Ephesians study week 2

But God….

Apart from Christ we are spiritually dead

Ephesians 2:1-32 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course^[a] of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1. We were dead

2. We were disobedient

   We followed the World 

   We followed Satan 

   We followed our sinful desires  

With Christ we are spiritually alive 

Ephesians 2:4-7⁴ But^[a] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

1. God’s Character

2. Gods Work 

3. God made us alive in Christ 

4. God raised us up with Christ 

5. God seated us with Christ

6. God will dispense grace forever to us in Christ 

In Christ we are His workmanship

Ephesians 2:8-10 ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

1. Salvation is a gift

2. No one can boast 

3. Salvation results in good works 

2. Our Shared Identity as believers 

   1. Alienation: Who we once were

Ephesians 2:11-12 ¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

1. Christless 

2. Foreigners 

3. Hopeless and godless

Reconcilliation: What Christ has done.

Ephesians 2:13-18 ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

1. Christ has brought us peace 

2. Christ has made us one

3. Christ preached peace

4. Christ has given us access to God

Identification: Who we have now become

Ephesians 2:19-22 ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,^[a] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by^[b] the Spirit.

1. Citizens of the Kingdom 

2. Members of God’s family 

3. Stones in God’s Temple