(Ephesians 2:10)
""For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them." Eph. 2:10.
Sometime ago, while reading Ephesians devotionally, the
words 'created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained'
stood out and became a challenge to my thinking. The question came to me, 'Have
my good works been ordained of God?' Could this be true or is Scripture
speaking of the Savior's good works? After careful study of the text it was
learned that the word translated 'unto' is the preposition 'upon' and when used
with the dative case may thus be translated. In other words, 'upon good works'
rather than 'unto good works.'
Rotherham's translation seems to give the clearer meaning
of the text: 'In fact we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus upon a
footing of good works, which God prepared beforehand, that therein we might walk.'
This translation gives us a different picture than what is generally taught,
i.e., that our good works were before ordained. Would it not rather be that
Christ's good works were before ordained? Should we not rather 'walk' in His
good works? This seems to be the message of Ephesians, Chapter 2.
Ephesians is divided into two parts. The first three
chapters, which are doctrinal, and the last three chapters, which are
practical. Here in chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, we have our walk in unbelief;
but in verses 4 through 10, we have the Savior's good works before ordained.
What are these good works? They are His resurrection
'Quickened together with Christ.' Verse 5; His ascension - 'Raised us up
together.' Verse 6; His being seated in mediatorial ministry -'Made us sit
together.' Verse 6b. It is in these good works that we may rejoice and triumph
in Christian faith. Doing this we shall reflect His glory in our living. It is
in this that we should glory.
Think of it:
No.1 A New Life-'Quickened with Him'
No.2. A New Hope-'Raised with Him.'
No.3. A New Position-'Seated with Him.'
To this writer this spells out three major factors. We
shall deal with these in subsequent bulletins, trusting and praying that this
message, will prove a real blessing to you. They are divine access; divine
ability (enablement) and divine attainment. May I urge you as a child of God to
rejoice in your riches in the Savior. We are reckoned with Him in death,
resurrection, ascension and seating. No wonder the great apostle cries out to
the church, 'Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.'
Rotherham's translation of Ephesians 2:10 is; 'in fact we
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus upon a footing of good works, which
God prepared beforehand, that therein we might walk.' The footing of good works
is given in some of the preceding verses, namely, 5 and 6. Here we are told we
are 'quickened with Christ', 'raised with Christ,' and 'seated with Christ.'
For the matter of convenience we shall deal with these in this and subsequent
bulletins in this order: 1. Raised with Christ. 2. Quickened with Christ. 3.
Seated with Christ.
This message then shall deal with the subject of our being
'raised' with Christ. This does not mean the resurrection as at first it might
seem. Being raised with Christ means the ascension. 'Quicken' in verse 5 speaks
of His resurrection. What does it mean then to have ascended with Christ? It
means that we in Him have divine access into the presence of God. Hebrews
4:14-16 gives us a picture of this access to God: 'Seeing then that we have a
great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feelings of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted
like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly into the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.'
This is a most blessed walk in which the Christian should
rejoice. As I carefully read these verses and meditate upon them I find two
outstanding blessings. One is 'an invitation to come boldly into the presence
of God.' Heb. 4:16. To better evaluate and appreciate this invitation, the
Christian should know something of the demands that God made upon the high
priest of the Old Testament both to qualify him for that God-given call and to
minister in the call. Not everyone could come into the inner sanctuary at
anytime and as they were. Please read Leviticus 21:16-21 to get a picture of
God's requisites of a man for the office. Exodus 28:2-43 tells a little about
the high priest's attire for service. He could not come just as he happened, or
as it please him to come, but as the Scripture says 'after the pattern.' Not
only so, but the temple, the meeting place with God, must be exact. Consider
the veil of the temple; it must be as God designed. Its color alone was God's
choice. It was of blue, purple and scarlet. Exodus 26:31.
This veil pictures Christ. When He was crucified and His
body rent, the veil in the temple was also rent. See Hebrews 10:20. These
colors speak of His relationship to Heaven (Blue), to the kingly lineage
(purple) and to the human family and sacrifice (red). Liberals in their
theology would not so color the veil today. They could not, and would not, so
prepare the veil 'according to pattern.'
However, the believer today, whoever he or she may be, may
be trusting in the finished work of Christ and has the blessed invitation to
come 'boldly' into God's presence. This does not mean 'without respect' or
'without reverence' but as the original language would suggest, 'with freedom of
speech.' It is a feeling of 'at home' or a oneness with our God. He who has
made this possible is our High Priest, as we are told in Heb. 4:14, Jesus (the
high priest's divinity). Thus the believer is united with Heaven through Him
and in Him and may come with joyous liberty knowing we are righteous in Him and
in His garments of justification we are accepted and this 'without spot or
wrinkle.' This is our glorious privilege because as believers we are 'upon a
footing of good works,' not ours, but Christ's! In these good works, dear
Christian, walk and rejoice.
,
The second blessing that is ours as a result of our access
to God as pictured in Hebrews 4:14-16 is 'An invitation to come as we are. '
Verse 15. Here we are told that our High Priest can sympathize with us. This He
can do because 'He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin,' (Or
sin apart.) What does this mean? Could Jesus sympathize with us knowing what it
is to have an inherent fallen nature? He had no fallen nature. The verse does
not tell us that as Jesus he knew this depravity. It tells the opposite. He, as
Jesus, could in all points sympathize with us 'apart from this sin' or 'sin
apart.' Thus, the Greek word 'dunamenon.' He, Jesus, was empowered or enabled
to sympathize with us. How was this? He was divine. He was God, and as God, He
knew man's fallen state. Does not Psalm 103:13-14 give us the answer: 'Like as
a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For He
knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.' Jesus, as Savior, felt the
pangs of temptations. These temptations were tempered to fit His person. Jesus,
as the Jehovah and God, knew man's frame. Thus this glorious Savior and High
Priest can sympathize with us. Therefore 'come boldly' and 'come as we are.'
'He that is without fault cast the first stone.' What a glorious position is
ours 'in Him' and 'on the footing of His good works.' Walk in them and rejoice
in them dear child of God. Because of this, glorify God in your good works,
eternally resting on His good works.
If you have been reading the previous bulletins you have
learned that the good works spoken of in Ephesians 2:10 are Christ's. They were
before ordained. In these good works we should 'walk'. This week we shall deal
with His resurrection, verse 5, 'quickened us together'.
At first this verse may seem to teach otherwise, but
careful examination will show that the Holy Spirit is speaking of our Blessed
Lord's resurrection, and because of this resurrection and our having been
'quickened' with Him, we are divinely enabled to rise above the stigma of any
accusation that might wish to bring us before the court of God. We are divinely
enabled in three distinct areas of our everyday living. They are:
1.Divine enablement to live free from the spirit of
judgment.
2. Divine enablement to be free from a life of
disobedience.
3. Divine enablement freeing us from a life of selfishness
These are three areas in natural living where all of us
have trouble. We should be interested, therefore, in the message of Holy Writ.
This and the two succeeding bulletins will present God's message relative to
the subject. Thus, we here present the Word of God's quickening power or divine
enablement relative to freedom from any spirit of judgment. What do we mean by
this spirit of judgment? We mean the accusing voice of the law; the lightning,
thunder and earthquaking of Mt. Sinai.
The Christian should only be concerned as to his or her
standing before God. If our standing before God is right, it will likewise be
right before the courts of earth. Evidently the Romans criticized Paul. His
answer to them was 'Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again.' Romans 8:34. You see, my friend, the law had an
accusing finger. It called for absolute holiness. Man could not meet its
demands. Paul tells us in Galatians 4:28 that the law in its demands was much
like Ishmael in his relationship to Isaac. He persecuted Isaac. There was only
one solution - that was to cast out the bondwoman and her son Ishmael that
there might be tranquillity and peace in the home of Abraham.
Our heart is like Abraham's home. It cannot at the same
time harbor the law and salvation by grace and have rest. Paul, the apostle,
tried this as a new convert. He thought receiving Christ as Savior, plus being
obedient to the law, would produce tranquillity in his disturbed soul. This was
his experience in Arabia. Thus he wrote the masterpiece, Romans 7, picturing
the life of law and grace, both seeking to be operative within the human breast
at the same time. What was his testimony of this kind of life? Romans 7:24
tells us, 'O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?' The next verse gives the answer. 'Through Jesus Christ our Lord.' who
gives divine enablement to live free from any law of condemnation. The first
verses of Romans 8 make this so clear. Two most important statements are made.
First, 'there is NO judgment to those in Christ Jesus.' But the justified
sinner says 'I still hear the demands of the Law- 'thou shalt not!' and I still
do fail its perfect demands even though I'm justified.' Then comes that
glorious message from God in verse two of Romans, the 8th chapter, and this is
the second important statement: 'The law of the spirit of life has made me
free.' Made free from what? Sin's hold on my life? No, but free from the
accusing voice of the law. Only the risen life of he Savior operative within us
can thus make us free.
There comes this glorious message from God in Romans 8:2:
'The law of the spirit of life has made me free.' Only the risen life of the
Savior operative within us can make us free. No wonder the poet wrote the
following verse:
'Let us love, and sing and wonder;
Let us praise the Savior's name.
He has hushed the law's loud thunder
He has quenched Mt. Sinai's flame;
He has bought us with His blood
He has brought us nigh to God.'
Wonderful story that of the maniac of Gadara. Jesus had
healed the poor devil-possessed being and he was now a respectable and accepted
citizen of Gadara's populace, but there was the accusing voice directed at the
Life that made him free. The residents of Gadara requested the Blessed Savior
to depart out of their coasts. He was obedient to their cries. He went to the
ship to depart and the divine record says, 'When He was come into the ship, he
that had been possessed of the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him.' The
new life in the restored maniac quelled so much the cry of Gadara's residents
that he but wanted one thing to be with the Savior. This is divine enablement,
my friend, freeing us from the loud cry of the law's judgment. Instead of the
cry 'O wretched man that I am' comes the sweet consoling voice of the spirit of
adoption saying, ' Abba Father.'
For this good work of the risen Savior we rejoice and rise
to serve Him in 'faith which worketh by love.' Galatians 5:6.
If you would receive the full meaning of the following,
you must have read the previous part of this article.
Having been 'quickened' with Christ, i.e., resurrected
with Him (Eph. 2:5), we have first divine enablement to live free from the
spirit of judgment, that is, free from the condemning voice of the law.
Secondly, we have divine enablement to be free from a life of disobedience.
Romans 8:11 declares: 'But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.'
This is not a text to be used at a funeral. Paul is not
speaking of our dead bodies but our living bodies being quickened (Quicken your
mortal bodies). The subject of Romans 8 is that of the ministry of the Holy
Spirit in our lives while we are living. He is saying that being saved you have
the Holy Spirit. Verse 9. 'Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is
none of His.' Having the Holy Spirit as a believer enables the believer to live
a life of victory and obedience. It is most natural to be disobedient. It is
super- natural (above our nature) to be obedient. From Adam we have received a
fallen nature. This nature is contrary to God's nature. Romans 7;15 says, 'For
that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate,
that do I.' Again in Romans 7:18, "For I know that in me (that is in my
flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.'
Children do not need teaching to do wrong; this comes
naturally. They need life and guidance to do right; this comes supernaturally.
May I ask you, which is easier, to tithe or not to tithe? To pray or not to
pray? To have a daily quiet time with God or not to have a daily quiet time? To
trust or doubt? To be actively engaged in God's work or not to be so engaged?
It may be thus illustrated: a young convert attending school sat one Wednesday
evening thinking about what he should do for the evening. He had one of several
things to do. One was study, another was see his sweetheart, the third was
prayer meeting. He was torn between the alternatives. What should he do? He had
trouble making a decision. Finally he said , I'll flip a coin; if it is heads
I'll study; if its tails I'll visit my girl friend; if it stands on edge I'll
go to prayer meeting.' This some what depicts our fallen nature. It is natural
to be disobedient. We must, therefore, have the supernatural to live above that
which displeases God. It is His risen life that thus enables us. The law could
not do this. In fact, no law given could do this except the law of life.
Galatians 3:21 says, 'If there had been a law given which could have given
life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.'
Some years ago it was my privilege to win a family to the
acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. I was privileged to
fellowship with them in many other delightful experiences, among which was the
adopting of a little girl. This girl must have been about four years of age
when she was taken from the orphanage to live in a new home and in family life.
She had been in the orphanage long enough so that when brought into this new
life where she was given more intimate and personal attention she cherished it
much more than the average child could possible appreciate. Shortly after her
adoption she became ill and was taken to the hospital and placed in the
children's ward. A day or two after being taken to this hospital her parents
called me asking me to visit the child. They explained that physically she was
greatly improved but something was wrong with her spirit and attitude. They
asked, 'Would you please try to find out what might be wrong?' Visiting the
little girl I called her attention to some children playing out in the yard of
a nearby school. I said something like this, 'Look at all the girls and boys
and see what fun they are having.' The little child had not spoken to this
point but now responded, 'I don't want to look that way,' and then she started
to weep. This was the answer as to why her attitude was strange. She was being
brought back to institutional life and she didn't want that, having found
parental love. Shortly she was released from the hospital and restored to her
new-found home. Needless to say, her former spirit was restored. This
illustrates our life as Christians. Having found and experienced the love of
God we do not desire the old life. The spirit of adoption and family
relationship has gripped our hearts 'whereby we cry, Abba Father.' The old life
and its habitat frightens us and we say, 'I don't want to look that way.'
This is divine enablement freeing us from a life of disobedience.
Thank God for it; for if it were not so we would live in the old haunts and
'among the tombs' of a completely defeated life. Therefore, 'He that raised
Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that
dwelleth in you.'
The past few weeks our messages have concerned divine
enablement to live free from the spirit of judgment and divine enablement to be
free from a life of disobedience. Today our message concerns divine enablement
to be free from selfishness. The basic text for this facet of study is Romans
8:26: 'Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what
we should pray for as we ought; but the spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered.' This verse is not teaching about
prayer life in general, as is commonly supposed. Scripture is of no private
interpretation. It must be taught in its relationship to the subject matter of
the context. The context in this portion reveals that the subject matter
concerns physical suffering. Verses 23-25, 28 and 34-38 make this clear. Hear
just a phrase or two of these verses: 'Even we ourselves groan within
ourselves'; 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? ; 'We
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter'; etc. Thus Romans 8:26 is saying the
Holy Spirit 'lays hold together' (helpeth) with us relative to the matter of
physical sufferings. The Holy Spirit thus helps our infirmities so that instead
of groanings and sighings there will be praise and glory. 2 Corinthians 12
gives us a very clear picture of this. It is a testimony of Paul's experience.
It is a testimony of the divine enablement given him to praise God in the
present circumstance evidently ordained by God. 2 Corinthians 12:9, 'Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am
weak, then am I strong.
This ill-taught philosophy that 'it is not God's will that
we are sick, etc.' if true places an awful indictment upon the Apostle Paul. He
declared it was God's will that he suffer, for in his infirmities the Holy
Spirit gave him victory so that he could say, 'Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities,' 'If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern
mine infirmities.'
This is rather strange language in comparison to the
voices of the modern healing racket. Some of the sweetest and most powerful
Christian testimonies that have witnessed the Grace of God have come from the
vessels of clay, chosen by God to bear the thorns in the flesh. It is the
sustaining Grace of God that tells the greatest story. No little wonder then
the afflicted Apostle could write to the Corinthians and tell them of the
purpose for suffering. Listen to his message in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5:
'Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by
the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.'
May God thus help us all to appropriate to ourselves the
divine enablement offered in Romans 8:26. It is ours because of the Savior's
good work in resurrecting from among the dead to import to us His resurrected
life so that we may live 'unto the praise of His glory.'
A few weeks ago we started this series on the text
Ephesians 2:10. Three distinct divisions were given for study based on verses 5
and 6 of this chapter. They were, and are, as follows:
1. Quickened with Christ.
2. Raised with Christ.
3. Seated with Christ
This and next week's bulletin will concern the third and
last division. Our being seated with Christ in the glories means divine
attainment. Dr. A.H. Strong, the Baptist theologian has well said: 'In the
person of the ascended Christ, glorified humanity has attained the throne of
the universe.'
The divine attainment is twofold: that which is positional
and that which is practical. Our message today will concern the positional. The
Greek word chosen by the Holy Spirit to picture our glorified position is
sugkathizo. It means 'to cause to sit with' or 'seated in company with.' It
pictures our being in the same position and on the same level with the one with
whom we are seated. It may be illustrated in this way: a child totally foreign
to a certain family may be adopted into that family. If the child is legally
adopted into this family by due process of court or legal action, that child
has equal rights with any child that may have been or might be born into that
family. They are in this sense seated together. A true believer in the finished
work of Christ, regardless of his or her spiritual maturity, is 'accepted in
the Beloved' and seated with Him. The poet's word is right in saying;
Near, nearer I cannot be,
For in the person of His Son
I am as near as He.
Dear, dearer I cannot be,
For in the person of His Son,
I am as dear as He.
Our being seated with the glorified Savior likewise means
that there will be no more judgment for sin as far as the believer is
concerned. 'Seated with Christ' implies a finished transaction. For this age of
Grace, and in relationship to the believer, the Savior is seated. All work is
finished. There is no judgment to come. This is not so of Israel as a nation;
judgment is coming to them. Is it not interesting to note that when Stephen
(God's last witness to Israel in offering to them their Messiah) was dying, he
saw the Son of man standing on the right hand of God? He is standing as a
judge, for here they (Israel) committed the so-called 'unpardonable sin.' They
must now await the tribulation judgment. It is also interesting to note
position; Scripture so declares in Isaiah 3:13. 'The Lord standeth....to judge
the people.' Note that when God judges Israel in tribulation He pictures the
Savior in this position.
Revelation 5:6 says, 'And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst
of the throne and the four beasts and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb
and it had been slain.' The preceding verse calls Him the 'Lion of the tribe of
Judah' for He is about to come in judgment of Israel and usher in the
tribulation period. To the church this is not true. He is seated, for Hebrews
declares; 'When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high.' Hebrews 1:3.
To you then that are saved, judgment is forever past.
'There is therefore no judgment to those in Christ Jesus.' Romans 8:1. I am
well acquainted with the Scripture that speaks of 'the judgment seat of
Christ.' This, however, has nothing to do with sin and thank God for that.
To you who are not saved, it means that Christ has died
for your sins. You cannot come with your good works for salvation. One payment
has been made. It is all finished. If you are unsaved and are reading this
message, you should accept the finished work and rejoice for your position in
Christ. If you are already a Christian, you should 'rest' in this finished work
and rejoice forevermore that you are 'seated with Christ' and 'complete' in
Him.
Our message today concerns divine attainment by our being
'seated with Christ.' This is a continued message from last week's bulletin.
The message of last week told us that there were two great blessings by this
relationship with our Savior. They were the positional and the practical or our
everyday experience as a result of the position in Christ. There are two
distinct practicalities.
First, because of being seated with Christ we have the
blessed assurance that all things pertaining to our life here on earth must
work together for good. Romans 8:28 TELLS US: '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.' This is a wonderful verse but it is not too often really
understood. It is so easy for both the believer and the unbeliever to refer to
this verse when troubles come. This the believer has a right to do; the unsaved
does not have this right. This verse definitely states 'to them that love
God....who are the called according to His purpose.' However, the Christian has
no right to attach boundaries of time to this verse. If a Christian thinks all
things are for good for his life, he is certainly mistaken. A precious family
left motherless because of death's cold tentacles certainly is for no good if
we think only of this life. This verse has no time limit. If you will carefully
notice, verse 29 reads us into eternity. 'For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate....' 'All things' for the child of God are for good if we include
eternity, or life beyond his earthly calling. Life does not end with the
cessation of earth's activities. Thank God for that. Thus, what a real blessing
for every child of God to know that our Heavenly Father permits life's
experiences for some purpose beyond the grave.
This article will be a continuation of the message in last
week's bulletin concerning divine attainment by our being 'seated with Christ.'
May I ask you to consider something else as related to the
'all things' of Romans 8:28? Open your Bible and look at the 'all things' of
verse 32. Could it be that the 'all things' referred to are those given us by
the Holy Spirit in verses 29 and 30? God foreknew, that is, on the basis of His
decrees; not that He foreknew we would have innate within us the moral fiber to
accept Christ. Oh, no! But because of His decrees He foreknew. Thus He
predestinated, called, justified and glorified us. Again I ask, could these be
the 'all things' of Romans 8:28? They are indeed wonderful. The little things
along life's way could be the means to accomplish His desired end of
glorification. How grand then to rest each case with God knowing indeed that these
so-called 'happenings are ordained of God and for the believer's good. There is
real rest in accepting this. We may have to wait to realize the answers but by
a walk of faith we rest in God knowing that some day we shall realize.
In the second place, there is the real and practical
blessing in being seated with Christ in that the fear of death is removed.
Hebrews 2:14,15 says; 'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage.' It does not say death is removed. It is not Scriptural to say there
is no death to a believer. That is erroneous. 1 Cor. 15:26 says, 'The last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death.' Death is still stalking the land. As a
pastor I hear the death groans every week. The Word of God does teach, however,
that 'the fear' of death may be removed. We may, because of our position and
association with Christ, be delivered from the fear of death. God gives grace
for even this translation from earth's sphere to Heaven's glory. The hymn
writer wrote 'He giveth grace' and "He giveth and giveth again.' For our
bodies to experience the 'sting' gives triumphant glory to the spirit knowing
that we are seated with Him in the glories.
It is glorious to be a Christian and to walk in the
blessing of the finished work of Christ. Thank God nothing remains to be done to
complete our eternal redemption. 'Ye are complete in Him,' 'raised with Christ'
'ascended with Christ' and 'seated with Christ.' Glory in these facts, dear
child of God. Walk about always magnifying the Magnificent One because of His
good works!
(A 10 Minute Video)
How
God Saves Men
Believing
Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing
Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read
Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4
(A 10 Minute Video)
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