The sermon, 'Fashioned for Good Works' by Jason Dohm, delves into Ephesians 2, especially verse 10, to explore the concept of being created in Christ Jesus for good works. The speaker emphasizes that salvation is not of works but by grace through faith, eliminating any form of boasting. While works cannot save, they are significant as they reflect God's craftsmanship in believers. The sermon distinguishes between 'good works,' performed in faith and dependence on Christ, and 'dead works,' actions done out of self-interest. Good works are prepared by God beforehand for believers to walk in, emphasizing a life transformed by grace. The speaker challenges listeners to seek humility, recognize the value in seemingly small acts of service, and remain open to God's grand plans for their lives. The ultimate goal is to glorify God through actions that reflect His transforming power in us.

Alright, so sermon text is Ephesians 2. I'll be reading verses 1 through 13, but our text for today is 10. 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 together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together 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. Let's pray.

Oh Lord God, I thank you for these beautiful words. I thank you that you have created us in Christ Jesus and that all of the, everything that we've done, all of the things that you call good are done by you through us. Oh God, I pray that you would help us today to realize even more and more how desperately we need you. And how, Lord, just how poor our attempts at doing good works are when it is without you. Oh God please bless us today, bless this time, please bless Jason as he brings this message.

Help him to preach with your authority and strength And God I pray that you would you would teach us and instruct us today through your word in Jesus name. Amen Title of the sermon is fashioned for good works Paul began speaking of works in last week's text. Not of works. What's not of works? Salvation is not of works.

Not any of salvation is of works. Look again where we were last week in verses eight and nine. 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.

So last week, Paul stripped away all boasting, made it clear that salvation is not of works, not even a little bit. Does that mean that works are bad? No, of course not. It simply means they can never save. Does that mean that works are unimportant?

No, of course not. But our relationship to God is not founded on them. Our relationship for God has been bought with the blood of Christ. That reconciles us with God. Puts us in a right standing with God.

Paul wants us to know that works do have a place, but he wants us to have clarity as to exactly what that place is. So that brings us to verse 10. Let's ask the Lord to help us. Our God, I thank you for the works that do save. Jesus' works.

Perfect works. Undefiled works. From the beginning of His life to the end of His life. A lamb without blemish. To be slain.

To take away the sins of the world. Now God I pray that you would teach us exactly where works fit into the life of your people so that we wouldn't think wrongly about them either in undervaluing them or thinking that they do something that they don't do. Give us this right thinking about good works I pray in Jesus name. Amen. We only have one verse but I am going to divide it.

I'm going to divide it into A, B, and C. So you can sort of see there are three phrases in this one verse. I'd like to start by looking at the first two phrases. Hopefully you still have your finger in Ephesians chapter 2. Let's follow along as I reread the first two phrases.

Paul writes, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Here Paul explains the saving grace of God. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, saving grace fills in those two blanks. Paul explains the saving grace of God. All of what Paul said in last week's text, verses 8 and 9, is true.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, because we are God's workmanship. I am not saved because I have been working. I am saved because God has been working. Workmanship is a perfectly good translation of the Greek word, but listen to what Harold Hohner, our Greek scholar that I'm reading every week, says. He says, the word, The underlying Greek word, which is translated workmanship, is used in classical times for the work of a craftsman, such as the making of a crown.

So think about a crown. This isn't hammer and nails, this is intricate workmanship. This is the work of a skilled craftsman. Think of what kind of a craftsman a king would entrust the making of his crown, too. So believers are God's craftsmanship.

We have the right to think of God bringing the most skillful work to bear in doing these things in our lives. We are God's workmanship, or His craftsmanship. You should think of skilled craftsmanship. If you have saving faith, it is because God went to work on you. To make you willing to believe in your state of spiritual deadness.

You were unwilling to believe in Jesus. You were unwilling, no matter how nice you might have been, you were unwilling to be governed by God. You insisted on being your own king. But God went to work on you if you're a believer, and he made you willing to believe where all that spiritual deadness was, he made you alive. Who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Taking us right back to verse 1. The patterns of your life were in harmony with the God-hating world, and even with the chief rebel against God, but God, who was rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, went to work. God went to work in the face of your deadness and trespasses and sins. Because God is merciful and full of love, He went to work on you. Paul says that God creates the believer in Christ Jesus.

It is faith in His Son, trust in His Son, union with His Son that takes a dead woman and raises her to life. That creates her in Christ Jesus or Him. Paul says the same thing but in an expanded way in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Listen to the way Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. So, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5.17, if you're in Christ, you're a new creation. That's exactly what he's saying in our text. The old things have passed away, everything has become new in Christ, because of trust in Christ, because of union with Christ. And then just a couple of verses later in 2 Corinthians 5.21 we have this verse that we always make our way back to.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That is how we are created in Christ Jesus. Because God took His sinless Son and put the sins of His people on Him. He made Him to be sin for us, that we might receive His righteousness. He deals with our sin so that our debts can be completely swept away and paid in full.

So as a believer, I'm not just a better version of me. I'm not even a much better version of me. Do you understand that if I had done ten times the amount of good and right things that I've done in my life, and ten times less of the things that weren't good and weren't right than I have, I would still be hell worthy. You must believe that. You must believe that.

If you had done ten times the things that were good and right that you have in your life, and ten times less of the things that are not good, that weren't right, but you did them, if you could increase by a factor of ten and decrease by a factor of ten, you would still be worthy of hell. I'm counted as righteous by faith, by trusting in Jesus. I must be born again. I must be created in Christ Jesus. Now what was in God's mind with all this?

Well, let's read again. Go back over this ground again. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works. That's what God had in mind with going to work on the believer, creating the believer in Christ Jesus, joining the believer to his son by faith. He did that for good works.

That believers would now in their newly created state engage themselves in new works. They weren't actually even capable of that, but now they are created in Christ Jesus. They are new creations. The old is passed away. All things have become new and now they are to engage themselves in good works.

At this point we should ask ourselves what in the world are good works? If you miss that, you miss it all. If you are wrong about that, then you are left only with moralism and self-righteousness. God save us from coming away from this text with just moralism and self-righteousness. So let's get the definition of good works right because if you don't understand what the Bible says good works are, this verse is meaningless to you or worse.

So what are good works? Doing good. Good works is doing Okay, good works is doing good. But then who says what is good? Okay, then doing what the Bible says is good, so that God defines good.

Okay, We're warming up, but we're still only halfway there. Consider a phrase used by the author of Hebrews twice. I'm actually going to take you there. You can either go to Hebrews 6 or just listen. The phrase is dead works.

Dead works are the Bible's counterpoint, the Bible's opposite to good works. Listen to Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1. Therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." So in the beginning of Hebrews chapter 6, the author of Hebrews, whoever he may be, lays the groundwork for where he is headed by saying, Let's move beyond these foundational things like, and he gives us the foundational things and the first two things out of his mouth on this list of foundational things is repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Repentance and faith. But repentance of something very specific.

Repentance of dead works. Now listen to what he says in Hebrews 9 verses 13 and 14. Hebrews 9 verses 13 and 14. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, he's talking about the Old Testament sacrifices. Verse 14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the unbeliever from dead works to serve the living God. Meaning no one, no matter how respectable or what they've been doing before the moment of trust in Christ has been serving the living God, they've been serving self. So all those works are dead works. You must be cleansed from all of those dead works in order to serve the living God. Dead works are the works of dead people.

They're done before saving faith. They're done out of and for self. They are not under the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses all the works of a believer. A person who doesn't trust in Christ does all sorts of things that the world looks at and calls good. But God doesn't call them good, but scripture doesn't call them good.

Let me read that again. A person who doesn't trust in Christ, the unbeliever, does all sorts of things that the world looks at and says, good, that's a good work. The example that I've used over and over is Bill Gates and his donation of a billion dollars to get rid of malaria. Have you ever given away a billion dollars? How can any of your works be better than that?

But how must God look at that? God sees a rebel against him who totally rejects him and totally rejects his son fighting against the curse against sin while rejecting the curse bearer Jesus. And God says that's not good. Now Should we be glad that his billion dollars went to alleviate human suffering? I feel justified in being glad about that.

I'm glad about that. But just understand, God doesn't see that as a good work. This man who rejects the curse bearer fighting against the results of the curse is no good in God's eyes. He doesn't earn favor in God's eyes. That work and a million others from unbelievers does not come out of faith at all.

It is a dead work done by a dead man or a dead woman. Meanwhile in Luke 21, this widow puts in her two mites into the temple treasury, and Jesus looks on in awe and commends her. Bill Gates gives his billion. God says that's not good. The widow puts in her two mites into the temple treasury and Jesus looks on in awe of what she's done.

Good works are those works which only those who have been made righteous by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, do out of faith to honor Him. So yes, doing good works means doing the things that Scripture calls good, but there is also this other element, doing those things out of faith, in dependence upon Christ, and for the honor of Christ. This morning I was just thinking about the implications of that. I was reflecting on that being true. I began to pray, let the preaching of this sermon be done out of dependence on Christ and for the honor of Christ so that this will actually be a good work emanating out of the pulpit today.

So to wrap up this section, all human boasting is eliminated. It is God who goes to work on people, creating them in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the good work begins. There is not a good work in anyone's life until God has gone to work on them. Pour it at His grace by making them willing to believe in His Son.

Here's how the Expositors Bible commentary says it. God has worked a new creation in bringing the dead to life in Christ. They now have the capacity to do good, the purpose God had all along in saving them. They now have the capacity. They have been brought from death into life before they didn't have the capacity to even do good in God's eyes, but now they have the capacity.

And That's what God had in mind from the start in saving them. This last phrase in verse 10. You think that means we're almost at the end of the sermon. Ha! I know exactly where I am in my notes.

The last phrase. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. For good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Here Paul explains the good works of believers. If you're taking notes, good works fills in those two blanks. Paul explains the good works of the believers.

He says two things about these good works and explaining them. Number one, God prepared them beforehand. These good works didn't just pop out of the mind of the believer. God actually lined them up, prepared them in advance for the believer. So we're back to God's workmanship.

We're back to God's craftsmanship. We're back to God going to work on the believer. So in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 we learn that saints, believers, were chosen before the foundation of the world. Look back at that. Ephesians 1 verse 4.

Just as He chose us in Him, just as God the Father chose us in God the Son before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So the world hasn't been made yet. God is deciding things. He's choosing. These are people I'm going to set apart for myself, so that they'll be blameless before me as the objects of my love.

Now Paul builds on that and adds to it. God has also prepared good works for those believers beforehand. He chose them beforehand and he prepared good works for them beforehand. Listen to how Paul says it in Philippians 2.13. I know I've been here a number of times.

I'm guessing it's not the last. Philippians 2.13. The last, Philippians 2.13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. No, I did that good work.

I wanted to do it. That came out of my will. For it is God who works in you both to will, both to want, to desire it, and to do for his good pleasure. These are good works that God prepared beforehand. They did not pop out of your mind.

It feels that way, it seems that way, but God works in you, saints, believers, both to will, to desire, to want these things, and to do them for his good pleasure. He's working out his good pleasure. So that's the first thing that Paul tells us about these good works. God prepared them beforehand. Number two, therefore, believers should walk in them because God prepared them beforehand.

Believers ought to walk in them. Listen to Titus 2.14. Again, this is Paul, I think, commenting on Paul. Titus 2.14. He's talking about Jesus and His saving work.

This is Jesus in his saving work, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed, deal with all those lawless deeds, once and for all, paid in full, to purify for himself his own special people. You're mine, zealous for good works. To have a savior like this, to have God go to work on your life, to make you willing to believe, pour out his grace on us, should make us so zealous for good works. Jesus shed His blood to make us zealous to do these things that are good and right according to Scripture, but also to do them in complete and utter dependence on Jesus and for His honor. We should be so zealous for that, because we have such a Savior who has not spared anything.

He shed His own blood for us. How zealous should we be for good works? One thing I should remind us of is the structure of Ephesians, chapter 1-3, theology. Truth about God and man, but really truth about God and how he works to save sinners. And then chapters 4-6, how to live out that theology.

Because chapter 1-3 is true, how should this affect my life? Paul spends the whole second half of the letter to the Ephesians telling us that. The walk of the believer is the major theme in chapters 4, 5, and 6, meaning we're going to encounter that over and over again. Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. So Paul's just breaking up the ground and making us ready for talk about the walk of the believers.

For good works that we should walk in them. Paul's going to develop this. I don't need to pre-preach any of those sermons, I'm just telling you it's coming. So, trace this out. We were dead men doing dead works, But now we're alive.

And we have the capacity to do not only things that are good and right according to the light of Scripture, but to do them in dependence on and for the honor of our Savior. We were that, we are this. We were dead men doing dead works, but now we're alive. And doing alive works, good works. We once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, but now we can walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in.

Verse 10 is really the reversing of all the terrible news from the early verses in the chapter about our dead condition and our walk of then. Now we're alive and we have a completely different walk, a walk in dependence on Christ and for the honor of Christ. This weekend Janet and I participated in the Church of Family Life marriage conference that Scott hosts every year at his house. And last night Joel Beeke preached a wonderful message on the marriage supper of the lamb out of Revelation 19. I thought, this is our text, so I'm going to take you there.

I turned to Revelation 19. It's nice to have Joel Beeke help you with sermon prep. I should have told him that. Revelation 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb. I'll just read verses 6-9.

Revelation 19, 6-9. This is what John records. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering sang, Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.

And her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Let me go back to the end of verse 7. The marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright.

For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." See how this glorious wedding dress is spoken of. God grants Jesus' bride to be arrayed in it. And at one and the same time, it is the righteous acts, the good works of the saints. To Combine this with our text, these righteous acts, these good works were prepared beforehand. And then the saints walked in them, and now it's been given to them to be arrayed in this glorious wedding dress for the marriage feast of the Lamb.

What a privilege. Yes, it is God and it is us. We enter into this. We are given the privilege to do these righteous acts, these good works, and then become a glory to us in our marriage, in our wedding with the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. Think of this.

This is actually so thrilling. There are good works that have been in the mind of God for who knows how long. And He's going to walk you into them and give you the privilege to engage them in complete dependence on his son and for the honor of his son and then you will be in them, will wear them as a beautiful wedding garment. It should thrill us with such a sense of adventure. What has God been thinking of that I don't know about that he's going to walk me into.

And it will have all been made ready by the circumstances that he's brought to pass and he'll walk me into an opportunity to do something in dependence on Christ and for Christ's honor. And then it will be granted to me to bring that to the wedding feast as a righteous act. Because it is God who works in us to will and to do for His good pleasure. What things has God been thinking about for the longest time, and just making little preparations for that He's going to walk you into to give you the privilege to do something in dependence on Christ and for Christ's honor. What is it?

You should want to know. You should walk away from here wanting to know. What is it? I can't wait to find out what God's going to walk me into to do for His honor. That's the implication of this text.

We have the right to wonder that in expectation. What an adventure. Let's let Jesus have the last word? That's always an excellent policy. Matthew 5 verses 14-16.

Matthew 5 verses 14-16. Jesus says, You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket. But on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Jesus is telling us what this is all about. That our lights would shine before the world, before men. That the onlooking world would see these good works that God has walked us right into. He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

That comes from a transforming God. The world looks on and says, that comes forth from a transforming God. There were people who knew us when we were dead. They probably can't believe some of the things that are true of us today. Praise God for that.

Let me give you three applications. Number one, seek and destroy all boasting. Seek it out, look under every rock, And when you find it, kill it. Let me get this straight. God chose you before the foundation of the world.

He raised you from the dead and poured out His grace and brought you to saving faith. And He prepared good works for you beforehand. And now you're proud! That doesn't sound right. It isn't right.

We should seek and destroy all boasting. It's all of Him. It is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. We should thank God at every privilege to do something in dependence on Jesus and for his honor. And for His honor.

What an honor it is. Number two, beware of thinking big. What seem like the smallest good works are precious to our God. Please believe that. What seem to be the smallest good works are so precious to Him.

There are some mothers in this room who are real, live evangelists and disciple makers every day. But for some reason, sometimes it doesn't count in my mind because they don't go farther afield. That's not right. That's not right. It doesn't mean that we should stop with what God has put right before us, but we should certainly start with what's right before us.

And it's good to start with the things that God has laid right at our feet to do. Good works. He prepared them in advance. Janet Dome can at least name six good works that were prepared in advance. They have very specific names and distinct personalities.

It doesn't mean she should stop there, but she should certainly start there, and it's good work. There are some people whose good works are out of sight because they don't do them for the praise of men. We don't know. Brethren, think small. Think of doing what the Bible calls good out of faith for his honor in ten thousand little ways.

A precious life is built that way. Number three, Beware of thinking small. Who are you to constrain what this God might choose to do through you by your low expectations? So we shouldn't despise the small. We should build our lives on desiring to do ten thousand little things according to the Word of God, independence on Christ, for the honor of Christ.

But know this, the God who works in us and through us is very big. And he might have things in mind prepared beforehand, things that we couldn't even dream of that he wants to do through us. So I think it's legitimate to say, point two, beware of thinking small, and point three is beware of thinking big, point three is beware of thinking small. There are pitfalls to each of those things. We should praise God even for walking us into good works that seem small in our own eyes and the eyes of others.

We shouldn't think for a second that our big God is constrained in how he wants to work through us. I hope you'll wonder sometime after the sermon. I hope you'll wonder, maybe for the first time, what has God been thinking about for my life, preparing beforehand for me to walk in. I wonder what that is. God, if these sequential texts that we've been studying teach us anything at all, it's that you deserve all the praise, all the honor, For by grace you are saved through faith, that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For you are God's workmanship. We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them. Thank you for The work of the Lord Jesus Christ that makes us new, all things new, gives us the capacity to do things that are good and right from your Word, and to do them in complete dependence on your son and for his honor. Fill our lives with these things.

Pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Down.