Made Alive for the Purposes of God

If you would, take your Bible and turn back to Ephesians chapter 2. Like I said earlier, we'll be in verses 7 to 10. Now last week we covered and studied and examined the Lord's Supper and we participated in the Lord's Supper last Sunday night. I enjoyed that. It was very worshipful for me. And I did enjoy teaching back through some familiar material on the Lord's Supper, but I'll tell you, I miss being in Ephesians. And it was good this past week to get right back into our verses. So just have your Bible turned there to Ephesians 2 and we're going to dive into verses 7 to 10 here in just a minute.

Now this morning we're going to finish up this first section of the chapter, this first section of chapter 2. Now think about what we have looked at so far. It's been quite a bit. We have looked at the living dead out of verses 1 to 3. I call them the zombies, the death walkers. Those are the truly living dead. And then we studied the alive in Christ in verses 4 to 6. We see that God, by His grace, takes those who are dead in their trespasses and sins and He makes them alive in Christ. And now we're going to finish up this section verses 7 to 10.

Now within this section verses 1 to 10, not only is Paul giving us more of God's master plan for the salvation of man, but he gives us some vital doctrine. And what I mean by vital, I mean it is vital. It is critical. It is all important. And we need to see that if we miss the teaching here, we run the risk of having some bad doctrine and look folks, bad doctrine always produces bad practice. If you find bad practice in the church, you can trace it back to bad doctrine always. We really have three major things.

We have three subjects in verses 1 to 10 that combine, come together to give us some very important teaching, some of the most important teaching in all the scripture. Let me explain a little bit further here. Here we have vital teaching concerning the doctrine of man. Now listen, if we do not understand what God says about man and about mankind and about who we are, we are going to start off bad. I mean really bad. And we are going to get to some of that a little later. We also have critical teaching relating to the doctrine of regeneration.

And look folks, if we miss regeneration, if we miss being converted to Christ, well the consequences of that mistake are eternal, and grievous. We do not want to make that mistake. And we also have vital teaching concerning the reasons why God converts men and women to Christ. And I think many myths are overlooked, what is taught here in verses 7 to 11 and how it all ties together. And I will speak more of what happens if we miss the teaching at the conclusion of the message. But I want us to see what is happening here. I am going to use this familiar approach. I have said this quite a few times.

We know that Paul is unfolding God's master plan for the salvation of man in all of this teaching. We know that Paul is continuing to paint this glorious picture of what God's plan for the salvation of man looks like. Chapter 1, Paul shows us man's salvation as seen and planned by God in eternity past. He also shows us this plan as it is seen and experienced by man in time. And Paul also shows God's salvation plan as it is seen in eternity future. Well, here in chapter 2, Paul shows us man's utter sinful condition before they are made alive in Christ.

And he also shows us the supernatural change that God brings about in a man when they are converted to Christ. Well, this morning Paul will explain to us the reasons why God makes dead men live. Paul will show us God's purposes for converting men and women and young people to Christ. Now a question or two I want you to ponder. Have you ever asked yourself why you were born? If we had a show of hands here, I think most people would raise their hand. I mean, have you ever asked yourself why you were born? Have you ever asked yourself why you have life? Or what is the purpose of life?

You know man and mankind have been trying to answer that question for generations. The purpose or the reason for human life. But I want to be a little more specific. If you are a born again Christian, you've been converted to Christ, you know that Christ Jesus is your Savior. Why did God save you? For what purpose or what purposes did God convert you in His Son Jesus Christ? Why? Why did God do that work for you and in you? You might say, "Pastor, I've never thought about that." But I'll be willing to bet you that some of you in here would say, "Pastor, I've tried to figure that out for years." And these are questions that we need to ask.

These are questions that we must ask and we must answer them biblically and not according to what the world tells us or what some other man tells us. And these questions are answered here in the verses. Paul shows us why God saves us. Paul gives us the purposes. The purposes for which God converts us to Christ. Paul tells us why we were born again and why God did all of this glorious and gracious work in His Son Jesus. Now this leads me to ask you to write down another word. I want you to write down another word.

Back when we covered verses 1-3, I asked you to write down the word "power" and then I asked you to write down the word "biography." Now I want you to write down another word and the word "purpose." The word "purpose." Let me tie all of this together. First the word "power." In verses 1-10, we see the power of God at work in sinful dead men. The living dead, the zombies, the death walkers are made alive in Christ by God. The death walkers who are by nature children of God's wrath are made alive with Christ because of God's great love with which He loved them. So we see the power of God in the verses. Think about this.

Dead men are being made alive. Only God can do that folks. That is the miracle of miracles. Let's look at this word "biography." Chapter 2, we see more biographical information about the Ephesians and about Paul. Paul prays the Ephesians back in chapter 1 verse 15 for their love for God and their love for the saints. In chapter 2, Paul changes his personal pronouns from "you" to "us." In verse 5 of chapter 2, Paul says that even when we, we, were dead in our trespasses and that he is implied, he, that is God, God made us. See the personal pronouns? Paul is saying God made us alive together with Christ. So we see their story.

Paul is telling us their story. This was their story. This was their song. Paul was praising their Savior all the day long. So we see their bio here in chapter 2. And think about it, this is every true Christian's bio. This is. This is every true born again Christian's bio in that they have experienced the power of God and that is their story. And now Paul is giving us another word, the word "purpose." Verses 7 to 10, Paul is showing us the purpose and purposes for which God saves.

You might say, "Pastor, I thought this was all so that we could live our best life now and then we can go to heaven when we die." Or you might say, "Pastor, I thought this was so that God could bless us in this life with health and wealth and prosperity." Well, that is not what Paul tells us here. It's not. Now get this folks, right here, God through Paul is going to tell us the reason and reasons why he saved us. Well, that just leads me to the title of the message. It's a little longer than the previous titles we've had here in this section. We're going to look at what I'm calling made alive for the purposes, purposes plural of God.

Made alive for the purposes of God. Now look at this. Notice how all this flows together. All this flows together to give us God's plan for the salvation of man. The living dead are made alive in Christ for the purposes of God. And we're going to see two big purposes in these verses, two major purposes. I want to go back and read the verses and then we're going to allude to them, look at them a little further as we get into the message. Verse seven, "In order," that's the transitional phrase, "In order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Jesus Christ.

For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Now I said it earlier. We will see that God's people are made alive for two big purposes. So number one, they were made alive for the school of grace. That phrase might surprise some of you. They were made alive for the school of grace. Now we really need to alter that. We need to say that we, if we're in Christ, we are made alive for the school of grace.

If we're not careful, we can say they and never say we. Now I must go ahead and confess that this analogy, this school of grace came from a Bible commentator, William McDonald. I read this back in my study earlier in the week and it resonated with me. I think I preached this to Brother Keith a couple of times over the phone, but I'm going to borrow this analogy and I'm sure I've changed it and added to it and just kind of made it my own. But first, we need to see these important words that start off verse seven. So that, Paul says that God did all of this so that in eternity past he chose men before the foundation of the world.

So that in time after listening to the gospel, these Ephesians believed. So that when Paul was dead in his transgressions, God made him alive together with Christ. So that Paul is saying that God did all of this, all of this, meaning all that he's unpacked in chapter one and chapter two. Paul is saying that God did all of this so that God could enroll all of his people in his school of grace. Now a few questions here. First when is this happening? This school of grace? When is school starting? We see this at verse seven. Look at verse seven, your copy of verse seven with me.

So that in the coming ages, now there's some debate here as to the meaning of this phrase coming ages. But it's a key phrase. Bible scholars say this refers to time or time on earth. But some believe this refers to time after the second coming of Christ. But there are some scholars, they say that it is better to see this as referring to both. Some scholars say this speaks to both time on earth and the time after the coming of Christ all future time, whether it's on earth or in eternity future. Now for me, I think Paul is referring to both. I do. Paul was writing to the Ephesians and he has said that they were made alive in Christ by God.

We've studied that. And Paul is saying that God saved them so that, that's an important phrase, so that, so that he, thus God may enroll them in his school of grace. And Paul is referring to their future or time after they came to faith in Christ. And he is referring to their future after Christ return. Paul is simply referring to their future on earth after they came to Christ. And he is referring to their future after the return of Christ. So that's when the school of grace is happening. Then second, what is happening? What is happening in this school of grace? And we see this in the rest of verse seven. Look back at verse seven.

In order that in the ages to come, he might, this is God, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us. He's all inclusive in Christ Jesus. Here Paul is showing us that the purpose of this school is so that God may show that he may demonstrate that he may reveal and point out what? His grace. But we need to see more. This is not just any old grace folks. This isn't some kind of an average grace or common grace. Paul's piling up words here. He says this is an immeasurable, rich grace. He says this is an exceedingly rich grace. Paul is saying that God's grace is endless. It is immeasurable. It is indefinite.

As one commentator said it. It is not rationed out so that when it is given it is somehow turned off. And this grace is not just for anyone. This might surprise you. This grace is not just for anyone. This immeasurably rich grace is not for all. It is only for those who are in Christ. Look back at verse seven. In order that in the ages to come he, that's God, might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us. Toward us. Paul is saying us. And he is speaking about the Ephesians. He's speaking about the Ephesian believers. He's speaking about himself. So Paul is saying this exceedingly rich grace.

He is saying that it is for those who are alive in Christ. And this grace is in Christ. Notice that at the end of the verse. Now this last part of the verse can be overlooked. But notice what Paul is saying. This is all in Christ and because of Christ. Because these Ephesians and Paul were in Christ, well this work could and did happen because of Christ's work of redemption. You see, it's all centered in Christ. Well the third question. Who will be the teacher in this school of grace? Who will be the teacher here? Well this is simple. God.

Paul says that in the ages to come he, this is God, might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us. Paul is telling these Ephesians that God would be their teacher. God would be their teacher in this school of grace. So notice what Paul is saying here. This is just a summary. Paul is reaching back. He's remembering. He is reminding them of all that he has taught and said in chapter one and so far in chapter two. And he is saying that God did all of this. God did all of this. God did all of this so that. So that. So that he might demonstrate the immeasurable indefinite riches of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus.

In time after our conversion and all throughout eternity, all throughout eternity. And what Paul is saying is this. In God's school of grace, the miracle of God's grace of making dead men alive in Christ will be the subject of God's revelation. And this school has two sessions folks. First this takes place in time and second this takes place all throughout eternity in time and throughout the ages to come. God will be revealing more and more of his grace that was given to his people in and through his son Jesus on the cross. As William McDonald says it, we as believers will be learning forever and forever. Think about that.

We'll be learning in this school of grace for forever and forever and forever. Ultimately, and I'm still quoting McDonald, heaven will be our school. God will be our teacher. His grace will be the subject. We will be the students in the school term will be an eternity. There are several points of application I want to make here. I want to give some lessons. These are rather short. This might provoke some thought for some of you. It should first this teaching this verse and unpacking the meaning here dismisses the notion that when we get to heaven, we'll know everything.

Anybody ever had that thought anybody ever been taught that this dismisses the notion that when we get to heaven as the redeem, we will know everything. See we want here. We see that all throughout eternity. God will be revealing. He will be showing. He will be demonstrating more and more of his immeasurable grace towards us in his son Jesus. But then second, this is limited. This is limited. This is only for those who are in Christ, only for those who are in Christ, but this is also unlimited. This grace, which is being revealed and will be being revealed to us who are in Christ Jesus. It is immeasurable. It is not limited.

It cannot somehow be cut off or rationed. It is immeasurable. Get that in your mind. And then third, this completely blows away any notion of a man centered heaven. Folks, do you realize if we'll just get into the word of God verse by verse word by word, it always obliterates a man centered view of heaven. This is all by God and for God. This is all for God and for the glory of God. This is all God centered and Christ centered and grace centered. It's all about the cross and about Jesus. And then fourth, we must be better students of grace while we're in our first session. See our first session is here on earth. My question for you is this.

Are you a good student of God's grace while you're here on earth? You know, I thought about it like this. You know, sometimes when people are in school, they just coast by. You ever know people like that? You know, you got some that work hard at it. Some study, they prepare and they do their homework. You know, they do all that they can because they want to make the best grade that they can. But you know, there are always those who just coast by. Are you just coasting by in this session of the school of grace? Are you working hard?

Are you working hard to study God's word and to know God and to understand these unfathomable riches that are ours in Christ Jesus? And look, folks, we should be better students of God, better students of his word and better students of this subject, this wonderful subject of grace, God's grace. And so my question for you is this. How are you doing in this first session? You know, when you get your report card for this session is when you graduate to the other side. And see, folks, listen, if you're not a good student in this session, when you get to the other side, it's too late to go back and be a better student here.

Fifth, and this is one I really want you to listen to. Did you know that some Christians are going to be very bored in heaven? No, I'm being real serious and I got a little touch of sarcasm here. Listen, there are some so-called Christians. They're going to be really bored in heaven. You know why? Because while they're here on earth, church is boring. Singing gospel songs and gospel music in church is boring. Small group ministry, Sunday school, you know, Bible study, that's all boring. The preaching and the teaching ministry of the church is boring. See, everything that the church does is boring. They don't want to come.

Oh, they would rather go to the lake or they'd rather go to the ball game. We know people like that. And look, if you'll get honest, you'll look around and they're having fun in the world. And COVID is a good excuse and they're bored with church and the things of God. And what that tells me is this, is those people, if they do get to heaven somehow, they're going to be mighty bored in glory. I don't really think those people do go there. Sixth, and this is another one you need to hear. Some Christians don't need heaven. You know this second session of the school of grace? They don't need it. You know why?

They already know everything down here. They know their theology. They know their doctrine. They know the word. They know everything about church and how you should live the Christian life. They know it all down here. And look, their calling in life is to be a know it all and to tell everybody how they should do it. And you know, those people can come across real spiritual. But if you notice a lot of times, they just can't make it in the life of a local church. They can't. And look, those people don't need heaven. They don't need the second session of the school of grace because they know it all while they're down here.

You know, I thought about something. There's a few words that just come to my mind when we look into this. One word is humility. Don't we see less of man and more of God here? Don't we see less of us and more of Christ and the cross and his grace? Look folks, this is all God centered and Christ centered and cross exalting. And this makes us more and more of who we are. It helps us to see more and more of who we are and makes us see that we're really nothing outside of God's grace. Now a question here. What about verses seven, I mean, excuse me, verses eight and nine. What about verses eight and nine?

How do they relate to verse seven and where do they fit in with God's school of grace? You know, if we're honest and we really look at this, it almost looks like those verses are just inserted. To be honest with you in my study, I struggle with that. How do these verses fit? It's like verse seven goes together with verse 10. Look at it. Look at it in order that in the ages to come, we could see that work of God there. But then in verse 10, for we are his workmanship, but verse eight and nine seem to be just like inserted there. Simply there are two things going on here with verse eight and nine.

First of all, in verses eight and nine, Paul was affirming and Paul was confirming what he had already taught in verse seven. These verses all go together. You can't just pull one verse and leave the rest. But second verses eight and nine, Paul gives the clearest, the simplest, the most powerful statement of the plan of salvation. Now you just heard me say that something I rarely say, plan of salvation. Yes, if there was and is a plan of salvation in the Bible, it is right here in verses eight and nine. And we're going to get to that, that plan of salvation.

Now I am not going to deal with the verses, these verses as the Bible's plan of salvation. I'm going to deal with verses eight and nine as they relate to verse seven. This will be a little quicker here. Here in verses eight and nine, Paul is saying that this is all from God. This is all by God's grace. God, it was God that took the initiative and all that he has done to save men. And in the end, God did a work of grace to bring people into his school of grace. So this is all from God, all from God. Look at the beginning of verse eight. For by grace you have been saved. For by grace you've been saved. What's he saying? It's all of God.

Paul is saying that these Ephesians also knew that they were saved. They possessed God's grace and they knew it. They possessed salvation and they knew it. Look at the rest of the verse. For by grace you have been saved. For by grace you've been saved. Paul was confident. Notice how he says it. For by grace you have been saved. Paul was confident. He was reminding them of the fact that they possessed salvation and they knew that they possessed salvation. And in possessing salvation and knowing so, they knew that they were in God's school of grace.

So they possessed God's saving grace and they knew it, even though they might need to be reminded a little. And also Paul is saying that by faith they received Christ. By faith they received Christ. After listening to the message of the gospel, the truth, they exercised faith in Christ. And this is not of their own. This was a gift from God. You see, even their faith was a gift from God. You know why? Because people who were dead in sin cannot do anything. They can't. Their faith was a gift from God and they demonstrated that faith by doing what? By believing.

So notice, they gained entrance into God's school of grace by grace and through faith. Look back at verse 8. For by grace you've been saved through faith. But we also see that Paul reminds them that none of this was of their own doing. It's almost like he's reminding them. Listen folks, you can't rise up in pride. It was not of their works. They couldn't earn their salvation, nor their faith to believe. They couldn't gain any of this in any way. What does he say? It is a gift from God. And this gift is what got them into God's school of grace, not their works. Look at verse 9. Not as a result of works that no one should boast.

So notice what we have here. I've zoomed through verses 8 and 9. It is almost like verses 8 and 9 were just inserted. They are almost out of place, but they are not. Verses 8 and 9 affirm. And they confirm verse 7. Yes, Paul was giving a simple, a clear, a powerful explanation of God's plan of salvation. But he was affirming what he had just taught by saying that this is all of grace. Salvation is of grace, and God's school of grace is of grace. There's a big lesson here. Big lesson. If you were born again, it's all of grace.

Even the faith that you had to believe, even the faith that you had to somehow cry out to God for mercy, that was a gift. And listen, if you happen to be further along in this first session of the school of grace, let's say you were a mature believer and you've been studying these things for years, even that is a gift from God. It has nothing to do with you. You know, I think about some words that just come to my mind. Humility. Oh, this just humbles us. It just shows us who we really are. This shows us that this is a big God, and it's all Christ-centered. It's all glory of God-centered, you see? Let's continue. I want us to see number two.

They were made alive for the works of God. Paul says they were made alive for the works of God. But just like before, we need to say it like this. We are made alive for the works of God. And I hope that you can say we. Now just like in verses seven to nine, here in these verses, we have an important word. The word for. The word for. Paul says that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for. Paul is saying that God did all that he has been explaining for. In eternity past, he chose men before the foundation of the world for. In time and in human history, after hearing the gospel, these Ephesians believe for.

And when Paul himself was dead in his transgressions, God made him alive together with God. He created Christ for. And you might be saying, pastor, for what? It's right here. He did all of this for his workmanship and for good works. It's right there in the verses. Now there's a lot going on here with this workmanship in good works. First, we have God's work alone in us. We have God's work alone. Look at verse 10 for we are his workmanship. Now if it seems that I'm emphasizing or placing an emphasis on God and God alone, you are right. We have God's work alone in us. That is because of what the verse says.

This word, he is in the original is in the emphatic for we are his workmanship. He has brought us from death to life. Our faith is his faith. It is because of God and the works of God that we are converted to Christ and it is all of and by God. And there's another layer here. This word workmanship. This word workmanship is the word from which we get our English word poem. This speaks of a creation. This speaks of some kind of a work. This speaks of something that has been made. Some commentators think that this speaks of a work of art, meaning that Paul is referring to God's work here in us as a work of art.

Paul uses the same word and idea when he speaks of God's work of creation in Romans 1.20. And we must see what Paul is telling these Ephesian Christians. He was saying that God and God alone made them. Yes, he created them. But more it was God and God alone that created them as new creations in Christ. Of course, we cannot help but think of 2 Corinthians 5.17 where Paul says that those who are in Christ are new creations in Christ. They were made by God and they were made new by God. You know, I can't get past that word in the verse workmanship.

Listen, folks, we must see that if we're born again, if we're in Christ Jesus, we are God's masterpiece in his son Jesus. And you know, some of us might not feel like a poem. Some of us might not feel like a fine work of art. We might feel more like a pile of lumber or a pile of dirty bricks. But we must see that God sent his son to die, that we might be what? His workmanship. In his son Jesus, we are God's masterpiece. And then second, we have God's works for us. Plural works. Look back at the verse.

For we are his workmanship, a masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them or live in them. Now, here we must dispel a misconception that some could have here. Paul is not telling or teaching these Ephesians that God would save them because of some kind of good works. He is teaching them that good works are fruit or a fruit of the lives who are truly saved. Paul is really echoing James. If you know James chapter 2, starting in verse 14, when James says that faith without works is a dead faith. And these Ephesians did have a true saving faith. So what is Paul saying?

We've got to see that. Paul was explaining to these true Christians that God had saved them for, for good works. And not just any works. Not just any works. Not man's works, not the ideas of man, but the works which God himself had prepared beforehand. You see it in the verse? Beforehand meaning they were preordained. They were prearranged. Paul is saying that God predestined and appointed these good works for them, just like he had done for their salvation. We can say it practically like this. Paul was telling these Ephesians that God has a roadmap already mapped out for their lives. Some of you remember what a roadmap looks like?

Paul was telling these Ephesians that God has already made the blueprint for their lives. And what were they to do? They were to live and they were to walk according to the plan, according to the blueprint, according to God's roadmap for their life. But more specific. We've got to ask ourselves, what are these works? What are these prearranged, preplanned, good works which God has prepared for all of his people? You know in my resources some commentators, scholars don't say much and some say a lot. But I thought about how we could break it down basically to get the big picture, the big meaning here. And I see this in two ways.

First, Paul is speaking to personal holiness and godliness. Personal holiness and godliness. You see folks, God expects his people to live, to walk. Remember Paul likes this word walk, talking about living. God expects his people to live or to walk in the life, in a life of godliness and holiness which he has prepared beforehand. Personal obedience, personal holiness, the personal struggle with sin and trials and life on earth that relates to our personal godliness, our personal character if I can use that word. First Peter chapter 1 verse 14, starting in verse 14. Of course Peter is just quoting the Old Testament.

He says as obedient children, in other words children of God, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. What is he saying? You live like you did when you were lost. Verse 15, "But as he who called you is holy," that's God. As God is holy, he called you, you also must be holy in all of your conduct. Peter goes on to say, "Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy." So Paul here is first referring to the work of personal holiness and godliness. You see, the personal work of holiness and godliness. But then second, this speaks to personal service in the kingdom.

When we're converted to Christ, we're children of the king and we're to be workers in the kingdom. And God expects his people to serve in his kingdom on earth and his kingdom on earth is the church. Listen folks, get this. I would almost say, if you only get one thing, get this. His kingdom on earth is the church, the work of the church. The scriptures specifically teach in 1 Corinthians 12 that all believers are given at least one spiritual gift. One spiritual gift. Besides all of your earthly gifts and abilities and talents and resources, these gifts in all that we are are meant to be used where?

In the kingdom, it's meant for service in the kingdom and in kingdom work. And within the New Testament, this is always seen as the church. And to make it anything but the church is to pervert what the scriptures say. So notice what Paul's saying here. He is reminding these Ephesian Christians that they were indeed God's workmanship. In Christ Jesus, God had and was forming them. You see, intentionally, purposely, they were a new creation in Christ Jesus and he was continuing to create them and form them and mold them in Christ Jesus. And he had good works prepared for them, pre-arranged works. And these were not just any old works.

These were the works of God that God had pre-arranged, had predestined specifically for them. And what does he say, "Walk in them, live in them, live in these works, walk in these works." Now for us, we have seen that we are God's workmanship. Yes, we are God's masterpiece. We were created in Christ Jesus and we are being created in Christ Jesus. We are God's masterpiece. We are God's work. Now let me pause here. Look folks, if you are not God's masterpiece and God's work, in that you are continuing to be made more like Christ, you've got to ask yourself if you only have cultural Christianity.

But here we see that God has pre-planned, pre-arranged our good works and we are to live and we are to walk in them. That's all of us. God has our lives mapped out. God has created the blueprint before the foundation of the world. Well, this leads me into a question. How do we find his good works? If they're his and they're created, how do we find them? Those that he has prepared for us, how do we discover these good works and live and walk in these good works? Now I want to speak to this in two ways. One on a purely personal level and then for you and the life of the church. Now ultimately this is all lived out in the church, okay?

But on a purely personal level, I see that we must do four things. First, we, you, must be confident that you are indeed converted to Christ. Look, you cannot do anything in the Christian life unless you are confident that you are converted to Christ. That was Nicodemus' problem in John 3. Nicodemus tried to live the sanctified life before he had been converted to Christ. And I want you to notice what Jesus said to Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, and I'm paraphrasing, if you are not born again, you can't even perceive the kingdom. He said you can't see. It doesn't mean that Nicodemus can't peek over the privacy fence and see into heaven. No.

What Jesus was saying was this. Nicodemus, if you're not converted, you can't even understand it. So you cannot understand these things unless you've converted to Christ. But second, in our walk with Christ, we must confess sin and walk in obedience. We must deal with sin and disobedience. That hinders our walk with the Lord, folks. And then third, we must be committed to prayer in the Bible study. You can't have a personal walk with God unless you're committed to prayer and studying the word, studying the word in prayer. That's a part, an integral part of our walk with God.

And then fourth, you come to God seeking to find the works that He has prepared beforehand for you. You work hard. You seek for them. You want them. You desire them. Lord, I want to know Your roadmap. I want to know the plan, the blueprint of my life. I want it. And then on a personal level as it relates to the church. First, you must be confident that you are in the church that God has for you. You see, folks, you've got to be confident that you are where God wants you to be. Using an analogy here, it's football season. You know, we probably watched a game or two yesterday.

But if I ask you a rather dumb question, you would say, "Pastor, no duh. I know that. Where do football players play?" Where you'd say, "Pastor, on the field." Another term, the gridiron. Basketball season is here and right around the corner. If I said, "Well, where do basketball players play?" Where do you say, "Pastor, on the court?" Baseball players play on the diamond. You get all that. That is the arena in which they play their sport. Well, what we must see is this. We are to find these good works and live out these good works on what field? The arena of the local church, you see?

And so you must be confident that God has placed you where He wants you to be in the life of a local church. And then second, you must be committed to every aspect of the life of the church. How are you going to serve and fire where God wants you to serve if you're ho-hum about coming and plugging your life into the local church? You got to be there. I have a feeling that if you don't show up for football practice, you're probably not going to play in the game. I've known people who would say, "Oh, Pastor, I want to serve the Lord." Well, they're not over here. They're halfway here. They're halfway in and halfway out.

You can't swim in the swimming pool until you jump in. And then third, you must see that God has a place for you to serve in the local church. God's given you gifts, physical gifts, talents, resources. God has made you who you are, the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. And He has given you what? Spiritual gifts. And He wants you to use all of that in the life of the local church. You might say, "Pastor, that's not enough. I need some more help." Fourth, make yourself available to the leaders of the church. Look, it is not that the leaders of the church are God. No, we're not.

But God has placed us here in the life of the church. And look, you go to the leaders of the life of the church and you say, "Pastor, I want all this. I want to find that roadmap. I want to be used. I want to serve in the life of the local church." Let me tell you something. If you do that and you grab that tiger by the tail, it will be glorious for you. I want to share with you a little personal testimony. This might make us go a little longer and I'm apologizing and I will be rebuked for apologizing. But I want to share this with you. When I came to faith in Christ, now listen, I wasn't very religious. I've said it jokingly.

I really didn't know Job from Job. I knew the Old Testament and New Testament. But boy, when I came to faith in Christ, God radically changed my life. And you know, I couldn't study the Bible for an hour or two or three, no. But oh, I love God's Word and I love the church and I love God's people and it didn't matter what was going on at church, I was going to be there. I came to Wednesday nights, Sunday morning, Sunday nights, Tuesday night visitation. If there was a special service, a revival meeting, I was there. I was there at Sunday school. I loved the Lord. I loved God's people. I loved the work of the church.

Anything Brother Dennis led us to do, I did it. He was my pastor. But one day I walked into his office and I volunteered. My wife was there. We weren't married at the time. And Brother Dennis leaned forward and he said, "We will put you to work." And let me tell you, when I did that, I grabbed the tiger by the tail. And I mean in a good way. The Lord started opening up my eyes and I started seeing what I was made for, what I was supposed to do in this world. You might say, "Well, Pastor, you're just talking about ministry." No, God called me into the ministry way later and I got great joy by doing things for the Lord. I could not believe it.

I was being used by God in the life of my local church. Sometimes it was just driving the church bus. I did it for the glory of God and I loved it. And I cannot explain to you what it did for me in my walk. Now let me share something with you that might sound heretical. Oh, I grew in the Lord by listening to preaching. I grew by studying the Bible. But yet when I submitted to my pastor and the work of the church and I was put to work, I grew exponentially.

And I have a strong confidence that if you will find yourself in the place whereby you can plug in where God wants you to be and the life of the local church where He wants you, your life will take off. Now if you're not converted, it won't. If you're walking in greed, you're seeing it won't. Now I want to begin to conclude by sharing two things here. First I want to mention what happens if we miss this teaching. This is going to be real brief. And then second I want to share with you the next message in our study of Ephesians. This will be brief.

We must see that if we do not understand verses 1 to 10, we run the risk of missing two of the most important doctrines in the scripture, the doctrine of man and the doctrine of regeneration. Listen, folks, if we truly understand that man is dead and in need of a miracle from God for our salvation, then we will stay away from all of the gimmicks, all of the tricks, and all of the man-made ways so many in the church use to try to get people to get saved. You see? And we don't do that here. And if we miss these things, then we miss conversion. We miss regeneration. We miss the new birth.

We miss the fact that our sons and our daughters need to be made alive with Christ. Our sons and our daughters do not need to pray a prayer. They do not need to join the church. They do not need to be baptized. If they are outside of Christ, they are dead in their sins, and they need to be made alive in Christ. And somehow they'll cry out in faith and in belief, and they'll confess Christ, and then they will join the church. And we believe they will be baptized because we'll lead them down that path. And folks, listen, if we miss these things, we lose the gospel. We lose evangelism, and we lose souls.

And I don't understand how to rectify that with the fact that God is sovereign, but it's true. And also, if we do not understand these verses, we as God's people, we will not see that we are His workmanship. I think many miss verses 7 to 10. The fact that we were and we are created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works, which He prepared for us. And listen, so many miss their purpose in life, their purposes, because they do not understand this teaching. They're just floating out there. Now I'm going to talk a little more about these things, and I want to share with you how we're going to do that.

Just like when we covered verses 1 to 14 in chapter 1, remember I offered some lessons. Lessons. I talked back into some meaning of what it meant to us, some application. And so what I'm going to share with you is this. The next time we meet together, we're going to look at some lessons out of these verses because we've got to understand further what this stuff means. Last time when we did that, I called it lessons from the blessings. Remember the bountiful blessings? We know I've been pondering this, verses 1 to 10. Would this be lessons from the graveyard? The living dead? Zombies? The death walkers? Lessons from the graveyard?

No, I think it would be more like lessons from the grace yard. The grace yard. So look what we've studied. We've looked at the living dead, verses 1 to 3. And we've looked at the fact that we are made alive in Christ, verses 4 to 6. And here in verses 7 to 10, we see that we are made alive for the purposes of God.