This morning, we're going to be in the book of Ephesians, the second chapter, if you'd like to turn their Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. Our subject this morning is grace. It's mentioned three times in our text. And also what's found in our text is how God saves sinners by Him alone doing it, by grace. through the preaching of his gospel, how he chooses to come to a center, and the reason he would ever come to a center. And it's all by grace. It's nothing we've merited, nothing we've earned, as we know. But that's our subject this morning, grace.

How do we know? The question I'm going to ask first is this. So there's many times we talk about other churches. They don't preach the gospel. We know people, we have family members, loved ones, friends, family that do not believe the gospel. And we believe the gospel to be true and to be our only hope of salvation. But how do we know that we're actually preaching the gospel? How do we know that? I want to answer that question this morning because The scripture is clear right here. It says, for by grace, are you saved through faith in that not of yourself. So my hope this morning before we dismiss this service is that we'll know for certainty, not only that we are preaching the gospel, but that we will know who gets all the glory for it also.

So the three questions I have to know if my gospel is God's gospel is who does the saving? Number one. Number two is why are we saved? Why are we saved? Or how are we saved? And number three is who gets the glory? So who does the saving? How are we saved? And who gets the glory? If we answer those three questions, I believe the Lord, if he would be our teacher, would enable us to see whether or not we are preaching the true gospel. Most gospels, in one of those categories I just said, most gospels are not gospels at all, will give man the glory or be the factor in God saving them. And I want to answer these questions this morning. Who does the saving? How are we saved? And who gets the glory?

So let's read our text, Ephesians 2. Verse four through 10 says, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his love, great love wherewith he loved us. We can stop right there a moment, just to point out the fact that he had just got done talking about our depravity for the first three verses and now it says, but God. So to begin this message, I'm gonna say that that is the interjection of the gospel, but, God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love when he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith. and that not of yourself it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

The question I have first is who does the saving? Who is the focal point? In this entire six, seven verses that we just read is who is the doer? Who is the revealer? Who is the one doing the saving? It's the Lord himself. It's the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not me that he doesn't say at any point. Any responsibility that I have, or any responsibility that you have, this is God that's doing this. This is the Lord's work. It's his salvation. If salvation is based upon something that I do, then it's no longer God's salvation. It's my salvation. I saved myself. But because salvation is of the Lord, freely given by grace, he is the doer of it 100% completely.

One thing that gospel preachers preach and believe, and God's elect are made to believe as well, is that if I'm going to be saved, God's gonna have to do all of it. God's gonna have to be the alpha and the omega. God's gonna have to be the first and the last, the beginning of my salvation and the ending of my salvation. He's gonna have to be the author, meaning he designed it, and the finisher. He's gonna have to finish it and follow through with it, or I'm not going to be saved.

If a man says, you have to do this, they don't believe that. They don't believe that. They believe that God may be the first cause, but he's not the last cause. Or maybe he's the last cause, but he's not the first cause. But if we're not preaching that God is the first and last cause in salvation, that we are saved by him through grace alone, we're not preaching the gospel.

To preach the gospel is to say that God only saves God is the only one that saves, that can save, that does save, and he doesn't ask my opinion or yours, and he doesn't ask our input. He doesn't ask us for anything. He doesn't need us. He saves his people. Saves them would be the correct way to say it. He saved his people from their sin, but he brings it to their attention in time, doesn't he?

One thing we're made to know also is that we're powerless to save ourself. The Christ saved me, brethren. Somebody said, well, you probably will say this a couple of times, but that's okay. You have to cry out for the Lord to have mercy on you. If you cry out, the Lord's already had mercy on you because only sinners, only God made sinners will cry out for mercy. Only mercy beggars cry out for mercy.

You have to have, and he tells us, for by grace are you saved through faith. You have to have God-given faith before we'll ever even desire to cry out. How are you going to know that you have a need unless God shows you we have a need? Peter was walking on the water, wasn't he? And he was doing just fine walking on the water for however long, the scripture's not clear, but as soon as he took his eyes off of Christ, started looking at the wind and the waves boisterous, he said, he began to sink. And he said, what did he say? Lord, save me. It wasn't some long drawn out, uh, prayer. It wasn't so it was, it was an out of necessity. He was made to say, save me.

Remember the Pharisee and the public and the Pharisees, uh, in the temple was, uh, bragging says praying in himself. He was praying to himself, really his own God is fabricated in his mind. But he said, God, I thank thee that I'm not like this person and I'm not like that person. And I do this and I don't do that, paraphrasing a little bit, but I tithe, I fast, I give to the poor. And he said, I thank you that I'm not like this publican right here. And the publican wouldn't even lift up his head to the ceiling, but smote upon his breast and said, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. And Lord said, one of these men went home justified. Now, which one do we believe that that was? So was the man justified because he was crying out for mercy or was he justified? Therefore he cried out for mercy. Think about that.

See, my choice is not the result of my salvation. Me believing is, not the cause of my salvation. It's the result of salvation being accomplished. People that are going to believe are the Lord's chosen people. He gives the grace and faith for them to believe in the fullness of time comes that salvation has already been accomplished. I don't alter it. I don't make it effectual. I don't change it. It's God that saves to the uttermost. It's not me and it's not you. It's not our choice. It's not our decision, not our determination, not our lifestyle, not our works. And that's literally what he says here, for by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not of works. Why? We would boast about it. We would brag about it. You ever been around? Rob was talking just a little bit ago about being around some people that were bragging about their righteousness and about what they've done and about and it just it. They can't help it. They can't help it. It's all look at me. What does our gospel say? Don't look not into us, oh Lord, not into us, but under your name be all glory and honor and praise. It's God that saves. It's God that saves.

You remember Blind Bartimaeus, he was sitting by the wayside. He heard that Jesus was walking by. He began to cry out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they said, be quiet, be quiet. When the Lord made you a sinner for the first time, you saw your sin. And that cry was in your heart. There was nothing that could stop you from crying out, Lord, have mercy on me. Why? Because God gave you that cry. Blind Bartimaeus was given faith to believe that Jesus Christ was who he said he was, have mercy on me. The disciples said, be quiet, you're bothering the master. And the Lord, he cried louder. He said, no, I got a need and he's the only one that can meet my need. And that's the whole point, isn't it? And the Lord said, bring him to me. And I love the fact that blind Bartimaeus leaves his clothes there. He leaves his old robe there. It's a picture of false religion. Men in false religion have a robe of righteousness, but the scripture calls it filthy rags. All the righteousness that we have is filthy rags. So he leaves that behind and he comes to Christ unclothed, unclothed. He says, what would you have me do? He said, it's my sight. I want to receive my sight. And he healed him. He healed him. But more than that, blind Bartimaeus received spiritual sight as well. That's the, that's the whole reason he was crying out unto the Lord. The Lord gave him faith to believe.

Understand that we are made to see as God's chosen people. We are made to see that we are blind, that we are impotent, that we are sinking in sin. desperate need of a Savior. More than that we are dead, born dead. Scripture talks about twice dead, plucked up by the roots. You think of an old, I use this analogy every once in a while, I tell on myself all the time by my accent, but I'm a country boy, and so I'm relatable to country things. I used to play with sticks as a kid, and sticks lay there for a while. They're dead, you know? I mean, there ain't no life in those sticks. Well, that's pretty much us. We're there just dead, decaying, rotting, dead, born that way. What hope does that stick have coming back to life except the master says unto it live? And that's exactly what he does in salvation. So who does the saving? God does the saving. He takes an old dead stick and makes it into a, well, he grafts it into the true vine, doesn't he? And it bears fruit unto him.

Brethren, we are incapable of doing anything as any part of our salvation. If we did, then it's our salvation. It's not God's. The flesh wants glory. The flesh wants praise. The flesh wants to be seen. The flesh wants to be acknowledged. And it just gets worse and worse the older we get. It's just how it is. Except the Lord keeps us, keeps his people from ourself.

In John 1 verse 13, we find who does the saving. He says that everyone that's born again is born not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of blood, but of God. God does the saving. Look at verse four. Somebody said, when did he do this? Look at verse four through six. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, when he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, I've been saying that already, but that's when he quickened us together. It's what it says right there. Quickened us, made us alive together with Christ by grace you are saved. And he didn't stop there. He's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Not only does he make us alive and show us that we're one with, we're one with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're made one with him. In the interjection of the gospel, I started by saying, how do we know if we preach in the gospel or are we preaching the true gospel, preaching God's gospel? Well, because the focal point is the first two words in verse four, but God. So here you and I are, We're born in sin, shaped in iniquity. We are sinners by practice, sinners by choice. And yet the Lord comes to where we are because it says, but God who is rich in mercy. That's the difference. That's who makes the difference. That's who maketh thee to differ. The Lord does that. He chose to do that in the covenant of grace before time ever began. He just spent the last few verses here in this chapter describing our total depravity. But we have the only solution, but God. But God, who does the saving? God, but God. God all by himself without my contribution, without my permission, without my opinion or input. And you know what else? If God doesn't save me against my will, I won't be saved. I won't be saved. I need a new will. And he gives faith, and that new will looks to Christ. It believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't give me that, I won't. I won't have it. I won't believe. Who does the saving? God does.

So second question, if God does all the saving, how are God's people saved? How? This is where most miss it. This is where most don't hit the mark because they can't rationalize because, well, they're not in the spirit, they're in the flesh. The flesh can't comprehend the things of the spirit. They're contrary to one another. Scripture's clear on this.

Most say that when you believe, and I've told you this before, but normally in my preaching, I repeat myself about three or four times, and I don't do that on purpose, but I'll tell you all three of my points, and I'll come back and tell you all three of my points again, and I'm about to do it again. We believe not to become saved. We believe because God saved us and gave us faith to believe. It's that simple.

Faith is the gift by grace that God bestows only to his chosen people, only to those who were chosen in the covenant of grace, only for those who Christ died for. That's it. Believing is the result of salvation, not the cause, not the cause. That is a very unpopular message. Did you know that? Because men say, I chose to believe. Believing is not a choice. Believing is not a choice. Believing is the gift of faith, freely given by grace, as it says right here.

For by grace are you saved through faith. Anytime we see faith, we have to ask this question, where does it come from? Who gets the glory for it? Where does it come from? Where's the origin? Where does it come from? Well, who does it point to? That's the second one. Who does it point to? And who gets the glory for it? And if my answer can't be Christ in all three of those, it's not saving faith. That's my faith.

So who gets the glory? Where does it come from? Who does it point to? For by grace are you saved through faith that looks to Christ, that comes from Christ, that he gets all the glory for, in that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation is the result of something. But it's not something I did. It's something that the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. Look at verse eight and nine. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. His, that's possessive. Do you like that? I love that. His, I am his, you are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God saves his chosen people all by grace, all by grace, through bestowed faith or not at all. John 1, 12 and 13, again, this is something I've already said this morning, but, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. That's as clear as it gets. That's as clear as it gets.

God saves his chosen people. all by his grace, not by my will, not by your will, not because our blood, but because of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of the Lord, salvation's all of the Lord, accomplished by him alone. Somebody says, well, you have to make a choice. Well, that's a contradiction to the word of God. How can a dead man choose something? I've got a few examples this morning, Lord be our helper.

Remember Mephibosheth and David. David remembers in 2 Samuel chapter nine, he remembers his covenant he had made with Jonathan, that they would take care of each other's family in the absence of one or the other. And he says, is there any left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness? for Jonathan's sake. So that's a picture of the covenant of grace is what that is. Kindness for Jonathan's sake, not for Saul's sake, for Jonathan's sake.

Well, Ziba, which was one of the servants in the house that belonged to Saul at one time, spoke up and said, yeah, there's one, but he's lame on both of his feet. His name's Mephibosheth. He's down in Lodabar, Mechar and Lodabar. And that's the land of no bread. That's where he was at, land of no bread. And so, you know, I love what David says. He says, fetch him, fetch him. Now, understand, David's the king. He has all the authority. He has all the power. He has all the control. He has everything necessary in order to retrieve Mephibosheth.

What's my point? Mephibosheth didn't have a choice. He didn't knock on the door and say, hey, Mephibosheth, the king would like to see you when you get a second. Mephibosheth, if it's not too much trouble, I need you to come with me. No, he walked in and he, he fetched him. He, I don't know how exactly I'm not going spirits, but we know that's true because David's the King, the King has ordered you to come to the palace.

Now understand something very important. Mephibosheth would have been the blood enemy of David because it was Saul's bloodline. He had claim on the throne. So in the sense of us and the Lord Jesus Christ and Mephibosheth and David, it's the same as it says, when we were dead in trespasses and in sins, when we were the enemy of God, that's when he saved us. Well, that's when he's fetching Mephibosheth, he brings him back to the palace. And you can imagine the thoughts that's going through Mephibosheth said, I'm a dead man. He's found me. He's found me. I'm going to die. And he goes in before David and he falls down before him. And David said, fear not, for surely I will show thee kindness for Jonathan's sake. And he says, what is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

Understand something very important. David didn't see Mephibosheth, he saw the face of Jonathan. And when God sees his chosen people, he doesn't see my ugly mug. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ when he looks at his people and he sees it as perfect, sees them as good, sees them as holy because of the finished work of Christ.

So what else happened? Well, David told, uh, David didn't answer his question. Why David's the king. You don't have to give an explanation. told Zabba to take care of Mephibosheth. He was going to till his land. His sons were going to help be his servants then. And Mephibosheth, you're going to sit at my table continually and eat bread till the day you die. He got a robe on his back and a ring on his finger. Sound familiar?

What I love most about this story is that whenever he gets to the table and he's sitting there, that tablecloth covered his legs. That was his infirmity. And I don't know, we hate to speculate, but I bet you it was red because it's a picture of the blood that covers our infirmity, that covers our sin. Nobody could see the sin anymore on Mephibosheth because of the work of David, what David gave to Mephibosheth.

So how does the Lord save his people? Well, he comes right to where they are in their darkest in their darkness, in their sinful dead condition, he fetches them and brings them to his palace of mercy and grace. And he puts a ring on our finger and a robe on our back. He calls us by our name out of darkness into light. He puts us at his table. He makes us a son, an adopted son of God, adopted daughter of God. And he says, you're going to eat the bread of life every day from now on. You're going to have the blood that's going to cover you from now on. Your sins have been forgiven. You're no longer my enemy, you're my son. You're my son and you're my daughter. That's how God saves his people.

This story goes hand in hand with what our Lord did for us. In the covenant of grace, it was said that God would show kindness unto his chosen people for Christ's sake. He has forgiven you for Christ's sake. This covenant is not a covenant wherein I had any part to do with. We are just the benefactors freely by grace. This message is titled by grace. And that's what this is all about is it's about how God saves sinners.

Um, When the Lord Jesus Christ condescended to become a man, he came here for a purpose, and it was to redeem the people that God had given him in that covenant of grace. And did he accomplish that? Yes, absolutely. Why? Because he's God. And just as David had all the power as the king, Jesus Christ had all the power as God. Nothing could stop him. Nothing could prevent him from saving his people. They tried to kill him multiple times, couldn't do it. Why? His time wasn't come yet. His appointed time was already marked down whenever he was going to die. He lived a perfect life. Then he died a perfect death, shedding his blood, putting away the sin of his people once and for all.

Now we've been made the very righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, all by his finished work, all by what he accomplished, all by his purpose, all by his grace, as it says right here. There's nothing left to be done. There's nothing, he's not looking to you and I when he sees our face. If we're in Christ, he sees Christ's face. And he says, surely I will show thee kindness for my son's sake. In the fullness of time, he says, fetch him. He says, fetch him, go get him. Maybe there's one this morning that's gonna be fetched. I don't know. I'd love that. We don't know when the Lord's gonna speak or move. But Lord, if you haven't fetched me, fetch me, please. Makes me cry that I cry out, Lord, fetch me. Make me yours. I can't get to you. I'm impotent. I'm in a land of no bread. I have my body of death. I need you to fetch me. Save me.

Just as we heard, who does the saving? He does all the saving. How does he save? According to his grace and mercy and his love. Look at verse four and five. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love when he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you are saved.

Another example of how God saves sinners is the woman at the well. She was an enemy of the Lord. Samaritans hated the Jews. The Jews hated the Samaritans. You talk about racism. I mean, they were racist. The Jews felt entitled and they looked at the Samaritans, which was a half breed Jew, as mongrels. I mean, they were less than people to the Jews. The Lord said, I must needs go through Samaria. Now you got to be thinking what's going on in these disciples' minds. Lord, why are we going to Samaria? Because he had a sheep there. That's why. Because he had a sheep. He goes to the well of Jacob and he finds this woman there on purpose, might I add. And that's the amazing thing about how men misconstrue our God is like he doesn't, Like he accidentally was there at the right time. No, he was there on, he knew when she would be there. He created her. He created the whole earth that they were, I mean, everything, see, he's far greater than we think he is. We can never preach the Lord too high, too holy, too sovereign. He was right where he was supposed to be at the appointed time because he had determined that. He knew she would be there. And he comes walking right up to her. And I'm reminded of the rich young man that comes to the Lord and the Lord literally says this, says, whenever he beheld his face, he loved him. He loved him. And surely he loved this woman as well because she was, the Lord saved her this day. And so this is the idea. He doesn't come to everybody and say, hey, I'm offering you salvation. He comes to this woman and he says unto her, give me to drink. And she says, well, the well is deep and you don't have anything to draw with. And he said, well, if you'd have asked me that I had to give you a fountain of living water, springing up and everlasting life, you'd never thirst again. She said, Lord, give me this water. He said, go fetch your husband. Now here's the part that the Lord always, when he's going to save one of his people, he's going to bring it to our attention that Christ finished the work and it's all it's done. The first thing he does is he's going to draw out our religion. He's going to make us confess that religion and show us our utter sinfulness and immediately, simultaneously show us Christ. And that's exactly what he does to this woman. She said, fetch me your husband. She said, I have no husband. He said, well, you've had five. And the one you have now is not your own. She said, oh sir. And you can imagine her perking up, you know, oh sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. And she said immediately, here's the religion. We worship in this mountain. That goes back to Deuteronomy whenever Moses blessed the mountain for the people and they were worshiping. But the Lord said, worship in Jerusalem. So she says, we worship in this mountain, but the Jews say that Jerusalem's where we ought to worship. And the Lord said, God is a spirit and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth. The time coming and now is where you won't be worshiping in Jerusalem or in this mountain. And she said, well, when Messiah comes, He'll fix it. He'll straighten you out. I really think that was the attitude that she kind of took there. He'll tell us what's right. You'll see. You'll see. And he says, he that speaketh unto you, am he. He told her, I am. I am. And what happened? She left her water pot and she went into the city and said, come see a man that she told me all things ever I did. Is this, this not the Christ? How could she believe that that man was Jesus Christ? Whenever we read in Isaiah 53, that there's no commonness in him, no, no beauty in him that we would desire him. He was despised and rejected of men. Now, why would she see him as Jesus Christ? Because he gave her faith. Faith to believe. See, this is how God saves his people. He comes to where they are in their religious state, in their dead state, and shows them the error of their way and points them to Christ. He gives them repentance and faith. How does he do that? By grace alone. Not by a work that I do, not by a prayer that I pray, not by a choice that I make, but because God, who is rich in mercy, wherein is great love, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. With Christ, that's how he saves his chosen people. Another example I'll give us is the Maniac of Gadara, How God Saved Sinners. This should be entitled How God Saved Sinners. I guess I didn't think of that. Could have had two messages, but How God Saved Sinners, just like the Maniac of Gadara. He's on a sea, I believe it's the Sea of Galilee. And he's in the farthest north place of Galilee Sea. And he has to go all the way to the farthest south place. What is that a picture of? Well, that's a picture of his condescension. Whenever he condescended from the highest heavens, to the lowest point, which is the earth. That's the condescension. Why did he do that? Because there was some maniacs that he had to clothe and seat them, put them in the right mind. So this maniac. He would be bound with chains and fetters, but he would kept rending them asunder. He kept breaking the chains. Now, I don't know what kind of chains they had back then, but that's a lot of strength. So he's crazy because he's demon possessed and the Lord comes up to him. And I love the fact that when the Lord steps foot on land, he sees him and the maniac comes running to him and he falls down and worships. You know what that means? Even the demons believe in tremble. That's what that means. Well, he says, he knows who he is. He says, son of David, if you come here to torment me before the time, he knew exactly who he was. And well, the Lord asked for his name and he said, we're legion for we are many. And he told him to depart. And they said, well, they begged him. So we'll don't just send us out into the country. Let us depart to these swine that's over here. And the Lord bid them leave. And they went over there and the swine ran down the hill and they drowned themselves. And now the farmers are mad because the Lord killed their herds. But when they came and found the maniac, he was clothed, he was seated, he was in his right mind. How God saves sinners. is he comes to us whenever we're out of our mind, we're absolutely crazy, we're maniacs. Either the devil's possessed us or God's possessed us, one of the two, it's that simple. So if the Lord doesn't have us, he does. You understand what I'm saying? So we need the Lord to come to us, rebuke everything that we ever thought who God was, all the demonic thoughts that we have about God being a tiny God and incompetent, incapable God. And the Lord has to straighten all that out. And he says, no, I am the Lord. I am Lord. I'm sovereign. I'm holy. I am the judge of the earth. None can stay my hand or saying to me, what do is thou? So this maniac was clothed. That's a picture of the same old Bartimaeus. I'm guaranteeing they had a robe for him, but he got clothed spiritually too, didn't he? So he was clothed, picture of righteousness of Christ. He was seated, resting in the finished work of Christ, and he was in his right mind. His mind was completely changed about who God is and who he was up until that point. He says, no, you're God, and salvation's been accomplished. This is how God saves sinners, how God chose to save his people from their sin. Last question is who gets all the glory? Well, that's pretty easy. After hearing everything we've heard so far. If salvation is of the Lord, given to his elect before time, by his own determinant counsel, by his own purpose, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? If he has complete and total sovereign power over the clay to make one lump of honor and one lump of dishonor, If he loved Jacob out of mercy and grace alone, and he hated Esau because he left Esau to himself, then I would say the Lord gets all the glory in this great salvation.

See, our nature would just never believe God. Our nature hates God, but yet, God who is rich in mercy, wherein his great love, he loved us. Even when we were dead, he quickened us together with Christ, dead in sins, If salvation is of the Lord, given to his like before time, all by grace, or not at all, then clearly he gets the glory.

Look one more time at verse eight and nine. Who gets the glory? For by grace, where does the grace come from? It's not my grace, it's God's grace. For by grace are you saved through faith. Well, where does the faith come from? It's not my faith, it comes from God. And that not of yourself. Well, if we didn't know where it come from, now we definitely know it's not of us. Because it says, not of yourself. It is the gift of God. That means that he possesses it. He owns it. It belongs to him. It's his choice to give to whom he will.

Whenever you have Christmas gatherings and you give people presents, you determine who gets the present, right? You don't buy it. Whenever you have a present to give to somebody, a gift, You're the one that makes the decision, I'm gonna give Steve this gift, and I give it to Steve. Because it was mine to give. See, salvation's of the Lord. It's not of man. It's not by our hands or our will or our prayer or our choice. It's not of works. Why? Because, well, we'd boast about it. We'd brag, look at my choice that I made.

There's a song I hated. It says, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. We used to sing that loud and proud in false religion. Oh, I'm thankful that God decided to make me follow him because he is the shepherd and I am the sheep. I'm just an old dumb sheep. I need a shepherd. I don't know how to follow. Lord, teach me how to follow you. Lead me in the paths of righteousness for your namesake. Restore my soul. This is not of works. This is not my will or choice, but His finished work, His perfect will, His purposed choice.

Everything that men preach and say, it's about us, flip it around. Whenever the Lord calls us out of darkness into light, salvation is a, repentance is a radical change about how God saves sinners. But when you see that radical change, you literally do a 180. You turn all the way around and you believe everything backwards that you did before. The Bible rewrites itself. You see the Lord on every page, that He gets all the glory in this salvation, that it's by Him. Who does the saving? God does the saving. Who does He save? His chosen people. How does He save them? According to His own purpose and grace in Christ Jesus, by the blood alone. And that's why He gets all the glory. That's why He gets all the glory.

You know what? God's people love it that way. God's people love it that way. I don't want to pat on the back for something I did. I didn't do anything. Not unto us, but unto thy name, O Lord, be all glory and praise.

Now in closing, let's read our text one more time. Verse four, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love when he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us, I like that word, made us, didn't ask us, made us. made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. were his workmanship, his workmanship. Not my works, not my choice, but his finished work and his perfect choice, his determinant counsel, all by his grace, therefore he gets all the glory.

God's people are saved by God's will, God's purpose, God's doing, by grace alone. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would take this and bless it to our understanding for your glory in Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.