His Workmanship

Good morning. Would you all stand? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this morning, those of you online. I told First Service this morning, I'm Ryan Sr. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come and worship in song, Lord Jesus. Would you bless our time together as we worship, study your word? Lord, we just want to lift up

all that goes on here today that you'd be glorified. The children's church teachers, as they teach the youngsters and the youngsters, as they listen. The nursery workers, as they look after the little ones and bless their time with them and the toddlers. We ask that you bless the ushers too as they do what they do out there, Lord. And we give you thanks and lift our time to you.

Worship Him now. How great, how awesome is He. We sing His glory. We sing His renown. Father, we thank you for the fact that the joy of the lord is our strength you give us that joy you're holy lord and we thank you we give you praise this morning father i just lift up each year this morning that you give us a heart of worship by faith whatever we may be going through this morning lord whatever we're facing

lord we look to you we need your help and everything that goes on amen and our hearts can be weary they can be encouraged but you're the same yesterday today and forever amen praise your lord jesus i searched the world and treasures that fade is now satisfied god does his work in each of our hearts as we yield to him we're not yielding he's still working because he loves us father we thank you for the joy we have in you we thank you for the joy we have in you we thank you for the joy we have in you we thank you for taking us just as we were and changing us transforming us lord as we search for something to confide in and if it's only as your holy spirit drew us that we

could confide in you that was the word of true peace could come and we thank you for that lord and oh lord whatever giants we're facing just like you gave david the strength he needed to face goliath he'll give you give us each what we need to face whatever giants that are in front of us may we trust you lord god is so much bigger people's eyes is so much bigger because they know there is nothing for god that's impossible there's no time thank you lord jesus thank you lord jesus oh father we thank you lord for the work of your holy spirit lord that you do in each of our lives thank you for what you're doing lord we thank you that we're the clay you're the potter you're the canvas you're the artist you're doing the work lord we thank you

known and like god and the sin is dead i'm a stick and a potter in the clay and i know nothing has been wasted little dr mcgee used to say as long as you're on topside this earth you're not finished with us we yield it to you lord to be used of you lord god for your glory oh father we just we just thank you so much for your joy for the work of your holy spirit for helping us face the giants because you're the potter we're the clay you're the artist we're just simply the canvas that you work on the heart and as we see ourselves in you may we continue to be encouraged to abide would you stand with me this last song i depend on you i depend on you i depend on you that's our prayer this morning

and we struggle with abiding because that means we have to trust and various things get in our way of trusting we need your help with that lord we know what your scripture says trust in the lord with all thine hearts leave not until i know and understanding but all thy ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your paths but oh lord we do struggle when we know you're faithful so lord each little small thing that comes ahead each giant thing that goes before us lord as we abide and trust as the tribulations happen lord as it produces perseverance perseverance character and character hope LORD we begin to know experiencially that we that we can abide you work it in our lives you're god in heaven won't ever leave you alive god i amen either样

You work it in our lives. Oh, work amongst us this morning as we hear your word taught. Anoint Ryan by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word, Lord. And Lord, we look to you, the author and finisher of our faith, and we give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen? The Lord bless you all. Let's have some fellowship.

Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm so glad that you're here this morning. If this is your first Sunday, welcome. We're glad that you could be with us. If this isn't your first Sunday, it's good to see you again, too. Some things to take note of in your bulletin, over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, are the things that are going on throughout the week. The biggest change that will take place this week

is that any Wednesday night activities this week are canceled because of VBS. So there won't be any youth group or kids or adult church that night because of Vacation Bible School. That being said, starting the Wednesday after, just so you're aware, we're starting a new series on VBS. We're starting Wednesday nights, that first Wednesday in August. The series is going to be on how to study your Bible.

We'll do a three-week series on that. So if you're interested in getting into that, come join us as we kind of go through the basics of what it looks like to get into God's Word and study it for yourself. Okay, over in the middle section of your bulletin, again, Vacation Bible School is this week. There are still some spots available. So get some kiddos signed up

if you've got kids that haven't gotten signed up yet. However, make sure I say this correctly because I'm looking at my event planner. I'm looking at my event planner. I'm looking at my event planner. I'm looking at my event planner over here. After tomorrow, if you sign up through tomorrow, kiddos get a free t-shirt. Did I say that right? Through today. After today, you have to sign up by today

and then your kids will get a t-shirt. You can still come. There's no free t-shirt that way. And then if you are one of the people that is going to serve in Vacation Bible School, there is going to be a meeting right after church down at the other end of the hallway in the Agape room to go over just some details about when you need to be and where you need to be and things like that.

The second thing to take note of is the Bible conference is coming up August 3rd through the 5th up at Calvary Chapel of Johnson County. Again, I cannot tell you enough how much you should go to this conference because it's going to be really good. It's a free conference. You just got to provide your own lodging while you're up there. And then August 13th, a baptism at Prairie View Christian Camp.

It'll be a baptism slash camp. Cover dish from 5 to 8. Bring some food to share. Bring a chair because we've learned that that's a really important thing to have with us out there. And if you've not been baptized before, please come talk to me. I'd love to talk with you about that. And then one last thing. Starting in August, August 29th through November 28th,

there's going to be a series that takes place here at church. It's called Grief Share for those that have experienced loss in your life. It's a great program that's going to be headed up by Holly and Melinda. And it's not just going to be for our church. We're going to advertise to all the churches in the area. So if you know somebody that's gone through a difficult time

since they've perhaps lost a loved one and you think that this would be good for them, please guide them that way too. So all the information is right there in the bulletin about who to get a hold of and how to sign up for that. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. For our responsive reading this morning,

we're going to be in Psalm 138. Psalm 138. We'll be looking at the New American Standard for the responsive reading just so we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in your row. And as you are turning to Psalm 100, turning to Psalm 138, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word if you are able to.

Psalm 138. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Glenn and the even verses. For those that don't know, this is Glenn Davis. He's one of our deacons. He's usually back here. He's usually sitting right there. Or he's teaching your kids in Sunday school. But today, he's my responsive reading buddy. So Psalm 138, a Psalm of David. I will give you thanks with all my heart.

I will sing praises to you before the gods. I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your loving kindness and your truth. For you have magnified your word according to all your will. All your name. On the day I called, you answered me. You made me bold with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth will give thanks to you, O Lord,

when they have heard the words of your mouth. And they will sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is exalted, yet he regards the lowly. Haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand will save me.

The Lord will accomplish what concerns me. Your loving kindness, O Lord, is everlasting. Do not forsake the works of your hands. And Father, I thank you for that promise that you are the God who accomplishes what concerns us. Lord, you care about the things that we care about, and you are at work in our lives, Lord, both to will and to do according to your good pleasure.

And so, Father, as we look at the work that you have done and are continuing to do in our lives this morning in the book of Ephesians, Lord, would you open up the eyes of our understanding, Lord, to know the hope of your calling, the glorious riches of your inheritance in the saints, and that mighty power that works in us, Lord, that same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead at work in us. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 2.

Ephesians, chapter 2. As we continue on in the book of Ephesians, looking at our riches in Christ, our position in Christ, we started into sort of a new section last week with Ephesians, chapter 2. And Paul told us that we had been dead in our trespasses and sins. We said that those two words, trespasses and sins, were really important words because a trespass is the purposeful crossing of a line or crossing of a border.

It's more rebellion. And sin is to miss the mark, and so it's more of a failure. But whatever it is, whether it's direct rebellion or simply failure on our part, each of us is dead in those trespasses and sins. And we walked in them. We walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and we walked according to our flesh.

But then we were told that God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with him, seated us in heavenly places, raised us up with him and seated us in heavenly places so that for the rest of, eternity, he could show us the amazing grace that he used in our lives. And so as we come to verses 8 through 10 of Ephesians chapter 2, what he does is he sort of caps off that section with this summary phrase about God's work in our life. I really wanted to try to add it to last week's, but it was just too much because these verses 8 through 10 are a lot. And so I've given them a title.

The title that I've given for this morning's message is simply His Workmanship. And so as we come to verses 8 through 10, of chapter 2, this is what it says. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, as we look at this aspect of His workmanship, there's really two things that I want to point out to us from these three verses. The first thing that I want to point out to us is that you have been saved. The second thing that I want to point out to us is that we are His workmanship. And so under this aspect of the fact that you have been saved, there's seven things that I want to point out to you, but I want to once again read the verse so that you can really gain the context of what's going on here.

Verse 8, it says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift, the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. This is my disclaimer about this morning's message, is that what we deal with in these verses is what I call holy ground. Because there is so much in these verses, there's so much here to unpack, and so I'll do the best that I can to give you what God's Word has to say here, but have you ever been given a really big stake and you're like, where do you start on this bad boy?

Because there's a lot to take in. That's kind of what this is like. And so as we look, if you look at this aspect of we have been saved, there's seven things that I want to point out to you, seven words or phrases that I think are important for us to pay attention to in the understanding of this verse. Number one, you have been saved. Number one, you have been saved.

Now, as you look at this, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. We realize that the subject of these verses is our salvation. So I wanted to define that for us. I looked up the word to see what it meant. And in the Greek, the word saved means, to keep safe or to rescue from danger. It can also mean to be delivered from judgment. Kenneth Weiss translates it like this.

You have been saved in time past completely with the present result that your salvation persists through the present time. Let me tell you what it means when he says that. You have been saved and now you're saved forever. It is a reality that the believer in Jesus Christ lives in. And what have we been saved from? We have been saved from judgment. We have been rescued from the judgment that is to come.

And as believers in Jesus Christ, that's the position that we are in, is we are in the position of having been saved. But how did that take place in our lives? Well, that's what he points out to us in this verse. He tells us that we have been saved, number two, by grace. By grace. By grace. Now that word grace is a really important word. As a matter of fact, it's a word that's used a lot in churches.

It's a word that's used a lot in this church. And so I started doing, once again, a little bit of research into the word. Now the word grace literally means unmerited favor or unearned favor. Vine's dictionary puts it like this. Grace means favor on the part of the giver, gratitude on the part of the giver. Gratitude on the part of the receiver. All of the favor comes from the giver.

Only gratitude comes from the receiver. Now, I got to thinking about this word. And so I like to look words up. I like to figure out all of its usages. So I have this Bible study program on my computer. It's called Olive Tree Bible. And it has this little search bar where I can look up words throughout the Bible. So I typed in the word grace. And as I typed in the word grace and hit enter,

it popped up all of these references to grace throughout Scripture. And I thought, I don't have time to tell you about all of them. So I'm just going to tell you about two of them. Two that I think are really, really important. One is the very first time that grace is used in Scripture. Do you know the very first time that the word grace is used in Scripture?

It's used in the book of Genesis. As a matter of fact, when grace is used in Genesis, it's used of one man and his name is Noah. You see, in Genesis, after the creation, there was the sin. And after there was the sin, there was the debauchery of sin that took place with Cain murdering his brother Abel. And then we see that mankind continued to follow a sinful pursuit.

And so there's this one chapter that I call the state of the world address, in which God goes through all of the things that are going on in the world and that mankind had fully turned against God to the point where God said, I have to do something about it. And I'm going to start over with the family. And as God lays out all of the debauchery that's going on in the world, there's this one bright spot in the entire chapter. And the bright spot is this.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And it's kind of interesting, isn't it? Because when Noah found grace, you know what God provided for him? God provided for him salvation. Because his salvation is that he was delivered from the judgment that was to come. Isn't that kind of amazing? That that's the first time that the word grace is used. The first time the word grace is used

is when someone is receiving salvation from judgment. They were rescued from danger. You see, God provided salvation for Noah through a boat. A boat that he would coat the inside of with pitch or atonement, if you will. And it protected him from the waters of judgment because of the judgment that God was bringing upon the earth at that point in time. Now, I bet you're thinking to yourself,

of course God showed Noah grace. Noah was an amazing guy, was he? You know what's true about Noah? Noah was a pretty great guy, but Noah had a problem in his life. Do you know that? Noah had a drinking problem. A lot of people don't realize that unless you read a little bit more into the book of Genesis. Because you know what happens after the flood? You see, after the flood,

Noah comes off of the ark. And after he comes off of the ark, the first thing that he does is he plants a, do you remember this? He plants a vineyard. And do you know what he does with the vineyard? He makes wine. Do you know what he does with the wine? He drinks the wine. You know what the wine causes him to do? To get drunk. And do you know what he does? It says he became uncovered.

Now, we don't exactly know what that means because no Hebrew scholar that I've ever read has a firm understanding of what that means. But we do know that there was debauchery in the vineyard. Whatever he did caused some serious problems for Noah. You see, Noah had a drinking problem. Therefore, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You see, Noah was not a great man

because Noah was a great man. Noah was a great man because of God's grace in his life. Now, there's a second usage of the word grace that I would like to tell you about. The second usage of the word grace comes in John chapter 1. In John chapter 1, as John says, John is laying out the background of Jesus. He says, Isn't it amazing that the first major usage of the word grace

in the New Testament comes when we are being told about the giver of grace who would ultimately deliver us from judgment. Isn't that amazing? Why? Because you and I need salvation. We need saved from judgment. We need rescued from the danger that's to come. And the only way that we can be rescued is by grace. By God's unmerited favor being showered upon us in our life.

By God's unmerited favor being shown to us in our lives. There's one more definition for grace that I would like to give you. And if I remember correctly, it was out of the Amplified Bible. It says this, God's remarkable compassion and favor. God's remarkable compassionate favor because that's what he shows to us. Because we are undeserving of God's grace. He says,

You have been saved by grace. The third thing that I would like to point out to you is that it says it is through faith. It is through faith. We access God's grace through faith. And so you're probably asking yourself right now, Well, Ryan, what's faith? I'm glad you asked because I'm going to tell you whether you wanted to know or not. Faith is the conviction of the truth.

Faith is the conviction of the truth. It is the truth of anything or belief. It is an assurance or a guarantee. Let me put it to you in a really real world scenario. Okay? Each of you, each of you showed faith in something when you walked in here this morning. Do you know that? Each of you walked in and you looked at the chair that you were about to sit in and you said,

Pretty sure it's going to hold me. And then you exercise that faith. You exercise that assurance or guarantee that belief that something is true. And then you sat down. That's right. The first step of faith you took when you got to this building this morning is that you sat down. And you know what? Your faith, at least as far as I can tell, proved to be true.

Now, if that chair broke, you would have a crisis of faith, right? Because what you thought you could believe in, you couldn't believe in anymore. But that didn't happen for any of you. All of the chairs held you up. That's faith. See, sometimes we make faith way harder than it needs to be, right? We turn it into a word. We're like, oh my gosh, I have to have enough faith.

I just have to, I just have to try harder to have more faith because after all, if I've just got enough faith and Lord, I want to have faith. And it's like, dude, faith's not hard, okay? Quit making it hard. Faith is just believing what you know to be true. Faith is just believing what has proven to be true in your life. And we access God's grace by faith. Grace is the power.

Faith is the access to the power. You have been saved by grace through faith. The next thing that I want to point out to you is this. It says, it is not of yourself. It is not of yourself. For by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's important that we understand that this salvation and this grace is not from me as a source.

It is not because of the efforts that I have put into anything. Anything. Why is that important to take note of? Well, remember we said that we were dead in two things. Do you remember what those two things were? All right, it's test time. Remember what those two things were? That was where you participate. Trespasses and sins. Trespasses, rebellion. Sin is a failure.

It's a missing of the mark. Why can salvation not be of your own efforts? Because each of us is a sinner. What did Paul tell us in Romans chapter three, verse 23? He said, all have sinned. They have missed the mark and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, it can't be according to your works. Why? Because you are not good enough. You're not good enough to achieve salvation

because all of your works always fall short. All of your works will always fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, it is not from you as a source. It's from God. And that brings us to number five. For it is by grace, you have been saved. You have been saved through faith, not of yourselves. Number five, it is a gift of God. It is a gift of God. Now, this word gift here, again,

is kind of an interesting word because the word gift here, as you look it up in the Greek, actually means this. The word gift means a sacrifice or an offering. Now, I found that to be kind of an interesting word for gift. It's a gift that God uses because typically sacrifices and offerings are brought by us to God. Am I right? We bring a sacrifice of praise.

We bring an offering of tithes. We bring all of our things to God. But when it comes to salvation, it's God's sacrifice or offering for us. Well, when did God make a sacrifice or an offering for us? Well, he made a sacrifice for us on the cross, right? It was his own free will offering for us that brought salvation into our lives. You see, it is by grace we have been saved through faith,

not of ourselves because it is a gift. It is a free will offering that comes from God, only it's not free in that it didn't cost anything. It's free in that it didn't cost us anything. It cost him everything. But as far as we're concerned, it is a gift that has been given to us. And again, I love the way that the Amplified Bible translated this. It says, it is a gift given by God

with no strings attached. It's a gift. It's a gift given by God with no strings attached. You know what we're used to in life? We're used to there being strings attached, right? What does everybody say when you sign a contract? Did you read the fine print to make sure that there wasn't some other thing that was, oh my gosh, I didn't realize that part. Now I'm on the hook for this for this many years.

I didn't realize that because I didn't read the fine print. Listen, with God, there's no fine print. He put it all in really big, bold letters when he gave us a gift with no strings attached. He just gifted it to you. And he did it because he wanted to. It wasn't something we could earn. It wasn't something we could do. It's just something he wanted to do. It's just something he wanted to give to us.

For it's by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. The sixth thing that I want to point out to you is this. It is not of works. It is not of works. Again, let me read this to you in a very literal translation. It is not from a source of works or your attempts to keep the law. It's not from a source of works or your attempts to keep the law.

Friends, for some reason, it is innate within us as human beings to want to keep a checklist. We talked about this a lot in the book of Galatians. We like to keep the checklist of the things that we do. To say, this is what I earned. This is what I did. These are the things that I earned. And we love to keep that checklist. And the reason why we like to keep that checklist

is first of all, it makes us feel better. Second of all, it's something that we can hold over other people and say, look what I did. But the free gift of God cannot be earned by your works. You know what that means? It means you can't earn it by getting baptized. I need us to understand something. And I had this conversation. With anybody that ever wants to get baptized,

I tell them, you understand that this does not save you. If you never get baptized, but your faith is in Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Because salvation is a gift that comes directly from God. Baptism is a step of obedience. It's really important, but it doesn't save you. Communion does not save you. Attending church does not save you. Going to a confirmation class does not save you.

Owning a Bible does not save you. Being able to memorize scripture does not save you. Some of those are good things to do, but they do not save you. Because there is no work that you can do to earn God's salvation. Why? Because your works always fall, what do we say? Short. Believer's Bible commentary told an amazing story. It's just a story. It's not true, but an interesting story to pay attention to.

He said, imagine if you will, that a boat takes off in the ocean. And on that boat, there's three guys. One's an Olympic swimmer. One's an okay swimmer. One guy's never swam in his life and doesn't know how to. The boat gets stuck out in the middle of the ocean, 1,500 miles from land. And all three of them know that the only way that they're going to get saved

is to try to swim it out. So they all three jump into the water. The guy that can't swim, he lasts about five minutes. Because he can't swim. Only now he's just swimming with the fishies, right? The second guy, he lasts a little bit longer. He makes it about 20 or so minutes. But again, he's not that strong of a swimmer. He doesn't do it that often. Finally, his body gives out and he drowns.

But then you've got that third guy, the Olympic champion, right? Everybody's like, he's going to be fine. He makes it about 200 miles. And then he drowns. All of them fell short of the mark. Some got a little closer than others. But still, everybody fell short of the mark. And brothers and sisters, that's what we have to understand. If you're sitting here thinking,

nah, I'm pretty sure it's a work system. I think I have to earn my salvation. Listen, you need to know something. You can't. You may do better than everybody else in this building. You'll still fall short. You may do more than everybody else in this country. You'll still fall short. You know why? Why? Because you can't earn your way to heaven. You can't work your way to salvation.

You can only be given it by God through his grace. And brothers and sisters, too many people in the church today are living according to a works-based system. And they think, as long as I attend church, as long as I'm taking communion, as long as I'm crossing my T's and dotting my I's, I almost said that backwards, as long as I'm doing all those things, I'm going to be fine. And you know what?

They're as lost as the most pagan person on the street. Because you cannot earn your way to Jesus. If you don't believe me, let's look at some scriptures. Now, I'm going to have you do a little turning. So get your fingers ready. I want you to go over to the book of Romans.

Romans chapter 3.

I want you to look at verse 27. Oh, the sweet sound of pages turning. Keep going. Romans chapter 3. Until you get there, then stop. Romans 3.27.

Romans 3.27 says this. Where then is boasting? It's exclaiming. Included. By what kind of law? Of works? No. By the law of faith. See, the law of works won't get us anywhere. It's only by the law of faith. Jump over to chapter 4, verse 4 of the same book. Probably just look down the page. It says, Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as favor or grace,

but as what is due. See, here's the problem with works. Once we think, oh, I've done enough, we tell God, you owe me salvation now. I've worked enough. I've done enough for that. I've done enough that I'm pretty sure that I can be saved. Have you ever known somebody and they pass away and you're like, man, if anybody could have earned their salvation, it was them.

They're the best person I know. You know what the problem is? No, they couldn't. No, they couldn't. Because then it would be a wage and it wouldn't be a favor. It wouldn't be grace any longer. Go with me another place. Romans chapter 11.

Romans chapter 11, verse 6.

Romans chapter 11, verse 6 says this. But if it is by grace, it's no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. See, if it's works, it's no longer grace. It's just what God owes you. Go with me one more place. Galatians. Chapter 2, verse 21.

Galatians chapter 2, verse 21. This is Paul. This is the book we just finished right before we got into Ephesians. Notice what he says. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. And to me, that's the greatest nail in the coffin of anything that is our works. As we say, if I earned it, then why did Jesus die?

If it's something I have to do to earn or something I have to do to maintain, then why did God put His Son through that? Then why did Jesus have to go through the cross? Then why in the garden did Jesus say, Lord, if there's any other... then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Your will be done. It's because there was no other way. The only way was through

Jesus Christ and the grace that He gave to us. For by grace, you have been saved. Through faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works. Why? And this is the last point. No boasting. So that no man may boast. Go back to Ephesians chapter 2. So that no man may boast. And again, this comes back to the heart of why we like legalism. Of why we like the law.

We like legalistic systems. Why? Because we want to be able to boast about what we do. We like to be able to boast about what we did. Right? I was telling this story to Aaron the other day. We were discussing it. I was reminiscing not only about this, but about a study I'm going to be doing. I was reminiscing not only about this, but about a study I'm going to be doing.

I was thinking about a story about a girl that she used to nanny for. When I first met Aaron, she nannied for a family. They had three kids when we first started dating, but then they had another little baby after that. But when we first started dating, this little three-year-old girl, right? She was so cute. And when she wanted to do something herself, she'd say,

No, Alan, I can do it by my own big girl self. Right? Because she wanted to be able to do it. Now, why did she tell Aaron, No, Alan, I can do it by my own big girl self? Because she wanted to be able to say, Look at what I did. I did that all by myself. We're the same way. Oh, sure. I may not say by my own big girl self, because I'm a boy, but I would still say,

Look what I did all by myself. Look what I did, God. Look what I did for you. Look how I earned my own salvation. I did it all by myself. Well, you know what happens with little kids when they start saying, Look what I did all by myself. You go, Hmm. Because they really didn't do anything. And ultimately, they need your help. See, it has to be of grace so that no one may boast.

Can you imagine how horrific heaven would be if everybody boasted about how they got there? Right? Like heaven, actually, that would be hell. Right? Hell is going to be a place where people boast about how they got there. Well, let me tell you about my story. You know what I did to get here? We don't care, Earl. Shut up, okay? We're all tired of hearing the story.

We know how you got here. We know how you got there. Nobody likes you anyway. That's what heaven would be like if you could earn your way there. It would be awful. And listen, no flesh can glory in God's sight. Right? So that we may not boast. I'm just going to quote it again because I don't think we can hear it enough for it's by grace that you have been saved through faith

and not of yourself. It is a gift from God. And it's not of works. Lest anyone should boast. You have been saved. Number two, we are His workmanship. We are His workmanship. Notice what it says in verse 10. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Again, five things I would like to point out to you.

Number one is the word workmanship. Workmanship. Now that word is a really important word. That word is the Greek word poema. Now, I think it's spelled correctly now. I spelled it incorrectly in the first service because, well, I fall short of God's glorious standard, right? And sometimes the Greek language standards. But this word poema is a really important word.

The word means that which has been made a masterpiece or a work of art. Poema is where we get our English word poem from. And some people will say, we are God's poem. Now, the problem is, I think we have to go farther than just calling us God's poem. Because really it carries with it the idea that we are God's greatest work of art. We are His masterpiece. I want you to think about the amazing creations, right?

We just got back from Colorado a couple weeks ago. And mountains are always awe-inspiring to me. I suppose it's because I grew up in Kansas where everything's flat, right? And when I see a hill, I'm like, ooh, a hill, right? Or you see a valley, you're like, oh, trees and a valley, oh, a river, right? But it's still hot and nasty outside. Then you go to Colorado,

and I'm always just, I'm always just, my breath's kind of taken away when you first see them. You're like, oh, it's just amazing. And the more you drive through it, I can't help it. Sometimes I make Aaron drive because otherwise I'll drive off the road because I'm like, ooh, look at that one, right? But I'm just taken in by God's amazing work of creation. But it doesn't say the creation is His masterpiece.

I think of the power of nature, but it doesn't say nature. Nature is His masterpiece. It says that you are His masterpiece. That you are His work of art. Now, I want you to think about what that looks like. Do you realize that we're told that before the foundations of the earth, God knew you? That before you were ever knit together in your mother's womb, God knew you and He had a plan for you?

And then we go on to the fact that this master craftsman began to put you together in your mother's womb. He began to fashion you in your mother's womb. He started putting you together, all the right pieces, and all the right places, and did all the things. And then you were born, and you're like, oh my gosh, what a beautiful little creature. And then you start to become

who God wants you to be. And then He deals with the one big issue that we have. Sin. Because the one thing that will keep us from being His work of art is sin. But once He's dealt with that in our lives by saving us, He continues that masterpiece by continuing to fashion us into who He wants us to be. And listen, that work of Him fashioning you into who He wants you to be

will take place until the end of time. Until God takes you home to be with Him. Now, I have to be honest with you, I personally am not much of an artistic human being. Actually, my artistic side, I think the only politically correct way I can say this is my artistic side rides the struggle bus, right? So I'm not very good at that, but I know some artistic people.

I know a guy that's a painter, and I've been over to his house before, and he's a painter, and he's a painter, and I've seen different paintings at several stages of the process. And you know, it's amazing to me to talk to somebody that is an artist that has paintings at several stages of the process. They know exactly what it's going to look like because they have this vision, right? They have this vision, this is what it's going to be, and it's fun to listen to a guy like that describe to you what it's going to look like when all is said and done because he already knows because it's his masterpiece, it's his work of art, and he's working on it, right?

Like sometimes, let me give you another illustration. Sometimes my wife watches The Devil's Channel, HGTV, right? Some of y'all ladies watch The Devil's Channel too, and it always fascinates me when they watch that channel because somebody will walk into a house like the most nasty, broken down house I've ever seen, and they're like, stunning, we can put this over here, and we can put this over here, and this will be here, and I'm like, I don't see it, man. I just see dirty diapers in the middle of the floor.

That's all I see. That is nasty. That is six months I do not want to lose that's going to go into that house. My wife has that ability. She has the ability to see those things. She looks at a house and she's like, oh my gosh, I can see what it can be. I'm like, really? All I see is a bulldozer. Seems like that's going to be the right thing to make it look good,

but she's an artist. I've got a friend that lives over in Joplin, Missouri, and he's a songwriter, and it's fascinating. Matter of fact, he's been here to sing for us before, Luke Schaefer, and it's fascinating to be a part of his songwriting process because his process is just that, it's a process. Every now and then, I can't take credit for almost any of his lyrics.

I think I've thrown a couple at him. That's about it, and it was just a happy accident, but every now and then, he'll text me when he's in the process of writing a song. He goes, what do you think about this? And he'll send me some stuff, and it's fascinating to see because when all is said and done, he knew what it was going to be like. He just had to string

all the right words together. That's what you are. You're God's masterpiece, and right now, you may feel like a blank canvas. You may feel like just a bunch of words on a page. You may feel like nothing's coming together, but in God's mind, he knows exactly what you're going to look like because you are his masterpiece. It's fascinating to see what God does

with people's names in the Bible, right? Do you remember when Jesus met Peter the first time? Peter's name was Simon, and Simon always carries with it that idea of being someone who's shifty maybe isn't the right word because it sounds like he's about to commit a crime. Unstable, maybe that's the right word. Emotional, right? Because that's who Peter was. He was given to his emotions,

and when Jesus saw Peter, he said, or he said, you are Simon, which means unstable. But I call you Peter. It means rock. Now, for the three years that Jesus was living on earth and ministering to Peter, nothing was stable about Peter, right? Because Jesus did not name him who he was because of who he was at the time, but for who by God's grace he was going to become.

You know, there's another interesting story that's exactly like that in the Bible. It's in the Old Testament. The founder of the nation of Israel, Abraham. Do you know what Abraham's name was first? Abraham's name first was Abram, which means exalted father, right? And so when God called Abram, he said, I'm going to make of you a great nation. And everybody went,

exalted father. Of course, Abraham had one problem. They couldn't have kids, so he didn't have any kids. Can you imagine the shame of being called exalted father? So where's your kids?

Well, then as time goes on, God makes him a promise. He said, I'm going to make your descendants more than the stars in the sky. If you can count, count them. As a matter of fact, I'm going to give you a whole new name. And Abram's like, okay, what's my name? I'm going to call you Abraham. Do you know what Abraham means? Father of many. Can you imagine Abraham

going back to his service? What did God say? God changed my name. What did he change your name to? Father of many. Oh, yeah. That makes sense, Abraham. Father of many, right? Because he did not name him based on who he was at the time. He named him based on who by God's grace he would become. Brothers and sisters, those of you that are believers in Jesus Christ here this morning,

you're God's workmanship. And he already knows what you're going to look like. Trust his process. For you are his workmanship. Second thing we see here is that you have been created in Christ Jesus. Created in Christ Jesus. You have been created by him and made a spiritual creature by him. As a matter of fact, apart from your union with him, it would not take place.

Apart from your union with him, it would not take place. It would not be possible. We're told in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. As a matter of fact, turn there with me real quick. 2 Corinthians 5. If you hit Romans, you've gone too far. Heck, if you've hit 1 Corinthians, you've gone too far. 2 Corinthians 5, and I want you to look at verse 17.

It says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature or a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. That's who you are in Christ. You've been created in Christ Jesus. You're a new creation in him. And as his workmanship, who has been created in Christ Jesus, you've been created for a purpose. And that's where we come to number three.

You have been created for good works. Now, Ryan, you just told me works can't save me. And that's true. They can't. Matter of fact, works can't save you. Works can't keep you saved. But you are still created for good works. It is our purpose. So what does that mean for me? Well, we have to understand something about works. Works are the fruit, not the root.

Works are the fruit of what comes out of our lives, but they come out of our position in Christ. Do you remember what Jesus told us in John chapter 15? We sang a song about it. It's great. I love that song, by the way, although it teared me up a little bit. Whatever. What else is new? That song is, great because it talks about abiding, right? Because he is the branch and we are the vine.

And all we have to do is stay connected to him, stay in active and living relationship with the one that saved us. And he will produce all of the fruit. Let me tell you what I mean, because that brings us to number four. Our purpose is good works, number three. But number four, these good works, God prepared beforehand. God prepared them beforehand. The idea is this,

God has a path for each of us to walk and he provides the means. He provides the motive and he provides the opportunity. He gives you everything that you need. You just have to walk in it. We'll get to that last part of that in just a minute. But God provides everything for you. It's all his work. You just show up and let him do it. You can do what he wants to do through you.

When I was in Bible college, I used to think to myself, how do pastors prepare a message every Sunday and Wednesday? Those guys must be so smart. I don't know if I could ever be a pastor because how do they come up with new stuff to say every Wednesday and Sunday? And you know what I realize now? They're not that smart. They just have Jesus because he provides everything for them.

I got to tell you, I don't know how many times I have sat up in my office on a Saturday night stressing. About how I can put it all together because all of the words are on the page, but they don't all make sense. I don't have it all together as a message. Matter of fact, I did this last night. When I say, you don't know how many times, let's talk about last night.

Last night, I'm sitting in my office. I'm like, Lord, I don't know how this comes together. So I'm studying and I'm working and I'm writing down definitions. And finally, I was like, you know what I ought to do? I ought to pray about it. Novel idea. So I was like, okay, Jesus, you're going to have to give it. You have to give me what I need. Lord, that's what your word says here.

Is that you've got the good works prepared beforehand. So Lord, prepare this for me. And man, it happened. It came together. And I was like, now my wife is kind of used to this from me, right? Saturday nights, I'm always in my office studying and she's kind of hanging out in the living room doing whatever she's doing in there. And I come walking in last night

and I'm all smiling. She's like, what are you doing, Ryan? I said, just studying. It finally all came together. She goes, I can tell because you have the same look on your face. I have that same look every time because I'm like, Jesus, Jesus just came through because the good works were prepared. And now all I have to do is walk in them. Let me give you guys a couple of real world examples

of what this means. You ever had your kid help you with a project? Quick show of hands. Who's ever had your kid help you with a project? Okay, kids, you ever helped your parents with a project? Okay, when you're little and you helped your parents with a project, you remember what happened? Let's use this one as an example. Let's say they're painting the living room, right?

And you show up and you say, I want to help, right? No, no, I want to paint. So you give them a paint, a paintbrush and they take the paint or they take the paintbrush, they dip in the paint, they paint themselves. They do two strokes on the wall and then they're done, right? But when all is said and done, the living room gets finished, not because they did it,

but because you did it. And when it gets done, you look at him and you say, you helped me paint the living room. No, they didn't. You did all the work. They just get to take some of the credit. Why? Because they showed up. Fellas, I'm going to give you a little illustration. I think it's going to really make sense to you here, okay? How many of y'all remember last Christmas, right?

You know where I'm going with this. Last Christmas, I bet something fascinating happened. I bet every Christmas party you went to and every Christmas morning, there were gifts, right? And I bet those gifts even had your name on them. Not to, from, right? That gift said from and it either said your last name or it was like from Ryan and Aaron, you know, or whatever, but your name was on it.

Dude, I know you did not buy the gift. I know you did not wrap the gift. You don't even know what the gift is. You're as surprised as the receiver, right? You're like, what's it going to be, right? And they open it up and you're like, that's awesome. And your kids are like, thanks, Dad. You're like, you're welcome. You didn't have anything to do with it. You didn't just sit there and go, looks good to me, right?

You just showed up to the party. By the way, when your wife told you to, right? She even made sure you were there at the right time or she made sure you got out of bed, right? My contribution to Christmas morning is making the coffee. That's it. And that's mainly because I need it. It's just a happy benefit that my wife gets it too, right? That's what it's like when it says,

God has already prepared beforehand the good works for us. All we have to do is show up. Friends, take all the pressure off yourself. You were created for good works. God's the one doing the work. He says, these are the good works that God has prepared beforehand. Number five, that we should walk in them. That we should walk in them. We've already done that.

We talked about the fact that the word walk means to order your life. So how do we order our lives? We order our lives in complete submission to Jesus. We just follow him. That's why Jesus said, if anybody wants to come after me, they need to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. We just follow the things that he says. And as he does, as we do so, he provides everything else that we need.

But we have to surrender to him. And that leads me to the last thing. And I'm going to leave you guys with this. I'm going to leave you guys with this. One last quote that I want to put up there. It's all his work. We just need to surrender. It's all his work. We just need to surrender. It was his work that started calling you to salvation. When you started sensing that you had a need in your life,

when you started sensing the areas of sin in your life and going, man, something's got to change. I got to do something to change. He was the one that was calling you. You just submitted to the call. And then he was the one that did the work. You just surrendered to the work. And now that you're saved and as you follow him, you just surrender to what God has for you.

And as you do, he provides everything else that you need. It's all his work. We just need to surrender. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me, father, we come before you. Thank you. Well, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. I thank you for the work that you've done. I thank you for the work that you've done. I thank you for the work that you've done. I thank you for the work that you have done for us. Lord, that you are the branch and we are the vine.

Lord, that you did your work in us for salvation, that you're doing your work in us for sanctification, and that you do your work in us for the ministries and the fruit that you want to do in our lives. So, father, keep us close to you. Draw us near to you and help us to surrender. Father, where we have found ourselves crossing over the line into areas where we think it's something that we've done, crossing over into the line of our own work.

Lord, would you help us to return to your grace? Would you help us just to come back to you? Father, we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

God so loved. Being lost in him.

God so loved.

God so loved. Oh, Lord, we thank you for your love for us. That motive. You saved us by grace, but that motive was love, and we thank you, Lord. For loving us so much that you sent your son to die on the cross for us. That we would simply need to rely on, cling to, and trust him. Believe in you, Lord Jesus. That you would save us, and it's your work by grace.

We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Lord bless y'all. Have a great week.