Ephesians 2:1–10 (ESV)

I. Past State

1. State of Death

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

21 “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Romans 7:21–24 (ESV)

2. State of Wrath

10 “as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”

Romans 3:10–12 (ESV)

II. State of Grace

1. A Loving and Merciful God

22 The steadfast love of the
Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22–23 (ESV)

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us
and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

Colossians 2:14 (CSB)

2. His works, not ours

“For all who rely on works of the law
are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in
the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Galatians 3:10 (ESV)

11 “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—
for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Galatians 3:11–14 (ESV)

III. State of Faith

1. Trust in Christ

2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:2–4 (ESV)

2. Assurance in Christ

7 “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

Galatians 3:7–9 (ESV)

3. Reliance on Christ

5 “but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

1 John 2:5–6 (ESV)

1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life
has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Romans 8:1–4 (ESV)