busy. He’s got me playing instruments and cleaning and soul-winning and this and that and this ministry and that ministry and all these things.” Hey, for the work of the ministry. We say hey, God will save you, you got to do nothing to be saved. And then when you’re saved, we’re like, we got so much for you to do. Why? Because salvation is not of works. And sanctification is God working on us. And service is us out of a heart for God, working for him, for the work of the ministry.
Go to 2 Corinthians 9:8 “8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you;”. Praise the Lord for that. “that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,”. Notice. God makes all grace abound. Why? “that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”. See, God did not save you to sit, he saved you to work. He said that you may abound to every good work. Go to first Corinthians 15:58. “58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”. When we got saved, we were not saved by works. But when God begins to do the process of sanctification, and he begins to work in us, the natural byproduct of that should be that you and I get to work. And that is the theology of works in the Bible. Salvation by works? No. What’s sanctification? God working on you. And what’s Christian service? Us working for God.
Let’s pray.