I'd like you to turn to Ephesians
chapter two. I've entitled this message, Saved
by Grace Through Faith. Now this is a passage of scripture
that I dare say all of you love and have heard, and I don't think
I'm going to be saying anything that you haven't heard before, but I'm going to preach tonight
as if no one has ever heard these verses before. And I know this,
that if the Lord enables me to preach and you to hear, hearing
will be like hearing for the first time. Isn't it wonderful
when the Lord enables you to hear that way? Like hearing for
the first time. Salvation by grace through faith. Now, there's not a more Important
declaration in all the word of God. In this passage in Ephesians
chapter two, let's begin reading in verse eight. 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, for
we're his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. By grace are you saved. Now, my greatest need and your
greatest need is to be saved. Amen. That's my greatest need
and that's your greatest need. Now, the word saved is in the
perfect passive tense of completed action that I am passive in. There is no work for me to do,
to be saved. It reads literally, by grace,
you having been saved. Having been saved. Well, saved from what? By grace, you having been saved. Saved from what? Well, let me
give you four things I need to be saved from. First, I need
to be saved from God. My sin is against Him, and He
can justly send me to hell to the praise of His justice. I
need to be saved from Him. You know, I love that passage
of Scripture, if God be for us, who can be against us? But if
God be against you, who can be for you? I need to be saved from
God, and I need to be saved from myself. I am my own greatest enemy, not
you, not the devil, myself. I think of what the Lord said
to Israel, oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. The worst
thing that could happen to me is for the Lord to leave me to
myself, to just remove his hand from me and leave me to myself. That's the worst thing that could
happen to me. I need to be saved from myself.
I need to be saved from God. I need to be saved from my sins. I mean myself, and I need to
be saved from my sins. I love that. Verse of scripture
in Matthew 121, thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sins. I need to be saved from my sins
because I'm a sinner. That's the one who commits the
sins. God doesn't put sins in hell. He puts the ones who committed
those sins into hell and I need to be saved from my sins. I was born a sinner. Were you? I was born that way. not sin. All I do is sin and my sin is
all my fault. I can't blame it on somebody
else. I can't blame it on God's sovereignty or you or my circumstances. My sin is all my fault and I
can't look down my nose in judgment upon any son or daughter of Adam.
I really can't. I've got no claims on God because
of my sin. If he elected everybody but me,
if Christ died for everybody but me, if God the Holy Spirit
regenerated everybody but me, I couldn't charge him with injustice.
I need saved from my sins. I need saved from the penalty
of sin. I need saved from the power of
sin. I need saved from the presence
of sin. I need saved from my sins. I
need saved from God, I need saved from myself, I need saved from
my sins, and I need saved from my circumstances, the things
that my sin gets me into, the terrible things that my sin can
bring upon me. I need God to do for me that
which only He can do, bring good out of evil. The circumstances
that my sin creates, Lord, save me from those circumstances. I need saved. That's my greatest need. That's
your greatest need. And the only way I can be saved
is by grace. By grace are you saved. Grace is not God's response to
me. It's not God's response to you.
It's his response to himself. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy. Now I know you've heard the textbook
definition of grace, unmerited favor. And indeed it is. Not only is it unmerited favor,
it's demerited favor. Somebody once said, and I've
always liked this, mercy is God not giving you what
you deserve. And grace is God giving you what
you do not deserve. Now I don't deserve God's love.
I don't have it by entitlement. I don't deserve the forgiveness
of my sins. I don't deserve to stand just
before God without guilt. I don't deserve to have my sins
paid for. I don't deserve his grace. I don't deserve his mercy. That
doesn't have anything to do with it though, does it? Grace doesn't
have anything to do with any merit on my part. God's grace, God's favor is in
spite of me. It's in spite of you. Verse one
of this same chapter, and you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you 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 conversation in
times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. And we were not by nature the
children of wrath, just like everybody else, but you turned
things around. But you accepted Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior and asked Him into your heart. But God. Not that you did anything. Not
that you were sorry for your sin. Not that you turned from
your sin and didn't return to it. But God. In spite of you, but God, who
is rich in mercy, For his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Now this word grace, I love the
way it sounds. I enjoy saying it. By grace you
are saved. I love the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but this is my second favorite word, grace. By grace
you are saved. Now let me give you some of the
ways this same Greek word is translated in the New Testament. It's translated acceptable. Only grace can make me acceptable. Where it says you're accepted
in the Beloved, literally you're graced in the Beloved. It's translated a benefit. What a benefit grace
is. It's translated favor. Mary found
favor in the eyes of the Lord, just like Noah did. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's translated a gift, a gift,
a free gift, not something you earn, but something that's given
to you freely. It's translated joy. It's a joy
to God. Listen to this. It's a joy to
God to give you his grace. And if you receive it, it's a
joy to you to receive it. It is translated liberality. It's the liberality of God. It's
translated pleasure, saved according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace. You know, every time
you read the word thanks, we're bound to thank God always for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. It's the word grace. Thankworthy. Oh, how thankworthy the God of
all grace is. You see, grace is who God is.
Now, listen to this scripture real carefully. John chapter
one, verse 17. The law was given by Moses. Now, didn't God give the law?
Yeah, but it was given through Moses. The law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Isn't the law the truth? Well,
what did the verse say? The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You see, God's way of
saving by grace is the truth of who he really is. God manifests all his character
in how he saves by his grace. Every attribute of God is on
display. You can't know, I can't know
the truth of God apart from the grace of God. God's justice is
displayed in his grace. He's made a way to be just and
justify the ungodly. And you can use this, you can
just as easily use the word the cross for this. God manifests
every attribute of who he is through the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see his wisdom, his wisdom and making a way to
be just and justify somebody like me. You see his sovereignty. You see his power to actually
put away sin, make it not to be. You see his mercy. You see
his immutability. Christ has always been the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. God's grace is who
he is. Those who are saved are saved
by grace. Now, not everybody's saved. Isn't
that so? Not everybody's saved. That's
a sobering thought. Not everybody's saved. Those
who are saved are saved by grace. And the fountainhead of that
grace is Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. All of God's grace is in, by,
through, and because of the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Now turn with me for a moment
to 2 Timothy chapter one. I love this verse of scripture. Verse eight. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath saved us." That's everything we believe,
isn't it? He saved us and called us. Note the order. What came first? The saving. What came next? The calling. Do you know you were saved if
you are saved? You were saved in the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. That's how secure your salvation
is. It's by grace you having been
saved." Now we're going to get more in a moment as to how you
can know if that's true concerning you, but this is so important.
This salvation came before the calling. The calling came because
of the salvation. Now let's go on reading. "...who
has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, It was not God's response to anything you've done.
Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. All that we have. was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now, salvation by grace. Electing grace, redeeming grace,
justifying grace, regenerating grace, preserving grace, whatever
aspect of salvation you're talking about. Salvation is by the grace
of God and I love what the Lord said to the Apostle Paul when
he was Had that thorn in the flesh, who knows what it was?
He besought the Lord three times that it might depart. I don't
think that means literally three times, it means a whole bunch.
And what did the Lord say to him? My grace is sufficient for
thee. You're gonna have to be content
and satisfied to be saved by pure, free, sheer grace. You satisfied with that? You
looking for anything else? My grace is sufficient for thee. Now, here's a big question. How can I know if I've been saved
by his grace? How can I know if I have been
saved by his grace? We'll read our text once again.
For by grace are you saved through faith. Now, he hasn't extended
his favor toward everybody. I've already said that. There
is a place called hell and it's inhabited. There are people there
right now. Not everyone is saved. Well,
who are those who have been saved by grace? By grace, are you saved
through faith? What's faith? Somebody says,
well, it's belief. Okay. Believe what? By grace,
are you saved through faith? Somebody says, well, you have
to believe you're saved. You have to believe that Christ died
for your sins. You have to believe that God has had mercy on you.
You have to believe you've been born again. You have to believe
you've been elected. You have to believe these things.
Don't let the devil make you think different. You have to
believe that there's a work of grace done in your heart and
you've really been changed. You have to believe that. There are a whole lot of people
in hell who believed every one of those things. Faith does not have anything
to do with what you believe about yourself. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you think, well, I believe Christ died for you. Faith has wholly to do with what
you believe concerning Him. Who so believeth that he saved
is born of God? Didn't quote that right, did
I? Who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, I heard a preacher make
this statement recently. He said, to be saved, you must
turn from your sins and trust Christ. To be saved, let me repeat that,
to be saved, you must turn from your sins and trust Christ. Now, let's see how the Apostle
Paul answered that question. Turn to Acts chapter 16, verse
30. This is the Philippian jailer.
And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And notice he doesn't ask, what
must I do to save myself? He knew that was impossible.
What must I do to be saved? There's not a more important
question we can consider. Now, how did Paul answer? Well,
you must turn from your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He didn't say that, did he? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When the Lord was coming
into that home where the little girl had died, he didn't say,
turn from your sins and believe and your daughter shall live.
He said, believe only. and thy daughter shall live."
Now understand this, the only evidence of salvation is faith
in Christ. Not how well you've turned from
your sins, not how well you've changed your life. If you can
look at your life and think, I must be saved because I do
and fill in the blank, whatever it is, you've missed it. The
only evidence of salvation, of being saved by God's grace, is
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I realize somebody will
say, well, you're saying it's okay to not turn from your sins. I'm not saying anything of that
sort. All I'm doing is preaching the gospel. Don't put anything
between faith and Christ. Well, I need to turn from my
sin. You've messed up what faith is altogether. Faith in Christ
is faith alone. I love what the, Ethiopian Munich said, we said,
what hinders me from being baptized? Well, if you believe with all
your heart, you may. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God. What think ye of Christ? Not what do you think of yourself?
What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what faith
is. For by grace are you saved. through faith. And you know,
I've heard preachers and church members use this all the time. You can be a Catholic, you can
be a Baptist, you can be a Presbyterian or a Methodist, whatever, all
these denominations. Well, I believe in salvation
by grace through faith. I believe in salvation by grace
through faith. And what they mean by that is
God offers his grace and you accept it by faith. which is
neither what grace is nor what faith is. Grace, God's grace
isn't an offer. He doesn't offer his grace to
you. He saves you by it. He doesn't throw it up out there
for your acceptance or rejection. He saves by his grace. And when
he saves you by his grace, you receive his grace. But Paul didn't end there. By
grace are you saved through faith, although that's where most people
ended. But notice he says, for by grace you save through faith,
and that not of yourselves. And that, that faith, it's not
of yourselves. It's not the product of some
decision you made. You don't decide to believe.
You only believe when you have no choice. You don't choose to
believe. It didn't come from you. That
not of yourselves. Faith is the gift of God. And if you have it, he gave it
to you. And you know that. I don't have
to convince you of that. You know there was a time you
didn't believe and you didn't even know what it meant to believe.
And all of a sudden you find yourself believing and that's
because that is the gift of God. Just as much a gift as every
other aspect of salvation. You see all of salvation is by
grace. How much is election by grace? We say all of it. We learn even more. That's right.
Well, how much is faith by grace? By grace are you saved. Through
faith, and that faith, it's not of yourselves, it's the gift,
it's the free gift of God given to His elect, given to those
for whom Christ died, given to those that God the Holy Spirit
gives life to, and the evidence that He's done these things for
them is they look to Christ only. Now here's the evidence that
God's given you grace, all you have is Christ. That's it. If you have anything else, you've
never received His grace, don't even know what it is. But if
all you have is Christ, you have no other plea but Him. That's
all you have right now. You haven't grown past that position.
You haven't got better than that position. That's where you're
at right now and you don't want to be anywhere else. If that's
the case, God has given you His grace. By grace, Are you saved
through faith, looking to Christ and that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. God's not going to have anybody
boasting before him. I love verse 10 for we are his
workmanship. You didn't have anything to do
with this. We are his workmanship. Now you think of an artist. that
puts together a beautiful painting. Well, that didn't evolve into
that. It didn't just, the paint didn't just all of a sudden,
out comes a picture. Not like that at all, is it? And what
if, say, some great artist did some kind of great work, and
I said, well, let me put my mark on it to make it complete. Well,
that'd be offensive, wouldn't it? It'd be wrong. We are his
workmanship. Created. I like that term. Created. How much do you have
to do with creation? You didn't have your hand in
that, did you? Either in the first creation or the second
creation. Created in Christ Jesus. That's where God's mercy and
grace is. It's in Christ Jesus. What's it mean to be in Adam? It's more
than him being your representative. It means you were in him. Whatever
he did, you did. What's it mean to be in Christ?
Well, if you're in him, whatever he did, you did. That's what
we confess in baptism. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. And when we hear of good works,
we generally think, oh, I need more of those. Or somebody may
think, well, I got plenty of them. I'm in good shape there.
But if you think anything you've done is good work, let me assure
you, it's not. It's not. but God has before
ordained that we would walk in good works by his grace. What
are those good works? Well, anything done out of love
to Christ. It's that simple. You know, the only thing the
Lord called a good work was when that woman performed that good work
on him. That spontaneous Look, she broke the alabaster
box of ointment upon him out of love to him. No, didn't say
anything about it. She just did it. And that's the
only thing we read where our Lord called was a good work.
But look at this. God has foreordained, ordained
before that we should walk in him. Now, if God ordained something,
is there any way it's not going to take place? No. This thing of good works is not,
well, I need to do this. Don't even think that way. It's
the life of the believer. It's the life of the believer.
He loves Christ. He walks. God has foreordained
that he walk in these good works, and that's exactly what he's
gonna do. How come? Because by grace he is saved.
Through faith, and not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works. lest any man should boast. God's
not going to have any flesh pouring in his presence, not of works,
lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained
that we should walk in them. By grace are you saved. Let's pray.