I would ask that you turn in your Bibles to the New Testament epistle to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2. We have in recent weeks looked at chapter 1. Now chapter 2. Last week at the Pretty familiar verses. Verses 8 and 9. For you are saved by grace through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast. And take this evening the next verse, which is really quite short. And yet, I think, quite considerable in its importance as we would seek to live and to walk in the Christian life. If you will, the coming to faith, the coming to salvation, we refer to as justification, wherein we are saved by faith or saved by grace through faith at the once for all deal. You really believe, you start to believe, you continue to believe. And then the next part of that or the kind of related word is sanctification. And this is where the ongoing work of the Spirit of God in the process of transforming us into children of light and servants of the living God takes more and more hold, if you will, not disconnected from what we understand, like with the sacrament of baptism once for all representing the new life. Whereas the Lord's Supper, the ongoing encouraging to feed on Christ, to hold on to Him, to grow in Him and live through Him is a lifelong thing. And so we repeat that throughout the days that we live. Well, Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul is instructing his readers and ourselves to be mindful of how God's grace impacts us, where we come from, where we're going, and of course, how we are to live as we travel that road. So, hear the Word of God. Ephesians 2, verse 1, 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 all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 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 to gather with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. And raised us up to gather and made us sit to gather in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 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. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 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, that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity. And we will stop there. Beloved in Christ, we have seen the natural state in which all men find themselves. They are children of wrath. They are dead in their sins. And of course, as the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Ephesian Christians, it's a mixed audience. There are those of Jewish descent. There are those of Gentile descent. But he speaks with one voice to them all. He says, we all were dead in our sins. And of course, the other side of that is that we were all made alive. to gather with Christ. And of course, he's talking about believers, about those who have come to faith, those who have come to believe, to trust and rely in the provision of what God has done. And in those familiar verses, verses 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith, that's one of those passages that becomes a hallmark, a representative of the Reformation. Even one of those passages which Martin Luther and John Calvin came to see that it wasn't by the works of the church or by some external means by which we were made accepted before God, but rather it was by imposing His work of salvation upon us. By grace we are saved. And the instrument that God uses in that coming to faith, that being made alive, is conviction, is belief, is faith. We're not saved by faith. We're saved through faith. We embrace the promises of God with a believing heart. We trust in Him and rely on the sufficiency of His grace. And of course, this fits right into the teaching, the instructions of Scripture that would urge men to repent, would urge them to turn to God, would urge them to seek from Him that which He has. And of course, that is exactly the point. When we come to faith, it's of God. And when He can boast, it's not us. It's Him. And of course, that's how the last study ends, isn't it? Not of works, lest anyone should boast. And so, the idea of boasting is taking credit. You know, as we might pat ourselves on the back. You know, when our children are younger, we're quite adamant, aren't we? Oh, good job! Way to go! And as they grow on, we still try to encourage them, but I think we probably tend to do it a bit less. Well, in this case of our coming to faith, you know, we thankfully receive believers professing faith in Christ. But we all give thanks to God because He is the one who is, in fact, accomplished it and completed it on our behalf. Well, as we come to that next verse, and I suppose we could have studied this verse a part of our last sermon, but I think it's worth our detailed attention, because what it does is it shows the indispensable place, the indispensable role that good works have in our lives. Now, in no wise and no how are they meritorious in earning our salvation. But they are inevitable. A consequence of the regenerating work of the Spirit of God. And not only do they come out automatically, right? You make the tree good, it bears good fruit. But they're also commanded. And of course, the fact that God describes the life of faith in the terms that He does, I think is indicative of the facts. that He is in fact fulfilling the purpose of His will when we come to faith, when we believe and trust in Him and walk in the way and the Word that He has given. So we will see that we are saved by grace that we might bring glory to God. And what I want us to see here is that this whole matter This whole matter is the way in which the hand, the workmanship of our Heavenly Father is to be experienced and appreciated both in our lives and in the lives of all of God's people. And I think that's why the central even to this verse isn't so much us or our works, but it's the fact of God and His grace. And so our first point is The central importance of the craftsman. So, verses 8 and 9 tell us how a person is saved. By grace you've been saved through faith. That not of yourselves, but the gift of God not of works that anyone should boast. Then comes verse 10. He says, for we are His workmanship. We are His workmanship. And the interesting thing here is that In the original, Paul is speaking here, not of Jews in one breath and Gentiles in another, but of us together, right? We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. And of course, this is believers then as much as believers today. And so we read the we, and we're not importing, we're not imposing anything foreign here. But we're describing our styles. And He is describing us. And that which is taking place within us. For we are His workmanship. That was true for them and it's true for us. And what I think is interesting here is the description words by which we are described. What do we say in the Catechism? not our own, but belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, it's the same thought here. We are His. We are His. We've been bought. We were made by Him, created by Him, and now redeemed. by Him, made alive by Him. And the word choice here, workmanship, maybe some of your Bibles say craftsmanship. But literally, I mean, etymology is not always a safe way to make a point. But in this case, what is workmanship and craftsmanship? But it is showing what God has done. In fact, the noun, His workmanship, is actually a nounal form of the verb to do. For we are, if you will, His doing. We are the result of what God has done. So these words craftsmanship, or handiwork, or workmanship, it's really, really close. You get the idea. We are the result. The consequence. of what God has done. So you could read this, for we are His doing. Or perhaps we are what He has made. We are the result of His working. We are in fact the works, individually, corporately, of His hands. We are His. workmanship, craftsmanship. We are that which shows what God has done, which God is doing. And of course, from our birth to our life, to our maturity, to any fruits that we bear, whose are we? Well, we are God's. The evidence of His grace. And whether you look at passages like John 1, verses 11-13, which affirm that we have been born again, not by our wills, but by the will of God. Not because of our parents. Not because of some preacher somewhere. But because of God. For as many as received Him, He gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in His name. That they might know, that they might show forth their knowledge, their gratitude to the God who created them. And of course, this pairs up exactly with what we read in John 3. Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and he says, you know, you must be born again before you can enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus looks at him. Huh? I'm like 50 years old. Can I enter into my mother's womb and be born again? And Jesus chides him. Are you a teacher in Israel? And you don't understand these things? Unless you're born again, you can't even see the Kingdom of God. So if we've entered in, if we've found the Kingdom, if we've believed in the Kingdom, if we've trusted in Christ, hoped in His grace, it's because God has revealed it, has borne witness to our hearts and to our souls that we might be and become the children of God. Of course, the context here is that the nearest context is verse 9, isn't it? Not of works lest anyone should vote. So what's the payoff here? Why push this point home? Well, the biggest reason is so that we will give the proper credit to the one who is worthy, to the one who deserves it. And of course, that is the Lord who made us. Well, what is the means that God has used to form us into what we are becoming? For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. The means that God has used to form and fashion us into the work of His hands is the almighty, gracious power of His work of redemption in Christ. We have been created, it says here, in Christ Jesus. We have been created in Christ Jesus because of His Word and because of His will. Think of the work of creation. Let there be light. What's happening? Well, God is speaking and His spoken Word is resulting in a transformation, bringing into existence that which wasn't in existence. And of course, in our case, that means spiritual life where there wasn't any. In fact, one of my favorite passages is 2 Corinthians 4, which speaks with such clarity of this work of redemption. Just listen to this. Therefore, since we have this ministry, Paul is a gospel preacher, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. Just like clear teaching. Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And it talks about unbelievers and how their eyes and minds are blinded. But then he says, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shown His light in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If we are created by God, we are unmistakably, inescapably created for Him and through Him. Created in Christ Jesus. God starts with sinful, rebellious sinners and transforms them into the willful, willing servants of the living God. And how does He do this in Christ Jesus? Well, this becomes a transaction of salvation. You know, how are we saved? I'll ask the catechism kids. Well, by believing. We're saved by going to church, by reading our Bibles, by praying, and we get quite often a list of the things that we do as Christians and believers. How are we saved? How are things made right between us and God? Well, the answer to that question is through the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by the transaction of grace. By the work of redemption. I think there's no verse in the entire Bible that states this more clearly than 2 Corinthians 5.21 which says, He, God, made Him, Christ, to be sin for us. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That in Him, we might become the righteousness of God. How are you saved? Well, by grace through faith. What does that mean? You're saved by the price paid on Calvary so that you might have your sins atoned for. And the way in which that comes to us is through the knowledge of God's grace, through the preaching of the Holy Gospel. We hear and we believe and we trust in Christ. That's why Jesus says, My sheep... Are you one of His sheep? My sheep hear My voice and follow Me." Do you hear the words of the shepherd? Are you believing them? Whether you're 6, 16, or 24, or 84, it's the only way you're going to be saved. By trusting and relying upon the words, the voice of Christ, which you hear in His Word. He says, come to Me. all you who labor and are heavy laden. And so long as you just sit there, it doesn't do you any good. Come to Me is an embrace of faith. And is it your action? Well, it sure looks like it, feels like it, sounds like it. On the other side, we see it was God's work. We are created in Christ Jesus by the wonderful work of redemption for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And of course, this is exactly right. Good works are the logical consequence of a heart that's renewed, a life that's regenerated, In fact, I like how the authors of the catechism say, you know, can people who are born again continue living in sin? I think only once or twice, the whole catechism long, does it affirm with this strong of a language, by no means, it's impossible for those who are engrafted into Christ and are receiving His benefits to continue living in their sin. And then they quote the Scriptures. That those who do these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We're not saved by good works. But those who are saved will do good works. For we are His workmanship. We're the result of the work of His hands. We've been created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And this isn't a teaching unique to this verse in Scripture. Take John 15. I am the vine. You are the branches. What do those branches do on the vine? Are they parasitic? They just get their life and do no benefit to the tree? Not at all. The tree, the root, the vine grows in them and through them, and they become fruitful. And there's something to harvest in the end. Take Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you do what? That you offer your body, your life, as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God. which is your reasonable service. And then what does that involve? It involves not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might know what is that good and perfect and will of God. Hebrews 13 verse 15. One of those passages we could study for Thanksgiving Day. Hebrews 13 verse 15. Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. Therefore, by Him, by Christ, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share. For with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. And so the degree to which we want to please God will be evidenced by the zeal, the devotion, the convictions that fill our hearts come to characterize our lives. And of course, the overall goal, if you will, the intended goal of the craftsman is that we might bring forth these good fruits. In fact, where do these good works come from? Well, they're from God. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Which God mapped out ahead of time. You know, I think one of the biggest challenges for our children and as parents raising children is to help them identify what is their particular skill set. How has God formed and fashioned them that they might utilize these God-given abilities for the service of the world, of the church and all of these things. And so, as parents, we see our kids tending toward this sort of thing or that. And so we say, maybe you ought to consider this. Maybe you ought to consider that. And because oftentimes what career choices come down to, and they want 7th and 8th graders to be making those sorts of track choices already, well, where can I make the most money? And so it becomes a dollar question. Ought not to be? God has given to us all. various abilities, various talents, various skills. And we are going to be the most, I don't know, contented or satisfied or fulfilled when we utilize the abilities God has given to us as our life work. It's not always the case. I remember reading an article where the distinction was made between our employment or our job and our calling. And it's a tough thing to think about. I mean, I've wrestled with that whole matter, you know, and the author of that article says that that aspect of our lives, which we would be the most difficult to replace, is our calling. You know, and I think for many of us that means that, well, being dad to our children, being husbands or wives to our spouses, being useful and contributing to the edification of our brethren and providing for our families. Somewhere in there, you know, our calling, our ability has to come to fruition. And just look at it again, for which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So certainly, There's a moral aspect of this. Committing our way to the Lord, obeying His Word and His will is not out of the picture. But we've been created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And of course, this all arrives, finds its roots deep in the Word and Spirit of God. And I think there's no doubt that if any one of us were left to ourselves, this wouldn't even be a discussion. Want to please God as an unbeliever? Probably not. Or maybe be more emphatic. Absolutely not! But let a person hear the Word of God. Let a person come to conviction of sin and the working of the Spirit of God within them for them. Then it becomes a question, doesn't it? How? What does God want me to do? How might I fulfill the purpose that He has for me? And of course, there's always mystery in life. And yet, when it comes to making choices, if it's right or if it's wrong, always choose the right choice. Always make the decision that you know what is right. In terms of the other things, you know, trust God, walk by faith, take steps and directions, test His will, seek confirmation by, you know, maybe academically as a certain level or a comfort level in doing a certain type of work, but certainly knowing And in hearing and heeding that call which God has put on you is the principal thing. Which God has prepared, which God has ordained that we might hear and heed His voice. All of these things, of course, are in the realization, the recognition that God is calling us to do His will. And if we have a right understanding of this verse in terms of our obedience and service, you know, we are protected from two opposing things. It deprives man every reason for boasting. Why? created by God for good works. It's His work. And secondly, it also takes away every excuse for laxity or tolerance for sin in our life. Because what we're saying is, you know, as we make choices that are in rebellion against God, we're giving Him credit for our sin. And that can't be. That can't be. So we come before Him. We humble ourselves. We serve. We seek to live by His guidance, His direction. He shows us the path on which we should walk. And we trust that by His grace, we will be sustained. So might it be, beloved, that we would all recognize that we are not our own, but that we belong to the Lord. We did not save ourselves, but we were saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And may God grant to us that we would do that which God desires. Each of us has particular talents, abilities. May not even be sure just what to do, but one thing that we must do, and that is to serve the Lord as best we can. In fact, if you filter that through the Proverbs, the exhortations of wisdom, it would even say, with all your heart. Give yourself to these things. May the Lord be pleased to encourage us, to strengthen us in all of these things. Amen. Father in Heaven, we bow before You this evening. We're thankful to You for Your grace. We thank You for Your provisions. We pray that we all would recognize that we are Your workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which You prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. We ask this. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.