Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of work, 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. The original intention was to deal with verse 8 and 9. I am not going to deal with verse 8 and 9. I'm going to deal with verse 4 through to 7, which will incorporate verse 8 and 9. Paul says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, is to defend the idea that you somehow have made your way into the courts of God's grace. And he sets the foundation in verse one that this is an impossible reality, that there is nothing in man that God desires. There is nothing in man that makes him able to make his own way towards God. And this is important to understand. And this is why it's such an emphatic statement. For by grace you have been saved. And look right at the end. And this is not of your own doing. You've not been saved. by anything that you have done. You've not been saved by anything that you can contribute. You've not been saved by any choice that you have been made, because if you did, then all glory goes to you and not God. Hence his argument, not as a result of works so that no man may boast. See, if you saved yourself, if you worked your way to salvation, then you deserve the glory. Then God should give you the praise. But if God, by His grace, through His mercy, by means of the death of His Son, saves you, then who gets the glory? God and God alone. So that's where I'm going. This opens a discussion which is hated in Christian circles. We don't preach Calvinism. I don't believe that Calvin wanted to be known or preached in the way that he is preached today. Even Luther said that Calvin did not want people to be, Calvin did not want his beliefs to be called Calvinism. Luther says, sorry not Luther, Spurgeon says, quote, the doctrine which is called Calvinism did not spring from Calvin. We believe it sprang from the great founder of all truth. We use the term then, that is Calvinism, not because we impute any extraordinary importance to Calvin's having taught these doctrines, we would be just as willing to call them anything else by any other name if we could find one which would be better understood. Makes sense, right? If someone else came up or recovered this theological terms or theological ideas from scripture, we would probably call it that, but no one did. And on the whole, we would be consistent with that fact. Meaning that if scripture is consistently bringing about these truths, then doesn't matter who brings it up, doesn't matter who discovered or recovered it, does not matter. We then should be faithful to what God calls it. He goes on to say in the same article that he doesn't want to call himself a Calvinist in respect of Calvin, because that's not what Calvin wanted. And we don't call ourselves Calvinists per se. We don't preach Calvin, but some of the doctrines that he espoused to, we do preach. This morning, I'm going to cover one such doctrine which may be uncomfortable to some of you, and that is God's sovereignty in salvation. You may not fully understand what that means. I'm going to explain what that means when we get to verse 1 and work our way through to verse 7. Interestingly, Calvin did not create the five points of Calvin. A lot of people don't know that. It was actually at the Synod of Dort that they responded to the five points of Arminianism. Arminianism and not Arminianism. Arminians are a group of people who live in Armenia. Arminianism is a theological concept. So at the Synod of Dort, there was a response to the errors of Arminius. And that's how the five points of Calvin came about. He was not the one who made it up. It was actually just a natural response to Arminius' views. The struggle that exists in the whole argument between Arminius and Calvinism relates to how God deals with salvation. Arminius suggests that God being able to look down the aisles of time, able to see what man would choose, what man would decide, God then based on that chooses mankind or those who would be saved. Whereas Calvin says God is sovereignly free to choose whom he wishes to choose and saves men based on his own will not on man's choice. And so this whole argument is between the will of man versus the will of God. That's actually what it comes down to. Does man choose God in salvation or does God have the freedom to choose man in salvation? I'm not gonna make an argument for Calvinism and I'm not going to denounce Arminianism. What I want to do is to show you how Paul articulates this very problem that we have in theology. Notice what he says in verse 1. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. There's a contrast. He starts with the deadness of man but now notice in verse 4. But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead, going back to verse one, made us alive. Those two clauses are contradictory, or a contrast, I shouldn't say contradictory, a contrast. You were dead, but he made us alive. You were dead, but God makes alive. That's Paul's argument. There's a state in which you were once in, but God does something to undo that state. So for a moment, forget the entire argument of Calvinism versus Arminianism. Let's put that aside. What I want you to do is follow Paul's argument. And then at the end, verse 89, for by grace you have been saved through faith should make sense. Right, so let me give you the big picture overview. The heart of this passage is actually verse 4 and verse 5. And this is what it is. God is magnified in showing mercy to sinners because that's a demonstration of his love and an expression of his grace. Make sense? God shows mercy and in showing mercy he shows love And in showing love, he has demonstrated his grace. And you'll see that in the text. So God is glorified in the demonstration of his mercy. In fact, God will forever be magnified because he has displayed his kindness toward us in being a merciful God. All in all, this entire passage focuses on God, not on man. What frustrates me in the whole Arminian and Calvinistic debate is that the argument inevitably revolves around man. The will of man, the choice of man, the capacity of man Paul yields that argument in verse one through to verse three. Okay, let me show you how he makes his case. Number one, there is human inability. Look at verse one again. And you were dead in trespasses and sins. You were dead. Tell me what does dead things do? nothing absolutely nothing they are good for something though fertilizing the soil and smelling up the ground or smelling up the air dead things deteriorate decompose they don't make noises They don't cry, they don't laugh, they don't make decisions. Why does Paul use the analogy of deadness in life? In fact, notice how he makes this case. You were dead, verse two, in which you once walked. Dead man walking, dead people walking, the walking dead, if you want to say it that way. Paul understands that these dead people were unresponsive. They could only do a certain thing. A certain thing that defines them in their deadness. And notice how he describes this deadness. You were dead in trespasses and sins. What does he mean? The trespasses and sins that he is defining or describing here is a term that defines or gives us the idea of how these people lived and it's the only way that they could live. The word trespass means to walk over a line. You get that idea, right? To cross a law. It is used of God's standard, God's law or the law. now is he talking about the law that was given to the gentile to the jews or is it god's um creation law doesn't matter it's a transgression of what god has established as a standard by nature dead people transgress what God desires. They go over the boundary of God's lines of morality and distinction in life. God doesn't want us to go towards unholiness, yet what do we choose? Everything that God hates. that is what deadness is it is choosing the thing that God hates and we will always do that in fact the the description the description here and the use of this verb were um gives the idea that this was your state continually an unchangeable reality deadness does not mean you were Unalive, that's a new term that people that are sensitive use when they don't want to say kill or murder. They would say the guy unalived himself. Paul is saying that you are unalive, yet living. You are dead, yet living. You are unresponsive to God, yet choosing a direction that goes away from God. That is what he means by it. Your deadness is made manifest in transgressing God's standard. Secondly, your deadness is seen in your pursuit of sins, the ongoing love for that which God hates. Deadness defines your rebellion against God. What is Paul doing? He's saying that your dead state is marked by sinfulness and breaking God's standard. The only thing you can choose is that which God hates. The only thing that you desire is that which God does not want. What Paul is describing here is human inability to choose God. Human inability to choose to do the right thing. Human inability when it comes to sin. We cannot but choose sin. Does it make sense to you? The only thing we can do is choose to transgress God's law apart from God. The only thing we can choose to do is to sin. Verse two, Paul describes the evil influences that complicates and compounds your state of depravity, your state of inability. Notice how he explains this. So you were dead choosing only sin 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. Not only were you incapable of choosing that I think, not only were you incapable of desiring to honor God or choosing to choose God, but also there were evil influences over your life. Notice how he says there's a course of this world, the spirit of the age, the zeitgeist that you naturally followed. Didn't know any better. That's your course of action, your course of direction. Then secondly, you also followed the prince of the power of the air. Influenced by the devil. Two realities that compounds and complicates your inability to choose God. You naturally follow what the world desires, and then you naturally follow what the devil desires. The third reality that Paul highlights, not only is a human inability and evil influence, but a crippling will. Look at verse three. Notice how he changes from you to we. You were dead, speaking of the Gentiles, we, now including the Jews, among whom, this is the sons of disobedience, among whom we all 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. You could not make it worse and he just did. Not only did you have human inability and a desire that went after the world, sorry, and a desire that went after the devil, but thirdly, you had a will that was crippled. You chose to carry out your passions. We all did, he says. We all lived amongst them. We all followed our passions. We all carried out what our body and our mind desired. What is Paul doing? He's saying that you were spiritually crippled. Your desires were far from God, was far from righteousness, was far from holiness. What's the result? We were by nature children of wrath. All of mankind were in the same boat. So what Paul has just outlined is the state of all mankind, children of wrath, worthy to receive God's condemnation forever. Why? Dead in sins, incapable of choosing him or desiring him, following evilness all the time and having a will that chooses sin and passion and not God. These are a few things that Calvin developed. but notice how verse four comes in as a contrast to that. So what Paul does in verses one through three is he gives us a very vivid description of human fallenness that is known theologically as depravity. There is nothing in man that God desires. In that state does God look in our hearts and say you know what you're such a good person i think i will i will save you does god look into man and says ah shame look at this guy he's been trying for such a long time trying to do good i think i'll save him no the description here is of a wicked depraved decrepit sinner that has no desire for god But, verse four, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even, even when you were in that state, when we were dead in our sins or in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Paul takes, if you can imagine a camera, is zoomed in on mankind and if you just imagine the zoom lens it's not just mankind as a whole he zooms in even further to look at the depravity of man's heart and then he goes even further to show the inability of man and then he goes even further to show the desire of man is always wicked choosing that which god hates And he says, that is man. And then he takes the camera and he zooms out and he pans all the way to God and he says, but God who is rich in mercy, despite all that you are, despite the state you are in, look at God who saves by grace, not your choice. by grace, not your will, by grace, despite your sinfulness. That is the magnificent story of God's saving mercy. Now, what is Paul doing? Mercy does not magnify the one who receives mercy. Think about that. Mercy is not about you. Mercy is about the one who gives mercy. And I'll explain what that means in a moment's time. God in the rolling ages will put on display his mercy that he gave to us so that he would receive the glory. How do I know that? Look at verse seven. So that in the coming ages he might show how you chose him. So that he might show how much you loved him. So that he might show, no, the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. What is God going to put on display in the future? the magnificent display of His grace and mercy in saving sinners. Mercy is about God, not about you. Okay, so that's my introduction. Let's look a little bit deeper at what Paul does between verse four and verse seven. There are three things that Paul highlights concerning God's work in salvation. I'll be quick because our time is running out. Number one is God makes alive. Number two is God raises up. And number three, God seats us in Christ. God makes us alive. God raises us up in Christ. And then number three, God seats us in Christ Jesus. And you see that in verse four but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive that's your main verb made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved verse six and raised us up so God raises us up with him and then thirdly God seats us with Him in the heavenly places. Now, take note how it's never independent of Christ. God makes us alive with Christ. God raises us up with Him and God seats us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Salvation is never independent of Jesus Christ. God saves never independent. of Jesus Christ. God always saves by means of his son, unlike what happened in the Catholic Church, where you could buy your way to God, where you could just give a little bit more and you could save your dead relative from future judgment. You can take him from hell and put him into glory. Now before I explain the magnificence of God's mercy. Let me point out in verse 4, Paul highlights here the richness of God's mercy and we have to understand that mercy is never independent of love. God's mercy can never be shown if he does not love the one receiving his mercy. Sometimes mercy and grace gets confused. Mercy is often just plainly defined as receiving what you don't deserve. And grace is receiving what you... Help me out. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. Mercy is God withholding what you do deserve. There you go, sorry, it's not in my notes. So mercy is God withholding what you rightfully deserve, and grace is God giving you what you don't deserve. Often, thank you, brother. We get those two confused and mercy is substituted for grace. I think we have to keep them apart because grace is the canopy under which mercy and love operates. Notice he says, by grace you have been saved, but how do you get to that? God has to demonstrate mercy and he has to give love. He has to show love. That's what he's after in verse four. Now notice how he says that God is rich in mercy because of his great love. He's able to give you abundant mercy because of what he's done in demonstrating his love. So what does this mean? The basic sense here in being rich in mercy means that God overflows in mercy. He never runs out. There's abundant mercy, fullness of mercy. He's wealthy in mercy. The idea here is that there's a constant overflowing of mercy towards the sinner. There's a steady flow towards the recipient. That's not because the recipient is so great, but it's because the one who's giving mercy is so great in giving mercy. God who is rich in mercy pictures God as the one who's overflowing in that which we don't deserve. So follow the thought. When mercy is present, what must be present also? Listen to what Paul says, but God being rich in mercy, because on account of the great love that he has toward us, with which he loved us, even when we were dead, made us alive. By grace you have been saved. What is he saying? Mercy and love works together so that grace can be received. Mercy and love are companions in God's grace to save. If God is showing mercy, he's expressing love. If God is showing love or giving love, he's displaying mercy. And both of those acts are considered to be gracious on God's part. giving you what you don't deserve. There's a little preposition that's in the middle over here. God is reaching mercy because of his great love. The idea here is on account of his great love or through his love, God shows mercy. So what does that mean? Notice the past tense, that's English, the past tense idea in this Greek word. God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he what? Loved us. So in English, it gives us a past action idea, right? That's English. In Greek, it's the idea is a holistic, Activity or action that has taken place So what is he talking about? When did God show his love? We got to think of one event, right? It's gotta be the cross Listen again, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he expressed at the cross With which he loved us Even when we were dead and unresponsive, God showed his love. Why does that sound familiar? Because of Romans chapter five, right? Even when we were dead in our sins and transgressions, God commended his love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The cross is the expression. It's the demonstration of God's love and that's how God shows mercy. See, he's withholding from you what you rightfully deserve because he took what you should have received and he poured it out on his son on the cross. That is what mercy is. Mercy does not operate apart from God's love. Make sense? So when Paul says here that God being rich in mercy, he's speaking about the singular act of God shown on the cross. The demonstration of his love in pouring out his wrath that you should have received, that I should have received. God showed his love in judging the son on our behalf. That is mercy. Mercy does not magnify you. Mercy says nothing about you. Mercy says everything about the great kind nature of a loving God that has to deal with your sin. We make much of John 3, 16, for God to love the world. Beautiful verse. Forget the last part. So that whoever believes in him may not what? Perish. God's mercy keeps you from perishing. But if you've not received mercy, you're still under what? the wrath of God which will cause you to perish. So again, God's grace is the canopy under which God's mercy and love cooperate to save a sinner. So when God gives mercy to a sinner, He applies His love to that sinner so that that sinner can receive His grace and be saved. That's why Paul at the end of this discussion says this, by grace you have been saved. You didn't waltz your way into the kingdom of God saying, I'm here. You didn't walk up to God and say, I chose you. You see the whole argument about human will versus God's will is a mute argument because what Paul is saying here is that it didn't matter whether you had a desire to choose him because you couldn't choose him. So God had to act on your behalf and this is what he's done. He has shown abundant mercy when you could not choose him. That is why we are saved by grace. God receives the glory when he saves because all of salvation is of God. Again, people get hung up and they will do word studies and they will do pages on this idea of what does he mean when he says, and that not of yourself, it's salvation. Whether it's faith, or mercy, or grace, it's all under the canopy of salvation. God shows grace by withholding what you should receive, which is judgment, and giving you love so that you can be saved. Verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And if this faith is yours, if you are able to choose God, if you are able to apply faith apart from God, then God has to give you credit for choosing Him. But notice what it says, through faith and this, including faith, including grace, including salvation, all of this, this is not of your own doing. It is a gift of God. Salvation is of God and God alone. Not as a result of works. If we say that we chose God is a work. If we say that we have faith to believe in God apart from God, it is a work. Not as a result of works so that no one may boast. The only one that boasts in salvation is God. How does he do that? That's verse seven. Grace is the canopy where love and mercy meet together so that he can save to the outermost. In Arminianism, you are able to lose your salvation. In Arminianism, you have walked into the courts of God's grace and say to God, I chose you, now choose me. Yet God, in this passage, clearly indicates that you could not do it between verse one and three. And why it's important that he alone should be the one saving. Verse four. Sorry, verse seven. So that in the coming ages, he, this is God, might show the immeasurable riches of his grace. If we've call on God and God has to respond to our call of salvation. Then salvation is not all of God. Then in the coming ages, your work, your choice, your additions, co-working with God in salvation has to receive praise as well. Yet that's not what Paul says. In the coming ages, God will receive the glory so that He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Why? Because by grace you have been saved because He's the one that ultimately saves for His glory. Now, what are those three things that God does? When we were dead, God made us alive. In other words, you could not undead yourself. You could not make yourself alive. God had to do it. Secondly, God raises us up and take note how this always relates to a moment. Read it again. Verse five, even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with Him. What is Paul thinking of? What is the event that he has in view? The death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and seated us, lastly, with him in the heavenly places. What is that event? The ascension of Jesus Christ. Your salvation is secured in him because it's not dependent on your choice. It was God who saves. It is God who places you in Christ. It is God that seals you in Him and seats you in Him forever so that He alone may receive the glory forever and ever and ever. Amen. Paul shows that God saves despite our fallen nature, despite the inability that we have to choose Him, despite the evil influence over our lives, despite our decrepit, crippling will and nature, despite the fact that we were children of wrath and should have received His condemnation forevermore, God still, despite those show, His grace and His mercy in saving us because of the death of Jesus Christ. The love that He has shown or the love that Paul has in view in verse four is the cross. So if God shows mercy because of that love, guess what? If you receive mercy, you receive His love, which means you must be what? Saved. God cannot show mercy and love in the scope of salvation without saving the sinner. God has to do that. And if he does, then he eternally saves those who come to him by faith. Some of us struggle with the idea of God's forgiveness. Forgiveness is not dependent on you. If it was, you will never be forgiven. Forgiveness is dependent on the work of Jesus Christ. Look at chapter one, where Paul says, verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in Christ Jesus with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless, that which we cannot attain to. Before Him, in love, He predestined us to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace. God chooses to magnify His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him, in Him, we have redemption through His blood. forgiveness of our trespass the same word as in chapter 2 according to the riches of his grace. The things that we cannot do to please God, God did in giving forth a son. Forgiveness is not something that you can work out of God. Forgiveness is granted because of the redemption that is found in the blood of Jesus Christ. And because of that, you are eternally forgiven. Despite your sin, despite your rebellion, God will always be forgiving. Why? Because of His Son. God is adequately satisfied in the work of his son. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. What love God has shown. God's unrelenting shower of mercy upon us keeps us from his wrath. He shows us that he gives us what we don't deserve by preserving us from what we rightfully do. The hymn writer says the love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bow down with care. God gave his son to win. His erring child He reconciled and pardoned from sin. That's God's work in which we as His people can rest. But if you do not know Him, if you have not appealed to him and cried on him to save you, then this can be your portion this morning. And we pray that you would come to find peace in Jesus Christ. Let's, let's pray. Father, we are thankful to you for the cross of Jesus Christ. The work that stands as a monumental turning point in history. That's where you withhold your wrath from us, but also where you pour out your wrath on your son. Paul says that you made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we may receive the righteousness of God through him. The divine exchange. goes beyond our understanding, we wanna give you thanks for. Father, we thank you that you have called us through your son to be your children. We pray that we would humble ourselves so that you would humble us and cause us to see the majesty of Jesus Christ, the beauty of your grace and the glory of your saving work. For we have been saved by grace and not of ourselves, Lord. So let all the glory and all the majesty and all the praise be to you, for you alone have saved and you alone can save. Magnify yourself in calling sinners to repentance this morning. Show mercy. and give love that they too may be saved by your graces. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.