Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17,21, “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Peter said in 2 Peter 1:3-4, “3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
Therefore, in conjunction with Paul’s writings in Ephesians 2, disciples of Christ are no longer to live according to the flesh but the Spirit because they have been made God’s masterpiece!
Ephesians 2:1-10, “1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
THE MESSAGE OF GRACE
- Born Dead vs Made Alive in Christ (v. 1 & vs. 4-5)
- The Ways of the World vs. The Ways of God (v. 2)
- Cravings of the Flesh vs. Fruit of the Spirit (v. 3).
- Cursed by Works vs. Saved by Grace (vs. 4-9)
- God’s Masterpiece (v. 10)
BREAKDOWN
Ephesians 4:22-24, “22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
