Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Ephesians chapter 2. Salvation in Christ is by the
free grace of God alone. The name of the message is free
grace. In eternity past, the Lord fixed
upon the objects whom He intended to deliver from sin, Satan and
the curse, and whom He designed to raise up in holiness, happiness
and honor, He fixed His love upon a people. A people of His own choosing,
not based upon anything in them, and no merit at all within them,
totally undeserving of His mercy, undeserving of His grace, and
yet, our great God set His love upon People that no man can number
in Christ. They did not deserve it again.
They did not merit it. But it is so. Always remember
that our God knows the end from the beginning. See, we can't
fully understand that as humans. We can't fully understand it.
That's why the scripture says we're seated already in heavenly
places. in Christ Jesus. He knows the end from the beginning.
And He, by His free grace, chose a people out of the vast mass
of humanity. Again, because He knows the end
from the beginning. He chose a people out of the vast mass
of humanity and recorded their names in the
Book of Life. The Lamb's Book of Life. And
He did it in eternity. Again, we can't even understand.
But remember, in eternity, there's no time. And the fact that he
knows the end from the beginning, we can see how he could do that.
Because he's God. That's the God of the Bible.
And the Scripture says this, He assigns no reason, think of
this too, He assigns no reason in us, but all by His free and
sovereign good pleasure, He says, I'll have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. All
by His free grace. All by His free grace. With absolutely
nothing in us that merits that. And God, by His free grace, gave
this chosen people to His Son, who is our adorable Savior. Emmanuel,
God with us. The Word of God incarnates. The Lord Jesus Christ. And God,
by His free grace, gave His people to Christ in eternity. Because
Christ, again, the Scripture declares, is the Lamb slain.
from the foundation of the world. And His people, those whom the
Father gave to Christ, now let this sink in, you who are the
beloved of God. Those people who the Father gave
to Christ are His care and His concern. His care and His concern,
His charge. Never forget the responsibility
that the shepherd has to the sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. We're the sheep of his pasture,
the sheep of his hand. So never forget the responsibility
that the shepherd has to care and watch over the sheep of God. And we're also his bride. We're also his bride. And he's
our beloved. He's our beloved. Oh, my. And God, by His free grace, appointed
those given to Christ. He appointed them to eternal
life in Christ. That's the key. In Christ. He
appointed them to sonship. And He appointed them to this
all in Christ Jesus our Lord. And it all comes to us by His
free grace. Free grace. What a word. What
words? Free. Grace. Free. Look in Ephesians
2, verses 1-4. We'll read the first 10 verses,
but I want to break it down as we read it here. Look at this.
Ephesians 2, verses 1-3. And you, so he's writing to born-again
believers. He's writing to the church at
Ephesus, right? This is a letter written from
Paul to the church at Ephesus, to God's born-again, blood-washed
people. And you, hath he quickened? We're
born again, beloved. Look at this, but who or what?
Dead in trespasses and sins. Now you've heard me say many
times that in the Greek that word dead there means lifeless.
Contrary to religion, religion says it only means mostly dead.
No, it means dead. It means lifeless. That's what
it means. That's what it means in the Greek,
lifeless. So we were alive physically,
right? In the context of this, it means
that we were dead spiritually. We were alive physically, but
dead spiritually. That's our natural state. Where
in times past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversations in times past, in the lusts of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So
we see a very humbling truth bought forth here. Very humbling
truth bought forth here in these three verses. We see the utter
depravity of men and women in our natural state. And for those who are the heirs,
We are born in the same condition as those who are not the heirs.
Same condition, dead in trespasses and sins. But think of this too,
I want us to bring this up though. We didn't know it at that state
that we were in that the love of God was set upon us. We had
no idea. But in our natural state, we
were deserving of punishment just like everybody else for
our sins. My oh my. And take note in the next verses
we see Paul tell the Ephesian church that it's God who quickened
them. God who quickened, remember,
those who were by nature dead in trespasses and sins. And we
know that this is describing this work to the almighty agency
of God the Holy Spirit. It is His special and personal
office in the covenant of grace to give life to the people of
God, to give life to those who were dead in trespasses and sins,
God's people will be quickened, will be regenerated. He makes us alive from the dead
spiritual state that we were in. So let us pause and consider
again the beautiful order and harmony in the gracious acts
of love manifested in the persons of the Godhead towards the church. In chapter 1, turn if you would
over to chapter 1. God the Father, by an act of
his free grace, by his free grace, and by a sovereign act of his
almighty power, chose the church in Christ, right? Predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the what? The good pleasure of his will. Let's read verses three to four,
or three to six. Blessed be God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, remember who Paul's writing
to. He's writing to born-again believers who have blessed us,
that's every believer in Christ, with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. That's a fact. There's no room
for debate there. And it's God who did it all,
isn't it? He did it all. According, look at this, as He
has chosen us in Him, in Christ, when? Before the foundation of
the world. that we should be holy, only
in Christ, and without blame, only in Christ, before him in
love. Having predestinated us onto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, to himself,
it was God's good pleasure to do this, beloved. According to
what? The good pleasure of his will.
See, man pops off about will, don't they, all the time. There's
only one free will in this whole universe, and that's God. God's will. He's the only one
free to do whatever He pleases. We're bound to our nature. He
does whatever He wants. He does whatever He wants. And then look at this, in verse
six, right? Here's the doxology, to the praise and the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. That's
a song of praise, a small song of praise out of the heart of
a believer, isn't it? Oh my, to the praise and the glory of
His grace. Give Him, and that grace is free, beloved. That's
free grace. Note the verbiage too. Wherein
He hath made us. How? By quickening us. Remember
Ephesians 2? And you hath He quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. That's how He made us. Accepted
in who? Christ. My, accepted in the Beloved. It's wonderful, isn't it? Wonderful. And then we have God the Son,
the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, who by His
free grace left the glories of heaven. Left the glories of heaven
and came to this sin-cursed world to redeem His people from their
sins. To purchase His bride with His
own precious blood. Because we had fallen in Adam.
She'd fallen in Adam. Just like all the rest of humanity
who the Lord just leaves in their sins, we had just like them fallen
in Adam. Every one of us. So he comes
to purchase his beloved bride. He comes to purchase his people. Oh my. And we saw our utter depravity
in those first verses, didn't we? Those first three verses.
That's the condition where the Lord found us. We were the lost
sheep, beloved. And the shepherd came and sought
us. We didn't seek him. But praise his mighty name, he
sought us. He sought us. And so, we'll look at the harmony
between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as we see
His covenant engagements and our great God's covenant engagements
in the covenant of grace. Because it's the Holy Spirit
then who regenerates us. who regenerates us by his almighty
power and according to his free grace. Remember, all three are
God, and they work in harmony. The three in one. The three in
one. Let's now read verses four to
six, where we see Paul bring forth the quickening of the chosen
people of God, who were by nature, again, dead in trespasses and
sins, and marvel at the order and the harmony in the working
of our great God in the salvation of His people. We see equal acts
of grace by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as they relate
to the Church of God. Again, we were chosen by the
Father in Christ. We were redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by His work on Calvary's cross. And now we see the Holy Spirit
at work here. Look at verses four, six, but
God. Praise the Lord for those two
little words. But God, so we saw our depravity,
we saw where we're at, and then we see these beautiful words,
but God, who is what? Rich in mercy. Depthless mercy, beloved. For
his great love wherewith he loved us. How long has he loved us?
for maternity. And that love is a great love,
because you know why? Because our God's a great God.
He's a great God. For His great love, wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, again we saw our
natural state, hath He quickened us together with Christ, and
look at these words, by grace ye are saved. Free grace, beloved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So here's a manifestation of
the Father's love to His people. Note that our great God is rich
in mercy for those He loves. He's rich in mercy for those
He loves. And even when we were dead in
sins, the people of God again have always been the objects
of God's divine love. It's hard for us to understand
that. I know we hear it, but I don't think we always fathom
it. I really don't. It's so incredible that God has
loved, each sinner can say who's saved by the grace of God, born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, they can say God has loved me
from eternity. Based upon nothing in me. Based upon nothing in me. except
by His own sovereign will and pleasure and by His free grace. And remember again, this letter
is written to the born again, elected, chosen, blood-washed
people of God. Again, who we see in verses 1
to 3, surely deserve eternal punishment for their sins. Look
at, look what, and you at the quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins, where in times past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince, the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversations in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind and by nature, the children of wrath, even as others.
So, so we deserved eternal wrath for our sins. Just like everybody
else. Just like everybody else. But
marvel, marvel at these wonderful words. You who are the people
of God, you who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, marvel
at these words. Because God's free grace is on
full display here. Full display in these verses
we're gonna look at. In just these two words, his
grace and his mercy is on display. But God, do you know his will acts according
to his pleasure? He's not swayed by anybody. No one can twist his arm. No one can say to God, what are
you doing? You know, He acts according to
His will and pleasure. So marvel at these words, but
God. Because these are personal for
the believer, aren't they? No wonder we sing with such joy,
leaning on the everlasting arms, right? We're safe in Him, beloved. We're safe in Him. We do not
get what we deserve because of God's free grace. God's amazing
free grace has devised a way that the people of God will not
get what they deserve, which we clearly see back forth in
verses 1 to 3. That there's nothing in us in
those verses. There's nothing in us that would
be the cause of God's favor towards us. The only thing that we would
be deserving of, and I'm going to say it again, the only thing
that we would be deserving of, reading those first three verses,
we would be deserving of eternal torment forever. And we would
be deserving to be separated from God. That's what we would
get if we got what we deserved. So then marvel at these wonderful
words full of grace to you who are the people of God. But God,
but God, my, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love
wherewith he has loved us. The fact that we are sinners
by birth, practice, and choice, and by nature is purely and entirely
against God on every conceivable level. But yet, the scriptures
say here, but God. In our natural state we're like
a river that flows downward. It flows downward, down the hill.
And it ever flows downhill. I like what Brother, listen to
what Brother Tim James brings forth. He has a way of bringing
words out, but my oh my, listen to this. He said, dead things
cause nothing but a stink. And they are passive even in
the omission of their rank and vile order. So even in our dead
state, we were, oh my, we're passive in our omission
of our rank and vile order. It's, oh my goodness, what a
picture. Dead. So with these two words
but God, we see then, marvel at this, you who are the people
of God. We see then the cause of grace is found in the source
of grace. The cause of grace is found in
the source of grace. It's found in the heart of God. It's found in the heart of God.
And we see that in verse four, but God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved. Man cannot be the cause
of God showing grace to His people, because we've looked at in those
first three verses in our natural state, that we have no ability
and no hope. But our great God, according
to His wondrous free grace, has loved us, and the fact that He's
loved us with an everlasting love, even when we were dead
in sins. The grace of God comes to us,
because of his eternal love for us. Think upon this. God is so rich in mercy that
no matter how undeserving and sinful you are, if he has marked
you for his mercy, mercy's account will never be
denied or ever be diminished. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful, isn't it? He's able to say to the uttermost,
praise be to God. All who come to Him, all who
come to Him, and we know, we know we come to Him by being
drawn by the Holy Spirit of God, and then we praise His name on
earth for the rest of our days, and we'll praise His name and
glory for eternity. It'll be incredible. And God's
love is no way dependent upon us. Now let that sink in too. God's love is no way dependent
upon us. We love Him because He first
loved us. His love is in no way dependent
upon us. It does not diminish. When we
backslide or when we do our own thing, the love of God is still
set upon His people. Now He may chasten us, which
He does, He chastens His people, but His love never diminishes.
Never. Never, ever, ever. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh my, it's absolutely wonderful. And this love which He has for
us will be manifested by the Holy Spirit regenerating God's
people and giving them faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and repentance before God. Again, faith and repentance
is like this piece of paper. They're both given to us from
God. On one side is faith and on one
side is repentance, and they're both given to us, beloved. Same
piece of paper, right? And only those who have been
born again, because what did the Lord himself, the Master's
words himself, you must be born again. You must be. And when
we're born again, we are granted faith and repentance. Faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance before God. My,
and it's a miracle, beloved. It's a miracle, a grace, it really
is. And those who are the objects
of God's free grace and mercy in Christ will be saved. They will be drawn to Christ
with loving kindness. and it'll all occur by the free
grace of God and the mercy of God. Now, in case one thinks they
are worthy of this love, which God bestows upon His people,
or in case one thinks that they're the cause of this mercy, then
let us take note what Paul pens by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God, even when we were dead in sins. Now, again, listen to
what our dear brother Tim James brings forth. He says, even when
we were a pile of corrupting, rotten putrefaction, even when
the only thing fit to do with us was dig a hole and toss us
in, cover us and bury us out of the way and forget us, even
then, in fact, precisely then, precisely then, God raised us
from the dead. He quickened us together with
Christ. What mercy, beloved. What mercy! What mercy! And all we can say,
all we can say is praise His mighty name, right? That's all
we can say. Praise His mighty name for the mercy which He bestowed
upon us. Oh my! And it's God who raised
us, beloved, from the spiritual deadness that we were in. We
were spiritually lifeless in our natural state, physically
alive and yet spiritually dead. And it's God who raised us from
that situation. And it's a work of God alone.
How do we know that? Well, how do we know that? Look at verse
5 and look at the words in parenthesis. By grace ye are saved. That's how we know that. By grace
you're saved. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. By grace you're saved. Notice
it's God. Look at verse six. Look at verse
six. And hath raised us together and
made us sit together in heavenly places. It's God who's raised us. It's
God who's raised the beggar to sit among princes. That's who
did it. That's who did it. He's the one
who took us from the dunghill and made us to sit among princes.
And you know what? It's all by His free grace. It's
all by His mercy. And it's all through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now the certainty of this salvation
alone and by the power of God alone, the certainty of how we
know that this salvation is in Christ alone and by the power
of God alone is in the Scriptures which declare right here before
us, by grace ye are saved. Note the words here. They're
not maybe. It doesn't say by grace you might
be saved, does it? It doesn't say that. It doesn't
say by grace you're saved if you keep yourself. It doesn't
say that, does it? It doesn't say that, which we
know is impossible. We can't keep ourselves. It says,
look at this, beloved, and we know this is free grace. It says,
by grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. Let's look at verses 7 to 10
now. that in the ages to come, He,
being God, might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved. Words
are repeated again, aren't they? Note those words are repeated
from verse five. For by grace are you saved. Or
by grace you are saved. Through faith and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. for we are His workmanship. Look at that. Created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. Now we see a clear declaration
here of the free grace of God in salvation. Clear. The truth is brought forth that
salvation is by grace. alone, by His purpose, by His
will. The elect of God, though worthy
of damnation and dead in trespasses and sins by our fallen Adam,
beloved are raised together with Christ, saved by the grace of
God. And God has seated His people
with Christ in heavenly places. The key phrase, of course, being
in Christ. In Christ. They are now seated
at the right hand of the Majesty on High, all by the free grace
of God, and because of His great eternal love for them. Remember,
when it says here that we're seated in the heavenlies, he
knows the end from the beginning, beloved. He knows it this way. We know it this way. Well, maybe
that way, right? Because we're just like a vapor.
But he knows it all. He knows the end all the way
to the beginning. He's not constrained by time
and space like we are. Why? And He's God. This is who
the God of the Bible is. Not the God of somebody's imagination.
This is the God of the Bible. And we're saved by His grace,
beloved. Free grace. Free grace. We see in verse 7 that God the
Holy Spirit reiterates the reason why God did these great things
for His elect, who are an undeserving people, a people of God's a people
of God's choosing, objects of His divine love, a people who have received His
mercy. Look at this, the reason, that in ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. He saved us by His free grace
and mercy, so that in the ages to come, throughout eternity,
He will show or display or manifest the elect as proof of His gracious
kindness. Isn't that wonderful? We're trophies
of His grace, beloved. We're trophies of His kindness. My, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
He has saved us by His free grace, by His mercy, so that again in
the ages to come, throughout eternity, He will show or display
or manifest the elect as proof of His gracious kindness. So
this implies that the glory of His grace will be seen in the
kind of people He has saved. Think of that too, the kind of
people He has saved. The kind of people that He's
loved from eternity. When the angels behold this number
of not many wise, not many noble, of the foolish
and the weak, the nothings of history, robed in the pristine
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be able to
utter nothing but salvation is by grace alone. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. And all will see that
it is our great God who saves us by His exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. Beloved God, from all eternity
it's free grace. From all eternity it's free grace.
All will see again that it's free grace. Look at verse 7 there. that in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Over in 2 Timothy, the scripture
declares this, who has saved us and called us within holy
calling, not according to our works. Again, not according to
our works. That means none. That means none
of them at all. Nothing we do can please God
in our natural state, nothing. Now, God's pleased with us in
Christ, But that's all about Him too, isn't it? Not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 2 Timothy
1.9. It's incredible. So this matter
of free grace and salvation by Christ alone, in which the Lord
Jesus Christ has redeemed His beloved people, we cherish that
doctrine, don't we? We who are the people of God,
We cherish the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed
we who are unworthy, undeserving, unmerited of this wondrous grace
that's been bestowed upon us. Now, free grace is the bane of
religion. It's the bane of religion because
they do not know what grace is. And I can say that knowing that
when I was in religion, I did not know what grace was. I knew a doctrine, I knew the
scriptures, I read them, but didn't know them. But I did read
them, but I did not know what grace was. I had no idea. And free grace is the bane of
the religious world. Because they don't know, they
don't know about it. But because it's in the Bible,
they cannot dismiss it. Right? They can't dismiss it.
And since they cannot dismiss it, they seek to pervert it. They seek to pervert it. To pervert
its meaning with idols, and notions that appeal to the flesh. You see? It's subtle. It's very
subtle. And as a result of the act of
the sovereign God is then diminished when they pervert it, it's diminished
to be available as a commodity. They use God like a commodity. Or they say this, by perverting
what grace is, they say, well, God has to have your permission
to save you, because He'll never violate your free will. They say things like that. I've
heard people say that. I've heard people recently tell
me that God will not violate a man's free will. Well, I'll
tell you what, if God doesn't violate a man's free will, they'll
never be saved. If God doesn't make you will
in the day of his power, you will never come to Christ. Never. Do you know that none of that's
in the Bible? You know, you could search this
book and nowhere does it say God will not violate someone's
free will. Do you know that? It's not even
in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. Do you know that bow your
head and repeat this prayer and now you're saved is not in the
Bible? And walk an aisle and shake the
preacher's hand and talk to him is not in the Bible? Doesn't
say those words and you'll be saved? Oh. None of it's in the
Bible? When someone says that to you,
ask them for chapter and verse. And listen to the crickets. Because
they can't do it. That's the best way for us, and
I'm not talking in a mean-spirited way, because we believe, right,
what the Bible says. If you can show me in the Bible,
then the believer bows his knee to it. But that is not in the
scriptures for us. So ask them for chapter and verse,
because this is our final authority, isn't it? This word, it's our
final authority. But those things are not in the
Word of God. They're not be able to show you those things because
they're not in the Word. They're not in the Word. But
let's read what the Scripture does say about salvation. Let's read verses 7 to 10 again. This is what the Word of God,
this is not Wayne's opinion. I believe it wholeheartedly by
the grace of God, but this is not my opinion. These are inspired
words from the Holy Spirit of God who is the author of the
Scriptures. And never forget that when you're reading this
book, the author of this book is the Holy Spirit of God. He's
the one who moved holy men to pen these words. And the only
reason they're holy is because they're in Christ. But he's the
one who moved those men to pen these words. So let's see what
God's word, our final authority, let's see what it says about
this subject. And this is a very important
subject. Oh, it's an extremely important
subject. Because what one says is a perversion
of what the Word of God says, and what the other says is what
the Word of God says. So let's read what the Word of
God says in Ephesians 2, verses 7-9. That in the ages to come,
He might show, being God, the exceeding riches of His grace,
God's grace, in His kindness, again, toward us through Christ
Jesus, or in Christ Jesus, right? For by grace, now look at this,
this is how we're saved. For by grace are you saved through
faith, in that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now I ask you, in those words
we just read, in those words right there which we just read,
does it say anywhere in that text about making a decision
for God? We know we're made willing, right?
But it doesn't say anywhere in those verses about making a decision
for God, right? Does it say anywhere in those
verses about praying a prayer? Nothing, it doesn't, does it?
It's not there. Or is there anything in that text we described that
says that you have to give permission to God to save? It's not there,
is it? It's not there, beloved. It's
not there at all. It says nothing about exercising
your will either, does it? To obtain salvation. It doesn't
say that. It doesn't say that. Nowhere in these verses in In
chapter 2, verses 1 to 10, and nowhere in this book does it
say any of those things. Because salvation is of grace
alone. The free grace of God. Free grace.
Sovereign grace. And if it works, it's not grace
at all. Just as if it's not works, it's
all grace. Let's read those again. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We are receivers of the mercy
and grace of God in Christ. Do we run to Christ? Absolutely
we run to Christ. Thy people shall be made willing
in the day of thy power, of his power, of God's power. Because
all through these verses here, it's God who's doing all the
work. Because we were dead in trespasses and sin, remember?
But God, but God. Oh, it makes you marvel at the
mercy that we've received. So consider our natural dead
state by birth in verses one to three, spiritually dead. So
I ask you this, how can a dead man make a decision? He can't. How can a dead man exercise his
will? He can't. He's dead, right? Because the logical answer is,
He cannot. But see, religion says, well,
they're only mostly dead. No, we're dead. We are dead,
beloved, spiritually. And this is what makes the grace
of God amazing. It's because it's free grace.
He came to us in the state we were in. Generated us by the
power of the Holy Spirit of God. Praise His mighty name. Might
make you want to shout. It's incredible. And that's the
state He found us in, beloved. That's the state He saved us
from. Oh my gosh, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. But God, but God, what wonderful
grace, but God. Sinner friend, beloved of God,
salvation's of the Lord. It's of the Lord, period. And
he says whom he wills, when he wills, and it's all by the free
grace of God. It's all by his grace. And salvation
is a gift from God. It's a gift from God, not of
works lest any man should boast. And you know what the free grace
of God does? It destroys the notion of anything in man having
to do with his salvation. It destroys it. It destroys any
notion of man having to do anything with his salvation. And that
is the offense of the cross, right there. That's the offense
of the cross. You tell people what they have
to do, and they will run to it. You've heard me say that many
times. You tell them salvation's by grace alone, and they'll run
away from it. Because that's what natural man
does. That's what I did. Is it what you did? Oh, my. Brother Matt, you and I've talked
about that, how we were. Just. Out the door gone. But oh, God, by his mercy. Free
grace. Oh, he sought us out. He does
that for every single one of his sheep. This is all about
all his sheep. He does this for his sheep. For
by grace he is saved through faith and not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. My. And the free grace again of God
in salvation destroys the notion of anything in man having to
do with his salvation. And this is the offense of the
cross. And this is why men and women recall the preaching of
God's free grace in Christ. because it proclaims that salvation
is all of God. It exalts the sovereignty of
God. It puts God on His throne, beloved. And it puts man in dust where
we belong. That's what it does. It offends
the pride of man. And God's grace is praised and
honored in salvation by His people because it gives our great God
all the glory. Look at what the verse says there.
We are His workmanship. Verse 10, created in Christ Jesus
and the good works which God hath before ordained in that
we should walk in. We are His workmanship, beloved,
and we're being conformed to the image of the Son. It's amazing. And note, our great God brings
forth in verse 5 in a plain and simple manner with the words,
by grace are you saved. So we see that no one can claim
ignorance or confusion about these words. They're very plain
words, aren't they? Simple words as to the meaning
of grace. Our Lord makes this truth plain
and simple. By grace, ye are saved. The problem is we don't believe
that in our natural state. But we as God's people do, we
who are born again, oh we cling to this truth. It's wonderful. Because it's not dependent upon
us. The elect are saved by grace. And then it's repeated in verse
9, elaborated on in verse 9, when we see our great God leaves
no room for misunderstanding. Look at this. not of works, lest
any man should boast. And before that, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and that faith has one object,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and not of yourselves, it is
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Clear
words, simple words, simple and clear words. And yet men do not believe what
the scriptures say. Men and women do not believe.
And the reason why is because we must be given an understanding.
We must be born again to believe what the scripture says. And
the statement is as clear as it gets, isn't it? It's as clear
as it gets, what we see before us. But it's only as clear as
it gets to those who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. all by the free grace of God.
We understand, we have been shown that we are saved by the grace
of God and that it is unmerited favor. Favorable treatment by
God that can never be merited. Never. And sinners saved by this
wondrous grace, we've tasted that the Lord is gracious, haven't
we? We've tasted that the Lord is gracious. We have. And we
understand, we understand that we are saved according to His
will. Again, verses eight and nine, for by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. Take note that by the
grace of God, we are saved by faith. Now the believer in Christ
knows what this means. We know what this means. It means
this was faith which was given to us by God. Given to us by
God. Faith that we didn't seek after.
Faith that we didn't even desire in our natural state. But this
faith has one object, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
of our souls. Oh my, and faith is a gift of
God. It comes to us by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit.
It comes through the preaching of the word. Turn, if you would,
over one chapter to Ephesians 1. It comes to us through the
preaching of the word. And only after hearing the word
of truth, which is the gospel, the elect by the power of the
Holy Spirit of God, have the Scriptures illuminated
to them. And we hear, we're given hearing ears and seeing eyes
to see Christ. Look at this in Ephesians 1,
verses 12 to 14, that we should be the praise of His glory who
first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye
heard the word of truth. Now, there was a time when we
were sitting, either sitting in the pew or sitting in the
world, Didn't mean anything, we didn't hear anything. We heard
the preacher speaking, but we only heard his words. If my words
are the only ones you hear, you're in trouble. That's what we preachers
always say. But we pray that God, the Holy
Spirit, will regenerate you and that you'll hear the voice of
the shepherd call on your name. Oh my, look at this though. In
whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of what? Your salvation, it's personal.
It's personal. In whom also after that ye believed,
you were given faith to believe, you were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. So those who have not heard the
word of truth, the gospel that declares that God saves sinners
by Christ alone and by his grace, they may believe many things,
but they do not believe what the scriptures say. And this grace is understood
by faith, based internally, entirely on the declared Word of God.
Hebrews says this, Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained
a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11,
verses 1-3. This faith spoken of in verse
8 cannot be mustered up by man. You can't muster it up. You can't
come to it like a student comes to more learning. No, it has
to be revealed to us. And think of this, you've heard
me say this many times and I'm going to keep saying it. All
that we know about the gospel, we know more now about the Lord
than we knew last year, right? Or more than we knew 11 years
ago, right? But that all comes from God.
We can't brag in that. We've got to give God all the
glory, beloved, because everything we've learned, who we are in
Christ, is all because of Him. All because of Him. All because
of Him. So this faith spoken in verse
8, it can't be mustered, it can't be learned quite naturally by
natural man. And how do we know that? How
do we know that? Well, I'll ask you this. Can a dead man muster
up faith? No. Can a dead man learn anything? No, they're dead. Now they may, well, we know a
dead man can't even dress himself, but men who are dead spiritually,
they dress themselves up in religious garments, but they're still dead. Oh, but when we're alive and
the Holy Spirit's teaching us and guiding us, then we learn
the truths of the gospel, don't we? We're born again. We're born
again. Oh my. So the faith spoken of
in verse eight is faith born of grace. It's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, the scripture declares. And God gives it to
his people and his people receive it. We receive it. It's irresistible grace, beloved.
It's irresistible grace. In verses 9, it's written, not
of works lest any man should boast. So we just received this
gift. It's given to us. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Turn,
if you would, to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. We're almost
done. Romans chapter 3. Just so man knows that this is
by grace alone, God's sovereign grace alone, we see that God,
the Holy Spirit, Paul penned those words in verse 9 there. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Just so we know that it's not of works. And what do we
sing in that song? I'm only a sinner. We sing, boasting
excluded, pride I abase, I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. Isn't that true? We're just sinners
saved by grace. That's all we are. Look at this
in Romans 3, though, verses 24 to 28. Being justified freely
by his grace. Same grace is spoken of in Ephesians
2 there. Look at this, verse 24. Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are past. Through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just in the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Where's
boasting? And remember, it says over there
in Ephesians chapter two, verse nine, that not of works lest
any man should boast. And Paul brings forth here, where's
boasting then? But it's excluded. We can't boast
in nothing but Christ, right? By what law? Of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. And our faith has one object,
that's Christ. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith, and that faith is in Christ, without
the deeds of the law. Hallelujah. Those are wonderful
words. Wonderful words. So salvation
then originates in the free grace of God. From God the Father flows
in and through the channel of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and comes to us by the shedding of his precious blood. And then we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God and granted faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, all by the free grace of God. Oh, and this salvation
which comes by the free grace of God, it's divine in its operation
too. in its execution and in its application
all by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So therefore, salvation in Christ
is free. It's free. It's free. It's free. It's free and it's
bestowment upon the people of God and it aims, you know what
it aims at? The glorification of Jehovah. That God may be glorified. in
all His perfections. And when Christ died on Calvary's
cross for the sins of His people, when He shed His precious blood
for us, do you know He magnified the law? He magnified the law
and He satisfied the justice of God in our place as our substitute.
Therefore, He receives all the glory. He gets it all. He gets
it all. Salvation was by the free grace
of God planned in eternity, executed in time, and shall be enjoyed
by the receivers of the grace of God, the elect of God, all
throughout eternity. All throughout eternity. Planned
in eternity, executed in time, and enjoyed in eternity by all
the blood-washed saints of God. And we say, praise his mighty
name.