Ephesians, chapter 2. And you, Hathiq, quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the cause of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of God, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, nor of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in So we come to verse 10 tonight of the epistle to the Ephesians. Chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 told us quite clearly what we were in our form and state before we became followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, before we were converted, what we were. absolutely as everyone else in the world, lost for all eternity. And then from verses four to nine, we looked at last week what we are in and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that wonderful verse there that we read again together, verse six, that raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And we reminded ourselves again how that God sees us as though we were already in heaven itself. That's how he sees us. We know we fall far short of what we shall be when we eventually arrive there. But God looks upon us today and sees us as though we were already in heaven. And we looked in a little bit of detail at verse 8. By grace, i.e., saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. So we recognize in those nine verses the amazing depths that we've been brought to, the amazing heights that we've been brought to, and the amazing grace of God that made it all possible. We've been brought, as it were, to the very pinnacle of life itself, seated in the heavenly places with Christ. A wonderful, wonderful place to be. is the verse we're going to look at this evening. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And perhaps it's a verse that is fairly easy just to pass over quickly as we read through this wonderful chapter together. We want to get perhaps to the next verses that tell us that in time past we were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers and all the rest of it. But this verse is an absolutely wonderful verse, I believe. Because it speaks very clearly and very eloquently about God's amazing work. The amazing work that he has done. God's role in salvation. What does it mean to be God's workmanship? That's what the verse is telling us. For we are his workmanship. What does it mean to be God's workmanship? And then the last part of the verse points out to us clearly our responsibility towards God because we are his workmanship. What does being God's workmanship require of us? So just those two thoughts this evening. God's role in salvation and man's responsibility to God. First of all then, workmanship. What does this word mean? Well, in the original text, it means the word poem. But when we look into the Greek word poem, we find that it's far more far-reaching than what we might imagine as a poem. What it means is it's a work of art. What it means is it's a masterpiece. Now, that takes, perhaps, some believing for us to admit. that you and I, as far as God is concerned, are his workmanship. We are his masterpiece. We are his work of art. As I was preparing this this week, I was thinking, I just want to share it with you, because I think we'll go away this evening, surely, walking on a cloud, as it were, won't we, when we consider the greatness of God's amazing work, that through his workmanship, He's created in you and created in me a work of art, a masterpiece. I find that very difficult to believe about myself. I don't know about you. I've never felt that I was a work of art in any way, shape, or form. I'm certainly not a masterpiece, but that's what God says we are. We're His workmanship. God is creator. Nothing exists apart from Him. Even through the Lord Jesus Christ brought everything into being. In Psalm 19, the psalmist overflows with praise to God, doesn't he? He says, the heavens declare the glory of God. He says, the sky proclaims his handiwork. Yeah. As wonderful as the cosmos is, and it is wonderful, isn't it, as we gaze into it? It is absolutely stunning. Last year, we were down in France, The children or grandchildren brought a very large telescope with them. And because the sky is so clear down there, it's well away from towns and all the rest of it, we can see the stars. We see the space stations going across and all this sort of thing. But we particularly wanted that year, I think it was last year, to look at Saturn because it was so clear that Saturn's rings, absolutely stunning. And you just get blown away just looking at it, thinking about the beauty, the glory, the order of the cosmos. And perhaps you caught on the news a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it, that this satellite that they sent up, this probe they sent up 20 years ago to look at Saturn, they just crashed it into Saturn because its work is finished. 20 years it's been up there going round. And the people who were responsible for that program and the people in the laboratory there in America were just in tears because of the beauty they'd been able to see in the cosmos through the work of this particular satellite. They were sad that they were no longer going to be able to see the beauty of that planet as they had been. But you know, God here is saying to us that as wonderful as the cosmos is, It's not his masterwork. Nature radiates and breathes the glory of God. Of course it does, and I'm not belittling that at all. It's impossible not to view the breathtaking beauty of creation, is it? And not to wonder at God's handiwork. You and I do it, I guess, every day of our lives. We just get, as I say, blown away with the beauty of creation, the wonderful, the wonder of creation, and yet, And yet, this verse seems to be telling us that it's not God's ultimate workmanship. Consider the wonder of a newborn baby, fearfully and wonderfully made. Think about his eyes. Think about his ears, his nose, his mouth, and the fingers that touch. Each of these sensory organs transmitting through the most complex pathways, scarcely understood, even in this day in which we live. Complex pathways leading it to the brain, and the brain itself processing the senses to enable minute judgments to be made and acted on. Consider the wonder of that, God's creation of the human baby. And that baby will develop over time in the most amazing way to become an adult. Surely the fully-fledged adult is the apex of God's creation, made, as the Bible tells us, in the image of God. Wonderful to think, isn't it, that no angel can rival a human being, for they are not made in the image of God. You and I are. Saint Augustine wrote this. He said, men go abroad to wander at the height of mountains, He says, at the huge waves of the sea and at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the seasons, at the circular motion of the stars, then he says that they pass by themselves without wandering. It's true, isn't it? He perhaps gives grand wonder at times to our creative beings. And yet, as wondrous as man is, He is not the worst masterwork referred to in verse 10. That's reserved for the one who is God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. The ultimate workmanship of God is to take the person of verse 2, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the principle of power of the air, The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, taking that person and changing them so radically that they become the person of verse six and have raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places. Again, it tells us in Christ Jesus. So the ultimate workmanship of God then is a human being who despite being dead in trespasses and in sins, as Paul puts it, has been made alive in Christ. This is the person. This is the person who is the result of two creations. First of all, of course, their very existence is due to the work of God. The work of God. That's how we come into being. We're given that. Breath is breathed into our bodies to give us life. to give us being. The very existence is due to the work of God. I'll just turn back and read you those verses, you'll know them well, in 1 Corinthians. Where Paul puts it so succinctly, doesn't he, of what we are. It's verse 16 of chapter 1. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things. And He is before all things and by Him all things consist. That's the creation. That's the creation that created you and I. And so we are created in the image of God and we're created by Christ. Firstly then, our very existence due to God Himself. Every human being is created and furthermore held together by Christ. But the masterwork we are considering here is brought about by a second creation. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of creation, is also the executor of salvation itself. This is where I wanted to read in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's the second creation that we take part in when we become children of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of creation, yes, created through him and by him, but created secondly for salvation, hence two creations. And it's brought about by the incomparable power of resurrection. We studied that recently in chapter one of Ephesians. We learned there how that the power that was working in and through us as we became those who followed the Lord Jesus Christ was the same power that God used to raise him from the dead. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power? To us, Lord, who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Salvation for you and I was wrought by that same power that God used when He raised His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead. The conversion of a sinner is far more glorious than the mere being of life itself. Therefore it follows in Christ, for that's the fact of it, isn't it? Again and again through this epistle, Paul impresses upon us that we are in Christ. And that surely, surely means that we are of untold worth to the Father God. As I say, these few simple thoughts just encouraged me this week and I want them to encourage you tonight and take you on your way home presently rejoicing in the fact that we are in Christ and because of that we are of untold worth to the Father God. What a wonderful thought, isn't it? but we are His workmanship. So often we might doubt that position that we occupy, that position of being God's masterpiece, His work of art. So often we might doubt that we're worth anything at all to God. Sometimes we feel so worthless, I'm sure, in the way in which we live our lives for Christ, in the way that we endeavour to work for God. We feel so worthless. But we need to remind ourselves again and again that we are God's masterpiece, his work of arts, and we are a work in progress. Michelangelo was hacking away at a lump of stone on one occasion, and somebody came along to him and said, What on earth are you going to make out of that? It's just a lump of stone. Ah, he said, what I'm about is liberating an angel from that lump of stone. That's what's going to happen, he said. I'm going to keep working at it and eventually an angel will appear. Praise God, that's what he's doing with you and he's doing with I. When we get to heaven itself we shall be changed, we should be like the Saviour then. It's a work in progress, isn't it? I don't know about you, but I've got a lot of rough edges to be knocked off. A lot of problems in my life that need sorting out before I ever, ever become anything like the Savior. We're a work in progress. And, you know, I was thinking about this and I thought, how often God uses our difficulties, our problems, to knock off those rough edges, to refine us. We don't like the difficulties, but he does. He uses them. And too, you know, he uses the difficult people sometimes, doesn't he? the people we find it hard to get along with, the people perhaps we have difficulty understanding, perhaps the people that we think, well, are they really a believer or not? God uses them quite often, quite often to refine us, to modify our behavior. So there we have it then, God's amazing work. creating out of you and I, out of sinful, lost people, creating those who will inherit heaven, will be like His Son. God's amazing work. But now, what does that being His workmanship require of us as believers? What does being in this privileged position ask of us? In this verse it asks us two things. It wants us to believe. the fact that we are God's workmanship. And then it wants us to hold still. Simple belief and submission to the authority of the Word of God is what God requires of us. That's what he wants most of all from us. Belief. Not works. We've emphasised that in our last study. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Just simple belief. Belief is faith in action. We put belief in something, but we have to put faith in it, and we put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We act upon that belief, and we become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. man's condition was so desperate that his works are useless and ineffective in respect of salvation. We major on this so often and it's important that we understand that, isn't it? That the very best that we can do is of absolutely no use at all in salvation. The very best we do is just as the Bible tells us, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God. The condition is so desperate that there's nothing that we can do. Even the very best efforts of the very best man cannot avail in respect of God. I saw a little story recently that seemed to just make that point to me quite vividly. A man was riding along on a horse, and as he was riding along, he saw in front of him a bundle of something lying in the road. And he got closer and closer to it, and he just couldn't make out what it was at all. And when he got to it, he got off his horse to get down and have a look at it, and he realised that it was a bird. It was a sparrow. And the sparrow was lying on his back with his legs in the air. And the man said to the bird, now you know it's a story, the man said to the bird, what are you doing? Why are you lying there on your back with your legs in the air? So the bird said, well, somebody told me this morning that the sky was going to fall. The sky was going to crash to the earth. So here I am, lying on my back with my legs in the air, because I'm going to stop it falling. I'm going to keep it up there. And the man said, well, that's ridiculous. That's preposterous. Your legs are so thin and spindly. How do you think you're going to hold the sky up? And he said, well, I may not be able to, but I'm going to do my best. And do you know that's like salvation, isn't it? We can do our best but we'll be as useless as that bird would have been trying to hold the sky up. There's nothing that we can do that could take us into the family of God. But once we become His workmanship we must work. This is what the verse is telling us. It says, created in Christ Jesus, what for? Unto good works, which God hath before ordained, what? That we should walk in them. So whilst we cannot be saved by good works, we are certainly saved to be those who are to be doing good works, work for God. Works become a sign of God's workmanship. Luther said this, he said, justification by faith is by faith alone. That's what he believed. Justification is by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone. It's got to have the demonstration of works to back it up. Where there is faith, there are works. James said, didn't he, that in his epistle, that faith without works is dead. And that's the truth of it. We've got to be working for God. We've got to be those who are working for Him. Created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works and to walk in them. Verse 2 told us that we were walking according to the course of this world. Now he says in verse 10, you must walk, walk in good works to demonstrate that you are the workmanship of God, you are his masterpiece, you are his work of arts. So each born-again believer, each and every single one of us, has a job description, which includes a task, It includes the ability for that task and it includes a place where we are to carry out that task. Our efforts for Him will only be successful if we are carrying out the work that He has placed, God has placed in our hand and the work that He has equipped us to do and we're in the place of His appointing. It's a tall order. It's one of the hardest things, I believe, in the Christian life, to know God's will, to know where He wants us to be in a fellowship, to know what He wants us to do. It is the hardest thing, in my experience, to know, to know that we're in the right place doing the work that He has placed in our hands. But that's what we need to be doing. We are His workmanship, His work of art, His masterpiece. We are in Christ. Are we working for Him? Are we working for Him in the right place, the place to which He has called us? Are we doing it all for Him in His strength and not our own? Are we relying upon Him for the equipment to do the job? And are we doing it all through the power of the Holy Spirit? we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Might it be so, for his name's sake. Amen.