Grace, Works
By The Will of God, A Study Through Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 9 viewsWe are saved by grace, not by works. This is such a tough concept for us. Especially in America where if you do not work, you do not eat. At least that is what we like to think. Are we really to treat people that way biblically? Only if we misunderstand grace and the way we receive it. We will examine grace and why it works this week.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
We are saved by grace, not by works. This is such a tough concept for us. Especially in America where if you do not work, you do not eat. At least that is what we like to think. Are we really to treat people that way biblically? Only if we misunderstand grace and the way we receive it. We will examine grace and why it works this week.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not 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, that we should walk in them.
When I read the Old Testament I am always amazed at how quickly Israel seemed to forget what God had done for them. Abraham is found by God, he believes God and it is credited to him as righteousness.
God tells him to take his son to the mountain only to provide the lamb for the sacrfice.
God tells him to go to a land of milk and honey and he begins his journey.
He then lies about who his wife is to soothe his fears about what man will do to him even after he has seen what God did in providing the lamb in place of Isaac.
Take their experience in the desert. The plagues get them released, the red sea parts and provides them a victory without even fighting. They receive free food and water. They continue to forget that God has provided for them and thus complain something horrible.
The Jordan stacks up to allow them to enter the promised land on dry ground. But they fear the inhabitants.
Over and over they forget that God was always there to protect and save them.
What happens then? Well they begin to think too highly of their own accomplishments and to believe they know best. that they have done best.
Remember, they were to be a light to the world. To make God known in all the world. Instead, they protected the secret information that gave themselves some type of higher status and the ability to judge others.
We need to be careful not to do the same. We need to know what God has done for us and what we have done for us.
Remember last week we talked about my past gave me death. God’s past gives me life.
Today I want to add one more component to our understanding.
Your past did not achieve your salvation.
Your past did not achieve your salvation.
God’s past did achieve your salvation.
God’s past did achieve your salvation.
Remember that
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
Your past gave you death, God’s past gives you life.
Your past gave you death, God’s past gives you life.
One interesting part of Israel’s story is that regardless of all of their shortfalls and sinful digressions God still loves them. He still takes them to the promised land. He still delivers their messiah. He still extends Grace.
God not only acts first, He acts definitively.
God not only acts first, He acts definitively.
Why is this so important? It is important because
If we do not understand Grace correctly, we will likely misunderstand ourselves, our God and our Savior.
If we do not understand Grace correctly, we will likely misunderstand ourselves, our God and our Savior.
Just as an example, if we can somehow save ourselves through religious or moral behavior, then we do not quite believe Paul when he says,
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Maybe we weren’t really dead.
If we weren’t really completely dead, then maybe I was just partially dead.
If I was only partially dead then I am only partially saved and there is more that needs done.
If there is more that needs done, then what Christ did was not quite enough.
If what Christ did was not enough but what I did completed His unfinished work, then who ultimately is responsible for my salvation?
Why I am of course!
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It is important that we properly understand Grace so that we properly understand ourselves, our God and our Savior.
It is important that we properly understand Grace so that we properly understand ourselves, our God and our Savior.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We love because he first loved us.
We are loved by a God who extends Grace to us who so completely do not deserve it.
The word "grace" in biblical parlance can, like forgiveness, repentance, regeneration, and salvation, mean something as broad as describing the whole of God's activity toward man or as narrow as describing one segment of that activity.
An accurate, common definition describes
Grace is the unmerited favor of God toward man.
Grace is the unmerited favor of God toward man.
In the Old Testament it is the word hen (thien)
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
I want to find favor in the eyes of God.
In the new testament it is the word charis (tharees)
to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Why did God choose me? I don’t know but I am sure glad He did.
The more I understand grace, the more dependent on God I become.
The more I understand grace, the more dependent on God I become.
It humbles me.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Take into consideration these verses in Romans 4
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
I want to be blessed not owed.
I want to be blessed not owed.
Why? well because scripture is very clear that
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
From those scriptures we see where we find grace, or better, where grace finds us.
Grace is found in Jesus Christ.
Grace is found in Jesus Christ.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ
I have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ
I have His grace to sustain me, remake me and to save me.
I have His grace to sustain me, remake me and to save me.
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Instead, now, we are His workmanship
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
God extended it, God secured it and God will complete it.
God extended it, God secured it and God will complete it.
I trust Him to do what I could not.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Thank you Lord for saving me!