God's Finished Work

In the tapestry of Ephesians 2, we look at how our salvation is not a prize for our deeds but an offering given freely through faith. This episode of our podcast examines what it means to be made alive with Christ, to be God's workmanship, and to live out the good works He's prepared for us—all without the need to earn what has already been graciously provided.

Chapters

• 0:02 God's Redemption and Complete Salvation
• 8:45 The Simplicity of Salvation
• 19:31 God's Call to Trust and Salvation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello and welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible broadcast. My name is Phil Duddy, evangelist with Grace Baptist Tabernacle of King, north Carolina, very, very happy to have you with me on the program today. As always, please do reach out to us at redeemingthelostiCloudcom. We look forward to hearing from you, and we're going to be in Ephesians, chapter two today. So let's go right into the Word of God, ephesians chapter two, starting in verse four.

Speaker 1: 0:28

But God, who was rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gifts of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And as we look at this collection of verses here in Ephesians chapter two, look at everything God did. God just because he's rich in mercy. This is who he is. He's just naturally rich in mercy for his great love, and God is love wherewith he loved us. So we've got a God who's rich in mercy and we've got. He has a great love and he loved us even when we were dead in sins. So God is rich in mercy and God had a great love and he loved us even when we were dead in sins. And God has quickened us, together with Christ. God has made us alive. Together with Christ, by grace we are saved. That's a passive thing. We didn't save ourselves. We can't save ourselves. By grace, by the gift and the blessing and the goodness of God gives to us, we are saved. God has raised us up together. God has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of God's grace in God's kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace that is from God we are saved. Again, that's passive. We don't save ourselves through faith. That not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Wow, god has done a lot. I mean you might say God's done a lot.

Speaker 1: 3:14

God, just because of who he is, being rich in mercy, having great love. In essence, he is love, just like he is holy, he is good, he is the truth and he is love. God did everything and it all goes back to the cross. It all goes back to Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin. Jesus Christ. He had no sin of his own. Jesus Christ, he went to the cross, he shed his blood. He became our sin. He died in atoning death and amen and glory to God. He's alive today. He rose up again on the third day and he has done this completed thing. He actually shed on the cross. It is finished.

Speaker 1: 4:03

And so God provides this complete salvation, this salvation that's already done, it's already provided. It's sort of like God kind of puts a table before us and everything is set, everything is prepared, everything's ready. We've got the meal, we've got the you know, we've got the drink, we've got the table, we've got the utensils, we've got everything laid out right before us. All we have to do is sit down and receive it all. We have to do the only work and it's not even a work. It is by grace and through faith. We have faith, we trust and we receive. It's not a work, it's not anything that we do, it's not anything that we don't do. You know. Jesus said you know even. You know.

Speaker 1: 4:54

In John, chapter 6, he had people coming up to him. That's kind of what ran through my head. They said what do we have to do to work the works of God? Jesus said believe. Jesus said believe. Jesus said believe on the one he sent, and that is Jesus Christ himself. So God did all of the work.

Speaker 1: 5:18

God shed the blood. We did not shed the blood. Jesus went to the cross. We did not go to the cross. Jesus became sin. We didn't become sin. Jesus died on the cross. He died in atoning death. Jesus bore all the wrath of God upon sin. Jesus took hell in our place. Jesus took death in our place. We didn't do anything and we don't do anything today.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Nobody is born again because they made themselves get born again. Nobody is saved from the wrath of God because they saved themselves from the wrath of God. You know nobody gets delivered, nobody. You know all these things. You know we don't receive the Holy Ghost because we convinced him to come down somehow, or because we did all the right things. We did all the right sacraments we did. You know we had all the right attitudes. You know we followed all the right principles. You know we did our part and now God does his part.

Speaker 1: 6:22

No, and that's not how it works. You know we look at the Gospels, we look at the New Testament, we even look at the Old Testament. You know it's. You know God has always taken the initiative and God has always made the provision. You know all the way back to Adam and Eve, all the way through the days of Noah, all the way through Abram and Israel, all the way through, you know the children of Israel, all the way through the days of the law and the prophets, right up until the present day. You know, after Jesus has died and after Jesus has risen again and there's a justification and there's a salvation by faith. But through every part of human history, god has made the initiative, god made the first move. If you will, humanity, you know we fell.

Speaker 1: 7:22

You know, and there's sin, and you know. You know it goes to the point where, you know, nobody really seeks after God. We've got that in the book of Romans. We've got that in the book of Psalms. You know there. You know there are people and we don't seek after God. Naturally we're in our sin. There's a complete sin, there's a complete fall. There's a complete separation. There's a complete difference between us and God. We are born in sin and we can't do anything but sin and we have to understand that we can't do anything except for sin.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Naturally, even if you've got, you know, a lost and dying sinner who tries to get religious We've got a lot even if you know, even if maybe you're there today, you know you're lost in your sin. You're getting consumed by your fornication. You're getting consumed by your drug addiction. You're getting consumed by alcohol. You're getting consumed by adultery and it's, you know, and it's starting to hit your family. You're getting consumed by lust. You're getting consumed by hatred and your depression just keeps on weighing you down. You know so. You know it just keeps on weighing you down.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Whatever you're seeing is and it starts to consume and you might try to, you know, kind of learn some Bible principles. You might start, you know. You know going to church services and listening to preachers and everything like that. You got to understand this. You can't clean yourself up, not in the eyes of God. You might be able to change some behaviors, but behavior change does not save the soul. Behavior change does not wash away the sin. Behavior change does not, you know, sort of make God do anything.

Speaker 1: 9:34

But we've got to understand all God is looking for you to do, if you will, it's simply belief, just like those folks back in John, chapter 6. All God is looking for any of us to do is to receive, by faith, what he has already done. All we do is receive what God has done. All we do is receive the blood that Jesus shed for us, although all we do is receive the fact that Jesus died our death and Jesus became our sin, and Jesus took the wrath of God in our place. And because he did that, because he did that, not because you did anything, not because I did anything, not because anybody you know, you know, but because Jesus did all of what he did on the cross shedding His blood, becoming our sin, taking the wrath of God in our place, dying and atoning death that's all meant for us. It's meant for us to receive, to receive.

Speaker 1: 10:59

So it says by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, not of yourselves. There's nothing that we could do. You know, you can try to memorize the whole Bible. You can try to learn all the Bible principles you can. You know, try to afflict yourself. You can try to give a whole lot of money to a church. You can try to go on a whole lot of mission trips and do a lot of, you know, work in the community and all of that stuff, and none of that is salvation. None of that is salvation. By grace are you saved? We don't convince God to give us salvation. We don't forcibly go up and try to take salvation. We receive salvation. I hope you see the difference. We receive salvation. We receive what Jesus Christ has already done.

Speaker 1: 12:06

And he did a completed work. And he did a finished work and he did a total work. And then he turned around and he know, before he did that work he said I am the way, the truth in the life. Nobody's gonna come to the Father except by me. He is that way.

Speaker 1: 12:24

And how did he get here? God purposed before the foundations of the world, simply because it's who God is. There was always going to be a Savior. God was always going to step in. God was all you know. From our perspective, that's how it looks. It looks like we're you know, and it certainly was like that in my case, because you know, you know, brother, sister, you know, I mean I was a 4.0 student in seminary when God saved me. I did a lot of religious work. But from our perspective, it looks like God is stepping in. It looks like God is stepping in and it looks like God is interrupting our life, but he's just doing what God does.

Speaker 1: 13:11

This is who God is. This is what he always purposed. The blood was always going to be shed. God was always going to take the initiative. God was always going to make the first move. God was always going to provide a Savior in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ was always going to be born of a virgin. He was always going to come down to this earth and walk with us and talk with us and eat with us and laugh with us and weep with us and sing with us and bear witness of the truth. And you know, do all, you know. You know he was going to raise the dead. He was going to heal the leper. He was going to heal the blind man. He was going to feed the 5,000 and he was going to feed the 4,000. And he was going to go and he was going to work and he was going to function.

Speaker 1: 14:01

And you notice how we never ask for that. God just did it, and it's the same thing with the cross. He just did it because that's who he is. That's what he desired to do and he desired to show exceeding great mercy, exceeding great love, exceeding great kindness to a bunch of people who you know and we're naturally in sin. We are naturally in sin and God just loves us.

Speaker 1: 14:42

And that's one of the most challenging things for a lot of people to hear Amen, that's no matter how bad you think you are, no matter how big you think your sin is, no matter how big a mess you might have made, no matter how big you know how many people you hurt, no matter, you know, and all that stuff's real. But it's not bigger than the blood, it's not bigger than it is finished, it's not bigger than the death of Jesus on that cross and the fact that he rose up again on the third day and the fact that he's still talking to you today and he's still saying right now you know, right in the middle of this message, he is saying to you that your sin is not too great for the blood to cover. All you got to do is stop working. All you got to do is stop trying. All you got to do is stop. You know, you know. Put down everything you're trying to do to make it better. Put down everything you're trying to do to clean yourself up.

Speaker 1: 15:47

And listen to what God is saying for a second. God already finished everything. God, always, he already finished it. He's looking for you to receive it. He's looking for you to receive it by face. Everything that he's already finished, everything that he's already done. Because you know, brother, sister, you got to hear me.

Speaker 1: 16:16

If any of us got up on a cross and if any of us died, well, what would that accomplish? It wouldn't accomplish a thing, you know. We would die. That's it. And what Jesus did? You know, if I shed my blood for you, or if you shed your blood for yourself, or whatever the case might be, well, that's not anything in the eyes of God. But Jesus, he shed His blood for you and for me and for everybody else. He shed His blood, and that means everything. That means everything. The fact that Jesus shed His blood is the foundation of the new heaven and the new earth, the fact that Jesus shed His blood and that sacrifice is accepted. There's no greater sacrifice, there's no equivalent sacrifice, there's no equal sacrifice, there's no alternative sacrifice. The blood is accepted right now and that's the entire basis for how God can have mercy on somebody. You include it, whatever you're.

Speaker 1: 17:33

Whatever coming out of you today, whether it's the fornication, whether it's the hatred, whether it's the murder, whether it's the frustration, whether it's the despair, whether it's the depression, whether it's the ego, whether it's a year, you just after all the money, whether you're just out for number one, you just out for yourself and you know everybody else can get out of your way. Whatever is coming out of you that is sin. Whatever is coming out of you that God is highlighting. Whatever God is coming out of you and God's looking at you and saying you know that sin is there and I've got a wrath on that sin, but I've got a love for you at the same time and I've got a blood that I've provided. I've got a salvation that I've provided. I've got a new and eternal life that I've provided. I've got an abundant life that I've provided. I've got every spiritual blessing in heavenly places that I made and I've provided, I've got a mansion waiting for you and you need to receive it by grace and through faith, by grace and through faith.

Speaker 1: 18:46

So it's not a call to get back into church. It's not a call to go buy a self-help program. It's not a call to go and give a whole bunch of money to eat to a church or anything. It's not a call to try to clean yourself up. Through your own effort, through your own work. Be cleaned up. It's a call to be forgiven. It's a call to be made part of the church. It's a call to be born again. That's nothing we can do for ourselves, but that's everything that God can do for us.

Speaker 1: 19:31

And so what's God calling? He's calling you to receive. He's calling you to trust Him and he's calling you to treat Him like a person, because he's a personal God and he's speaking and he's drawing and he's moving in your life. Just as you're listening to this, god's speaking something to you. He's saying you need me. He's saying you need this blood. He's saying you need this grace. He's saying you need this forgiveness, you need this life, you need this death, and so you know.

Speaker 1: 20:10

And so he's saying to you today you know we're going to take care of all of that damage. We're going to take care of all of that hurt you did to yourself. We're going to take care of all of that hurt that you did to other people. But for right now, right this minute, we're going to take care of you. And you need Jesus and you need His blood and you need His forgiveness and you need His grace and you need to come under that blood. You need to have your sin forgiven, you need to receive eternal life, you need to be born again and you need the Holy Ghost. And we receive those things by faith. And so he's calling you to trust Him today.

Speaker 1: 20:52

And so, if that's you today, and so if you're, you know, I ask you, just like you know God sitting right next to you or standing right in front of you, just talk to Him. Talk to Him and let that belief that's in you come up out in the form of words amen. Talk to Him and ask Him to save you. Ask Him for the blood, ask Him for the forgiveness, ask Him for the eternal life, and hallelujah amen. You do that in faith, you do that in honesty, you do that in humility. Then, hallelujah amen. God is faithful to save, and so I want to thank you so much for listening today. I pray this has been a blessing to you.

Speaker 1: 21:36

Again, redeemingthelossicloudcom. We want to hear from you, we want to hear how we can pray for you, we want to know how we can minister to you and, especially if you've been born again today, we want to hear about that. We want to rejoice with you and we would love to have you, you know, come and meet us in person and be a part of our church, the church that you know I mean in hallelujah. It's the testimony of the Lord, the church that God set up in King, north Carolina. It's Grace Baptist Tabernacle GBTministriescom. You can find service times, service locations. We would love to meet you in person and again, you know, thank you for sending these around the world. Please feel free to play these for your friends, for your family members, for your churches, and may the Lord continue to richly bless you, amen.