Open with me again in Ephesians
chapter 2. There is something that I want
you to know about this message. And I'm going to tell you what
that is at the end of the message. Give me just a minute to stress
that because I really want you to
hear this before I start. I was going to bring this for
our message this morning because it sounds like a Bible study
or a morning message to me. But ultimately, I felt led to
bring what I did for this morning and this for tonight. I just
wanna encourage you to really listen to this, knowing that
I have something to say to you at the end of it. So listen with
anticipation, okay? Listen intently, remembering
and realizing for the next 25 minutes and 12 seconds. I don't
know how long it'll be. Roughly. I have something to
tell you at the end, okay? Our text will be verses eight
and nine. It says, for by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. I'm going to comment a little
bit on what's before that and what's after that. But I want
to focus on those two verses because that is a complete declaration
of God's truth. That's a complete declaration
of God's truth. For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. That is such a perfectly explained
summary of how God's people were saved. Such a perfectly explained
summary. They were saved by grace. They were saved by grace. Now, what does that mean? That's such a commonly used word,
isn't it? Grace. So common. What does that mean? The word
grace means unmerited favor. Really think about that. Unmerited
favor. Unmerited means not deserved. Not merited. Not earned. Favor means approval. Partiality towards. Desire towards. All of God's approval toward
his people and desire toward his people had nothing to do
with his people. And everything to do with him. Nothing to do with his people
and everything to do with him. Turn with me to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36 verse 16 says, Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt
in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their
doings. Their way was before me as the
uncleanness of a removed woman. Now look at verse 21. It says,
but I had pity. But I had pity for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen whither
they went. Therefore, say unto the house
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes,
O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which you have
profaned among the heathen, whether you win. All of God's approval
toward His people, all of His desire toward His people had
nothing to do with His people and everything to do with Him. Go with me back to Ephesians
2. Verse 8 says, For by grace, unmerited
favor, For by grace are you saved. Why do we need to be saved? It's
because in our natural condition, in our flesh, we are all lost,
ruined, headed for condemnation, sinners. All of us. All of us. Romans 3.23 says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Well, what
about people in church? All of us. People think that, you know,
you're born, you come into this world as a child, an infant,
brand new baby, and people think that brand new babies are born
perfect and pure and sinless. And the goal of life is keep
it that way and don't ruin it. That's the goal of life. That
is not so. That's not so. The scripture
says we are conceived in sin. The scripture says that we are
born into this world corrupted. Because of our father Adam, that's
how we come into this world, corrupted. And not just corrupted
and ruined and sinful. Not only are we born sinful,
but verse one right here says we're born spiritually dead because
of our trespasses and sins. Verse one says, and you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now that's
grace. You talk about unmerited favor. When God came and did that for
his people, they were dead. They were dead, dead in sin.
There's not a soul on this earth that has ever lived one day or
one hour or one second without sin. It's not just what we do, sin
is what we are. 1 John 1 says, if a man says
that he has no sin, he is deceiving himself. The truth is not in
him and he's calling God a liar and that's sin. Just by a person
saying, I'm not a sinner, we are sinning against God. First
Timothy 115 says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I'm the chief. Romans 5 verse 6 says, when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. That's who Christ died for. That's
who the Father chose to save. So the salvation of God's people
was most definitely an unmerited favor. Romans 3, 24 says being
justified freely by his grace, by his grace. All right, verse
eight, Ephesians 2, verse eight, it says, for by grace are you
saved through faith. What is faith? Just like we said
this morning, the best way to understand faith is substitute
that word with Christ. For by grace are you saved through
Christ. Faith is what causes the mind
and the heart of a sinner to turn to Christ. That's what faith
does. Faith is what causes us to look
to Christ. It's such a wonderful thing when
a sinner finally looks to Christ. finally looks to Christ, finally
looks at Christ, finally sees Christ. If when we think of the
word faith, if it causes us to look at man, if it causes us
to look at us, if it causes us to look at ourselves and our
flesh and what we think is our faith, that's not faith at all.
That's a work. If the flesh is involved in any
way, shape, or form, it works. True faith has nothing to do
with us. If it's true faith, it has everything
to do with Christ. So verse 8 says, For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Not only does faith not start
with man, Faith is not even performed by man. People say, won't you
exercise your faith? Well, you don't do that. It's
not even performed by man. Look with me at Philippians 1. Verse 6. being confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. What that means is it's not of
ourselves. That's what that means. He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Look at Philippians 2 verse 13. It says, for it is God which
worketh in you, both to will and do of his good pleasure.
God, he's the one doing that. God works in his people. God works out the salvation of
his people in them, for them. Look at the end of verse 12 right
here, the verse above it. It says, work out your own salvation. Work out your own salvation. How was your own salvation worked
out? God worked it. And He does work
it in His people. That work is performed in His
people. They believe on Christ. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. All of His
people believe on Christ. All of His people cast their
all on Christ. They do. We completely renounce
the works of our flesh. We deny, we reject our self-righteousness. We abandon our false religion. We do every bit of that. But we're not the cause of doing
that. God Almighty is the cause. For by grace are we saved through
faith and that not of ourselves. Verse 8 goes on to say, back
in our text, Ephesians 2 verse 8, for by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. It's the gift of God. In Genesis
6 verse 8, that's the first time the word grace is mentioned in
the scripture. It says, Noah found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. Grace
didn't start in Matthew chapter 1. It started in Genesis. In the beginning, God. That's
where grace started. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That grace came from God. John 3 verse 27 says,
A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
It all comes from God. We talking about grace, faith,
or salvation? Which one are we talking about?
All of it. All of it. Salvation is of the Lord. Grace
is a sovereign gift of the Lord. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. He decides who he gives his grace
to. He's the one who decides who
his unmerited favor goes to. He's the one who decides. So salvation is of the Lord.
Grace is of the Lord. Faith is completely, totally
of the Lord. All right? Ephesians 2 verse
8 says, for by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Verse
nine says, not of works. Not of works. Our works play
no role in our salvation. Whether we're talking about the
beginning of it, the middle of it, or the end of it, it doesn't
matter. No role. Turn with me over to
Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 9 says, for this
is the word of promise, at this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, verse 11
says, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. God elected who
he would save before there was ever a soul on this earth to
save. He chose who he would save before
there was ever a soul on this earth to save. Ephesians 1 says
God's people were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Second Thessalonians 2.13 says, we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. God chose who he would
save before any deeds were ever even committed to consider. There was not any merit to even
consider. You know, some people say that
God's election was Him looking down through time and seeing
who would do good, and that's who He chose to save. The Scripture
says, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. The Scripture
says, all of our righteousnesses are filthy rags. The scripture
says there is none good but God. So our salvation was most definitely
not according to our works. Look with me at Galatians 2. Galatians 2 verse 16, it says, knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ, it's his faith. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Every
time I read that, I have to repeat, because it's so true. We believe
in the faith of. And not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also
are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? That
means if God has given us faith to see Christ and cast our all
on Christ. And we go back to the law. We're
sinners against God, we're sinners against Christ, and is that what
Christ does? Does he after he reveals after God reveals Christ
to us, does he turn us back to the law? God forbid, the end
of verse 17 says, verse 18, for if I build again the things which
I destroyed, the works of the law. I make myself a transgressor,
for I through the law am dead to the law that I might live
unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. For if righteousness comes by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Look at Galatians 3
verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. You break it in one point,
you've broken the whole law. Verse 11, but that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God. It's evident for the
just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Galatians 4 verse 21 says, Tell me, you that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear the law? You desire to be under
the works of the law and the deeds of the law. Do you not
hear what the law is asking of you and requiring of you? Chapter
5, verse 1 says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he's
a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You're
falling from grace. You're falling from grace. If
you go back to the law, You've fallen from grace. You know,
people hear fallen from grace and they think, well, it means
I sinned. It's not what it means. It means you left being justified
by the blood of Christ alone and tried to go back to the obedience
of the law to please God. That's falling from grace. Look back at chapter three, verse
24. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
That's the purpose of the law, to point us to Christ. 2 Timothy
1 verse 9 says, who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Titus 3 verse 5 says, not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. Romans 3, 28 says, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Faith is not a work, it's a person. All right, go back to Ephesians
2. Verse 8 says, For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God, not of works. It's not of works. And I'm just
going to interject something here, okay? I'm going to pause
our message for a minute and interject something here. Some would say, what about verse
10? Many, many people will say, well,
what about verse 10? For we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. What about unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them? One day,
in that great day, we will. We will. We are His workmanship. And the moment He reveals His
workmanship, the moment that He takes us out
of this sinful world, the moment we step foot into glory, the
moment that He changes these vile bodies that they may be
fashioned like His glorious body, the moment this corruption puts
on incorruption, the moment that mortality puts on immortality,
The moment that we see Him as He is and we're changed in the
twinkling of an eye, conformed to His image at that moment for
the rest of eternity, we're going to walk in good works. Right now in this sinful flesh,
Christ is the only good works that we have. He's the only good
works we have. He's the end of the law for righteous.
The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3, I don't have my own righteousness. All I have is the righteousness
of Christ. But the righteousness that we right now know by faith,
in that day we're going to know it by sight, we're going to know
it by experience, we're going to walk in good works. Verse 11 says, Wherefore, remember that you
being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcised
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of twain one new man, so making peace. So, verse eight says, For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7 says,
For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Because
salvation is from the beginning to the end of the Lord. Of the Lord. There is nowhere
to boast but in him. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, unto thy name we give all the glory. Amen. Now, don't anybody move. This is what I want to tell you
about that message. That was Brother Willie Mapote's outline.
Yeah. Would you like for me to start
it over? I asked him about a month or
more ago, we were talking, and I've spent so much time in fellowship
with him, I know what he believes, but I told him, I said, Willie,
you get to hear me preach all the time. He's probably awake
right now. But I said, you get to hear me
preach all the time and I would love to hear you preach. He only
preaches in Chichewa. He's never preached in English
to my knowledge. And I asked him, would you write
out one of your messages or write out one of your outlines and
send it to me? And he said, yeah, I'll do that.
All right, well a little time went on and I forgot. Forgot
that I even asked him that. And last week, that showed up
in my email. And it blessed me so much. And
I promise you, I did not do it justice. I didn't do it like
he did it. I promise you. But it blessed
my heart so much. When I read it, it blessed me
so much. I called my dad. I said, listen
to this. And it blessed him so much. I
couldn't help it. I had to bring it for our Bible
study in Maryland last Sunday. And I'm bringing it to you now
because I want you to hear it. I want you to hear what those
dear precious brethren are getting to hear in Malawi. That's what he's preaching to
them. This is the email he sent me. This is his outline, all
right? This will take two minutes. Let
me read this to you. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Today,
let us open our Bibles from the book of Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.
I want to talk to you today from the subject of, by grace you
are saved. And if you know him, he's emphasizing
those words, by grace. You say, first I want to talk
about the meaning of grace. Grace has been defined as unmerited
favor. Another thing we must know is
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23.
So the scripture clearly declares that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. We are dead, blind, born corruptible
from Adam and we cannot save ourselves. But Romans 3 verse
24 says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that's in Christ. So salvation is by God's grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There are six
points to consider that God's people are saved by grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, let me just, I'm gonna
give you just his six points. Point number one, for by grace
you are saved. Point number two, through faith. And he's expounding on this,
which faith? God-given faith that causes a
sinner like me to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Second Peter
1.1 says, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. His
third point is that not of yourselves. That's a good outline. The book of 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13 says, We're bound to give thanks always to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of
the spirit and belief of the truth. By his grace, God has chosen
his own people in Christ Jesus before the foundation of this
world to salvation. For example, Genesis 6 verse
8, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That means it's
not from us, but salvations of the Lord. Here's his fourth point. It is the gift of God. Salvation is a gift from God,
it's given to who he wants. No one can claim, no one can
demand it. John answered and said, a man
can receive nothing, it's given him from heaven. Here's his fifth
point, not of works. As I've already said in the beginning,
our good works before the Lord are filthy rags. The scripture
says from 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, who saved us, called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. Here's his sixth point, lest
any man should boast. Because salvation from the beginning
to the end is of the Lord, not of works, because no man should
boast. All boasting is excluded and God gets all the glory. 1
Corinthians 4 verse 7 says, For who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? If thou
received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received
it? Finally, we are called by grace with the inescapable truth
that we shall be with him forever. When I read that, I said, amen.
To him be the glory. Amen.