We are his workmanship

I want to key in on what is said here in verse number ten. You know, as a good Christian, you probably have Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine memorized and people talk a lot about Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine, because verse eight says that for by grace, are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God, right? Verse nine not of works, lest any man should boast. So we know that we’re saved by grace through faith, not have anything to do with what we’ve done. We didn’t earn it. And that’s true. But then people leave off verse number ten, which is very important.

We are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves. It’s a gift of God, not of works. But that does not mean that we should not have good works in our lives.

There is a way that we are expected to conduct ourselves

There is a way that we are expected to conduct ourselves as members of God’s family. I don’t know about your family, but in my family there were expectations as to how I would conduct myself in public. And if I did not conduct myself equal to or above those expectations, some bad things happened real quick.

There was none of this. I’m going to take you to the bathroom and quietly reprimand you stuff when I was a kid. You know:

• there were no car seats.
• There were no seat belts.
• There were no woke people that were waiting to call CPS.

If I didn’t conduct myself the way I was expected to, I had to pay a price. And as a Christian, if you don’t conduct yourself the way that you’re expected to, there’s going to be a price. The Bible says that you’re going to reap what you sow (Galatians 6:7).

As a Christian, if you put your faith when I say Christian, I mean you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t mean that you just believe that there’s a God somewhere that doesn’t make you a Christian. That just means you’re not a fool. Because the Bible says that a fool has said in his heart there is no God (Psalms 14:1). I don’t believe in atheists. I knocked on somebody’s door and they’re like, I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God. I’m like, That’s okay because I don’t believe in atheists.

I don’t believe anybody’s truly an atheist. They may not understand. They may not know. Maybe they don’t know for sure what it is that they do or they do not believe. But I don’t believe anyone is a true atheist, that they don’t believe in anything out there.

Your sins are covered if you have believed the Gospel

If you’re a Christian. Then your sins are covered. Jesus died for all,  sin. How many of your sins have you committed since Jesus died on the cross and was buried and rose again the third day? All of them. I’ll answer for you. All of them. Every single sin that you’ve committed has been since then. Because you weren’t alive then. And thank the Lord that you weren’t. Because like me, this is my greatest fear. If I was alive back then, I would have been on the wrong side, right? There weren’t very many people that were on the right side.

You think, Well, I would have been on the right side. Okay, twelve people that spent every single day with him for three and a half years. Only Eleven of them were on the right side. And not a one of them hung around through the entire ordeal. You might want to check your pride a little bit there.

If you’re saved, if you’re a Christian, if you put your faith and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, your sins are covered. The Bible says you have eternal life. You have everlasting life. It’s everlasting. And when the Lord puts out something that’s everlasting, it’s everlasting. He’s not like Willy Wonka. It’s not false Advertisement. It lasts forever. Your sins are covered.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

However, you will go to the judgment seat of Christ and you will have to answer for the things done in your body. So there are some good works that we were created to accomplish. You’re not flying solo. You’re not flying solo. Sometimes when we think about doing God’s work, self-doubt can get the better of us, right?

• Who am I to work for God?
• What can I do for God?
• I didn’t even pray every day.
• I didn’t read my Bible every day.
• I did some things that I shouldn’t have done this last week.

I’m not worthy

So I’m not worthy to do any work for God. And there’s nothing that he could do with me and anything that I did do for him, I’m probably going to mess it up anyhow and everything. I’m just not equipped. I’m just not good enough. I just can’t do it.

Well, you can’t do it on your own, but it’s not you doing it anyhow. It’s him doing it through you. You just have to be willing.

Look at the people in the Bible who didn’t think they were worthy. Moses, Moses argued with God up one side and down the other. I can’t talk to people. I can’t do this. I can’t do that, I can’t go back to Egypt. I can’t do any of this stuff. The Lord equipped him to do it.

Think about Gideon, right? There are many others in the Bible. You could go through all these Bible characters and look and see the things that they’ve they’ve gone through. And they didn’t think that they were worthy. They didn’t think they could amount to a hill of beans. They just couldn’t do it. And without the Lord they are right. They couldn’t have done it. But the Lord will equip you.

The Lord will equip you

He will help you to accomplish that which he’s put before you to do. Don’t let self-doubt get in the way. God has a work for us to do and we can have confidence that He will equip us for that work.

So the encouraging word of the day basically is just don’t be discouraged. Don’t be discouraged and think that you can’t do a work for God or that whatever you do isn’t going to amount to anything anyway.

Everybody always wants to compare themselves to other people and everything else. The apostle Paul tells us that we shouldn’t compare ourselves one to another.

So don’t compare yourself against somebody else. Compare yourself with yourself. Are you getting better day by day? Are you trying to do more day by day? Are you moving closer to the Lord day by day? That’s what matters.

No matter what lies ahead

He has a work for us. He will equip us to do the work no matter what lays ahead. Whatever sins that you commit, whatever mistakes you make, however it is that you fail in life, that’s not a surprise to the Lord. He still has a work for you to do.

Don’t let anything stop you from being involved in the work that the Lord has called you to do.

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.