Salvation By Grace

Ephesians chapter 2. I hope you'll turn with me in
your Bible. We're going to use the Bible
tonight quite a bit in this message, Bible study, on the subject, salvation by
grace. My text is Ephesians 2, verse
8 and 9. It's as familiar to people as
John 3.16. I guess it's as familiar as Psalm
23, the Lord is my shepherd. Preachers and people everywhere
of all denominations and persuasions use these words. Ephesians 2
verse 8, for by grace are you saved and
the old timers say a better translation is, for by grace have you been
saved. For by grace have you been delivered
through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. What's the Apostle saying here?
For by grace, Are you saved through faith? What do you say? What
do these words mean? We're saved. We're saved. I want the young folks to listen
very carefully to me tonight. Let's see if I can make this
at least plain to our heads. Saved. We're saved. That's what
it says. By grace have you been saved. It says we're saved by grace.
That's clear. We're saved. We're saved by grace.
And this is clear, we're saved by grace through faith. Through
faith. Can't be saved without faith.
He that believeth not shall be damned. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. And it's the gift of God, that's
clear. This salvation is a gift of God
and as Frank prayed a moment ago, this faith is the gift of
God. Nothing I have worthwhile that's
not the gift of God. Every good and perfect gift cometh
from God, with whom there's no change. And it's not of works. Well, I guess the best way to
find out what the Apostle is saying here is to go back and
see what he said before he said this. So let's go back to the
preceding verses and pray, like I said while ago, and need a
fresh supply of grace. In our Sunday school class this
morning, I teach, but I preach too, and I got to preaching this
morning in the Sunday school class, and about preached out.
Then I came out here at 10.15, preached again, and I thought
sitting there while ago, I don't know whether I got anything left
or not. I don't know whether I've got anything left, but a
fresh supply of grace. So, let's go back to verse 1.
And here in the first three verses, the Apostle Paul talks about
our past condition. What we're saved from. Where God found us. The pit from
which we've been digged. The rock from which we were hewn.
Here, listen to it. And you hath bequickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. That's our past condition, dead
in trespasses and sin. And the fountain cause of that
was our father Adam. Let's turn to Romans 5 and see
what it says about our relationship with Adam and the results of
his fall. In Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore
by one man, Romans 5.12, wherefore as by one man sin entered into
this world, came in by Adam. And what else came? Death, death,
spiritual death by sin. And so, death passed upon all
men. It passes by reproduction. That's
how it passes. From father to son, from Adam,
one man God created. And that man fell and died. And death only reproduces death. Sin only reproduces sin. The
fallen man can only reproduce a fallen son. So that's what
it's saying. And so death passed upon all
men, for they all have sinned. Look at verse 17. For if by one
man's offense death reigned, by Adam's offense, Verse 18,
Therefore by the offense of one judgment came. Death reigned
and judgment came. Because death reigned, judgment
follows. Sin, when it's finished, brings
forth judgment and death. Verse 19, For as by one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners. And this corrupt nature
of sin and spiritual death is continued and passed on from
father to son by reproduction. This is what David said in Psalm
51. Turn to Psalm 51, and this is
offensive to a lot of folks in religion. In Psalm 51, verse
5, David puts up a plea for mercy. And then he confesses his sin,
and then he declares the reason for his condition. Verse 5, he
said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived
me. When I was conceived in my mother's
womb, I was a sinner then. And when I was being formed and
fashioned over a period of months before I was born, I had the
seed of sin. In me, the nature of sin. Psalm
58, turn over there a minute. Verse 3. Psalm 58. And what happens when we're born?
Well, if we're sinners when we're conceived, and we're sinners
when we're being shaped and formed in the womb, then Psalm 58 verse
3 says the wicked are strained from the womb. They go astray
as soon as they're born. speaking lies. You have bequickened who were
dead and trespasses in sin. See the results of all this.
Look down at Ephesians 2 verse 12. At that time you were without
Christ. You were aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. You were strangers from the covenant
of promise. having no hope and without God
in this world. That's the result of Adam's fall. Without God in this world. The fountain cause of spiritual
death is Adam's sin. It's passed on in reproduction,
in conception, in the formation of the infant, and in its birth. And it separates us from God.
Your sins, have separated you and your God. And it renders
us incapable and unable of pleasing God. In the flesh, no man can
please God. God looked down upon the children
of men, and He said, every imagination of their hearts is only evil
continually. That's our state. Jeremiah said,
can the Ethiopian change his skin? A black man is a black
man because his nature is to be black. Can the leopard change
his spots? Neither can you do good. You
and me that are accustomed to doing evil. The natural mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God. This natural man is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can it be. And the things of God to the
natural mind are foolishness, sheer nonsense. Children can
memorize poems, memorize dates, memorize history, memorize geography,
memorize names of ball players, memorize their baton average,
memorize a whole team of football players, soccer players, basketball
players, baseball players, and remember their names from generations
back almost, but they can't memorize a verse of Scripture. Isn't that something? That's
our nature. And the saddest part regarding
this natural heart is it does not realize its condition. The three things that make up
the saddest part of the fallen state of natural man is heart. He doesn't know it. He doesn't
know it. Turn to John 8. Let me show you
this. John chapter 8. Listen to these
men. These were the religious leaders
to whom our Lord is speaking here. These are folks that in
far as religion was concerned, carried the ball. They were elected
officials. They were the highest ranking
officers in the Jewish church state. And in John 8, 39, they
answered God. They answered the Son of God
and they said to Him, Abraham is our father. And the Lord Jesus
said to them, if you were Abraham's seed, you would do the works
of Abraham. They thought they were. They didn't know they weren't. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father. Then said they to him." Now listen
to this. We'd be not born of fornication. We're not born in sin. We're
not Gentiles. We have one Father, even God. They thought they did. And He
said to them, if God were your Father, you would love Me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God. Neither came I of Myself, but
He sent Me. Why don't you understand what
I'm saying? Because you cannot hear my word,
you're of your father, the devil." They didn't know it. The natural
heart doesn't know it. Isn't that something? And then secondly, he not only
doesn't realize his state, but he has no desire to change. He's
comfortable in his false religion. He's perfectly comfortable. You
get a hold of the Gospel of Grace, and it blesses your soul and
your heart, and you love it, and you see how clear it is from
the Word, how glorifying it is to God, and what a blessing it
is to you. And you go forth to tell your
religious friends about it, and they have no interest. They have
no zeal. They don't care. Why? They're
comfortable in their false religion. They're very comfortable. And our Lord brought seven charges
against Him in John 5. Turn over there a minute. I'll
show you these seven charges He brought against these people,
these religious folks who were very comfortable. They not only
didn't realize their lost state, they had no desire to change
it. In John 5, verse 39, He said,
you search the Scriptures, For in them you think you have eternal
life, but there they which testify of me." And the first charge
is this, and you will not come to me that you might have life.
You won't do it. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you, second charge, you don't have the love of God
in you. I've come in my Father's name,
the third charge, and you won't receive me. Let another come
in his own name, promoting his own cause, the fourth charge,
and him you'll receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another, the fifth charge, and you don't seek the
honor that comes from God? You're not even seeking God's
honor and glory. Don't think that I'll accuse
you. There's one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you
trust. Had you believed Moses, you would
have believed me. That's the sixth charge. He wrote
of me. But you believe not his writings,
how can you believe my words? You won't believe my words. And I'll tell you this. You have
to quicken who were dead. The fountain causes Adam's sin.
Continued through reproduction. And the result is separation
from God, inability to do good, And the saddest part is this
natural heart doesn't know its state, doesn't desire to change
its state, and will not change unless acted upon by God. And that's the difference, you
see. You say, well, I've been changed. He changed you. I called
on God, but He called on you. John 6, turn over there a moment.
Oh, yes. You know, can the Ethiopian change
his skin? No, but it can be changed. God
can. Can the leper change his spot?
Nope, but God can. Can you do good that are accustomed
to doing evil? Can you do it? No, but God can
do it. He can give you a new heart and
me too. In John 6 verse 44, listen. Will not change unless acted
upon. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me drawing. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the prophets, they shall be all taught
of God. What does God teach us? He teaches
us our nature, our state, our inability, our sin, our need. He teaches us His glory, His
grace, His gift of Christ, His blood, His righteousness. He
teaches us those things. Taught of God. And every man
that hath learned, and hath heard, and hath learned of the Father,
he'll come to me." And that's what we're saying over here in
Ephesians 2. Let's go back to the text. And you hath He quickened,
made alive, who were dead. Who were dead. What was our state? In times past, verse 2, wherein
in times past you walked according to the course of this world.
Now listen to me a moment. One of the things we finally learn in the
ministry is don't catalog sins. Don't pick out certain sins and
prove that men are depraved because they do those certain sins. A
person's character is his walk. That's what Paul does. It's his
walk. It's his walk. A person's character
is his walk. In times past, you walked. This
was your, this was my walk. A person's character is his walk.
The tenor of his life is his walk. The direction he's going
is his walk. The bend of his will is his walk. And that's what he's saying here.
A believer is described by his walk. Who walked not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. That's Romans 8. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walk.
Not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That's His direction.
Holiness to the Lord. That's His walk. Now, the unbeliever's
walk is described here. Listen to verse 2. Where in times
past you walked according to the course of the world, the
seeing may not be drunkenness, he may be a teetotaler. It may
not be cruelty to animals. He may be a loving, compassionate,
tender person. It may not be cruelty to people. It may not be drugs. It may not
be alcohol. It may not be adultery. It may
not be these things. It's just pride, envy, greed,
covetousness. That's his walk. That's the tenor
of his life. That's the bend of his will.
That's his direction. He's walking this way. What way
is he walking? He's walking the way of the world. According to the course of the
world. The world is self-interested
in self. Not in you, in self. According to the prince of the
power of the air. Satan wasn't a drunk. What was
Satan's sin? I will. That was his sin. My
will. I will be like God. I will exalt
my throne. I will sit in the top of the
mount. I will do this. The essence of
holiness is not my will, but thy will be done. The essence
of sin is my will. You may be clean as a hound's
tooth outwardly, but in here, rebellious. Rebellious, self-willed,
self-righteous, envious. Oh, that's the walk. Walk according
to the course of the Prince of this world, the Prince of the
Pilate, the Spirit. It's a Spirit that worketh in
children of disobedience. Among whom we all had our behavior,
citizenship, in times past in the lust of our flesh. That's
where our interest was, doing our thing. Our behavior was to
satisfy ourselves, to fulfill the desires of our flesh and
the desires of our evil minds. And we had no love for God. We
were by nature in this natural state. We were by nature, just
like everybody else, under the wrath of God. That's right, children
of wrath. by nature. In Christ, we were
objects of love. But in our state of guilt and
rebellion, we were children of wrath, just like everybody else,
because we were going the same way everybody else was going. See that? That's our past. Alright,
look at verse 4. It's what Desi sang a while ago.
But God, who made the difference? It's not, but I, but I accepted
Jesus as my Savior. But I repented, but I turned
over a leaf, but I, but I, no, but God. That's the difference. Romans 5, 8 says this, listen. Romans 5, 8, but God, but God
commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us. But God. I love this Scripture over here
in Exodus. When you turn over there a minute,
Exodus 11. We do a lot of preaching on Exodus
12. We don't preach too much from
Exodus 11. But there's a verse in Exodus
11 when God told Moses what He was going to do. Exodus 11 verse
4. And Moses says, Thus saith the
Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt,
and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon the throne, even
unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and
all the firstborn of the beast. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it any more. God. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not even a dog move his tongue, against man
or beast, that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel. God may. Who maketh thee to differ?
What dost thou have that thou hast not received? Hath you received
it? Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. I know
you've read this a hundred times, but young people, let's read
it again. Who makes the difference? Who
makes the difference? 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. Do you see your calling, brethren? You who love this Gospel. All
of you here. I know you do. I know you do. Every one of you here love this
gospel, you wouldn't be here. You believe this Word, you wouldn't
be, you wouldn't keep coming back. You wouldn't be tormented
this way. You wouldn't be persecuted this
way, sitting listening to something you hate. No, you love it, don't
you? Why do you love it? He called you, and He taught
you, and He revealed it to you. And you see your calling, now
you put this down, verse 26, you see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many nobler call. But God, there's that word again,
but God, that's the difference, but God hath chosen the foolish
things of this world. to confound the wise. And God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty. And the base things of the world
and the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
that are not, to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh
should glory in His presence. But of God, of Him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us Wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. That's what we were there in
those first three verses. Now, verse 4 says, But God. But
God. Read on. Ephesians 2, 4. But God who is rich. I tried
to talk about this this morning. He's rich in mercy. God is merciful. Mercy is an
attribute of God as well as truth. God is truth, isn't He? Oh, yeah,
undeniable, unquestioned, infinite truth. All right, He's undeniable,
infinite, unquestioned mercy. His mercy is just as strong as
His truth. At Calvary, mercy and truth met together. Oh, God's
righteous, God's holy. I know that. That's His name,
holy. But I tell you this, God is peace and love. Because righteousness and peace
met at Calvary. But God who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, He loved us. God loves sinners. Delights to show mercy. Even
when we were dead, dead, dead in sin, He loved us. And He quickened us together
with Christ. What does that mean? It means
this is a spiritual resurrection. He quickened us together with
Christ. By grace you are saved. And He
hath raised us up together. Together. You and I together
know us in Christ together. He raised us up together. When
He raised Christ, He raised you and me. And hath made us in Christ
sit with Him. Not you and I together, He and
us together. Isn't that right, Ceasar? That's
what he's saying, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. This is the gospel. You see,
this is spiritual resurrection. That separation from God is ended. Our God is reconciled. In Christ,
our representative, just like we fell in Adam, we're restored
in Christ. Like we sinned in Adam, we're
made righteous in Christ. Like we died in Adam, we're made
alive in Christ. He honored the law. He died under
our curse. He was buried and rose again.
He ascended to the Father. And when He ascended, we went
with Him, spiritually. Spiritually. This is what baptism is all about.
Turn over to Romans chapter 6 a minute. This is what I was talking about
this morning, and tonight two of our ladies have requested
that I baptize them. They want to follow the Lord
in baptism, both of them. Janet Tate and Desi Maynard have
been here a long time. They've been hearing the Gospel
a long time. Both of them followed sort of a pattern, the same pattern
that I walked one time and some of you walked that made a profession
when just a little child, 7, 8, 9 years old. And didn't, I
guess, walking in what light we had and sincerely doing what
we did sincerely, Lack of understanding, lack of knowledge, lack of revelation. And during the past several years,
both of them, as they told me, both of them during the last
several years have come to understand in their hearts what they were,
what God did, how God did it through Christ, and that they've
been They've been resurrected from a spiritual grave. Christ
died for them. He was buried and rose again.
And when He rose, we arose. And when He ascended, we ascended.
When He's seated at the right hand of God, we're seated in
Christ. It's Christ! They want to confess that. They
want to declare that. They want to put their hearts
and minds at ease about that. I want everybody to know that
this is where I stand. This is where I stand. And Romans 6 says that. Listen.
Know ye not, verse 3, that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried
with Him by baptism. into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk, there's the walk of the believer, in
newness of life, new direction, new motive, new goal, new companions,
new way. For we've been planted together
in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin but Him. And it takes us a few years And I know from a child, and
some of you have all been here since children, from a child
you, like Timothy, know the Holy Scriptures that are able to make
thee wise unto salvation when you come to need Christ and be
made aware of what we are preaching tonight, our state, our nature,
our need, and how God, but God in His mercy, has met that need
in His Son. And how He made it? Christ came
down and lived for us, and died for us, and was buried as our
scapegoat, and raised as our justifier, and ascended as our
intercessor and mediator. And when all that was done, we
were in Him, with Him, and we were crucified with Christ, and
buried with Christ, and raised with Christ, and now seated with
Christ. And when you go into the waters
of baptism knowing that, You've got an intelligent confession
of Christ. Now, we see through a glass dimly,
sure. We know in part, sure. If we
think we know, we don't know anything like we should know
or will know. But I know that. He said, you
do too. You know that now. And that's
what you want to declare. You too, you want to declare,
I know whom I have believed. There's no question about that
now. This is a declaration that I
wish to make for all to understand that I live in Him. I'm dead
and raised with Christ. Alright, look at verse 7. Why
is he doing all this? Well, we've got a course to run
here. Some of us, our course is about
run. We have a day of departure set by God. The number of our
months are with Him. Our bounds are set. We have a
death to die. But I tell you this, to be absent
from this body is to be present with the Lord. Present with the
Lord. I'm already in Him there, and
the reality of it will be experienced when I leave here. And it says,
in the ages to come, think about it forever, in the ages to come. He didn't say in the years to
come, ages. He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace. This is what troubles me about
folks that are always preaching, sending material up there to
build mansions and waiting on rewards After you give and do
all these things, God is going to give you crowns and rewards.
Listen, in the ages to come, He's not going to show what we
did for Him. He's going to show what He did
for us. I'm not going to get a trophy.
I've said, I am the trophy. He's going to show us all as
trophies of His grace. And in the ages to come, He's
going to show His exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness. And that's what I've begged of
you this morning. Cast yourself on the kindness
of the Lord. He is kind. He is merciful. He
is love. He's good. And He's going to
show that off, His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Far. By grace are you saved. Are you
delivered. It's by His grace. It's through
faith. And that not of yourselves, that's
the gift of God. That faith is the gift of God.
That repentance is the gift of God. That calling is the gift
of God. I know that. Every gift is the gift of God. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. Don't intend to boast. Don't
have anything to boast about except Christ's love for me. I glory in that. His death for
me, I glory in that, His cross. And here's another great and
good and glorious gift of God in verse 10, and I'll close with
this. For, we are His workmanship. God's saving grace is not only
a work for us, it's a work in us. It's a work in us. We're His workmanship. We've
been created in Christ Jesus. unto good works. And these works
of faith and labors of love are not a duty, they're a desire. We've not only got a new direction,
we've got a new heart that leads us in that direction. We not
only have a new walk, we've got a new motive, principle, that
makes labors of love and works of faith a choice, not a requirement. Why do you do what you do? I
choose to. A pleasure, not an obligation.
A walking in newness of life. Oh, listen to verse 10. Where
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works, which
God hath before ordained also, that we should walk in. Oh, it's
all ordained. It's all by His glory. He ordained
that. He ordained that. ordained the
life, the love, the grace, He ordained it all for His glory.

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