I'm asking you to turn in your
Bibles this morning to the book of Ephesians. Will you open with
me to Ephesians, the second chapter? I'm going to read verses 8 and
9 of Ephesians 2. Now, here's our subject today.
Let's preach it one more time. Let's preach it one more time. Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse
8, 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." Now, it's not every preacher
who has the privilege of staying in one place and pastoring one
church as long as I've been with the 13th Street Baptist Church
of Ashland, Kentucky. September of this year I will
have served as pastor of this church for 29 years, pastor of
the same church. As I say, that's a privilege
to be able to pastor and to preach to the same people along with
the visitors who come for 29 years. And I hope, by the grace
of God, that my attitude has improved. You know, the gospel
is offensive, no question about that. Paul talked about the offense
of the cross. When our Lord Jesus Christ preached
to the people in his day and told them the truth of the scriptures,
some of them were deeply offended. The scripture says they went
back and walked no more with him. Some said in anger, this
is a hard saying, who can hear it? Some even took up stones
to stone him and finally they nailed him to a cross. But we
don't want to be offensive in our personalities. We want to
preach as a dying man to dying men. humble men, not weak men,
but meek men. And we don't want to offend people
with our cantankerous ways. If they're offended by the gospel,
then we have to accept that. But I hope my attitude through
the years has improved by the grace of God, and I hope that
my ability to present the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has
improved. I hope God has given me gifts
and talents that enable me to preach the gospel with the power
and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. I hope that my knowledge of Scripture
has improved. The Bible tells us to study,
to study. There's no excuse for laziness.
There's no excuse for not studying. We need to saturate our messages
with the Word of God. We need the Word of God to fill
our hearts and our souls and our minds, to be able to refer
to the Scriptures. I'm not to preach to you what
I think or what I suppose or even what I personally believe.
I'm to speak, thus saith the Lord. Scripture says, study to
show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So I do pray by
God's grace and for his glory and the good of the people to
whom I minister and those in the television audience to whom
I preach that I'll exhibit the attitude and spirit of my Lord
Jesus Christ, that my ability will be increase for the grace
of God and my knowledge of scripture that I'll be able to take you
to the Word of God and show you thus saith the Lord but my friend
I can say with sincere honesty and conviction and great emphasis
For 29 years and I've been preaching for 34 in all My message is the
same It's the same and it's contained within the circle of these words
found in Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for by grace and 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's the sum and substance
of our message. The sinner is saved not by works,
not by law, not by deeds, not by tradition, not by custom,
not by religious ceremonial rituals. The sinner is saved by the grace
of God through faith. If you take your Bible and look
there at chapter 2 of Ephesians, let's go back and pick up verse
1. You'll find here the apostle
in these verses gives us a good look at the three persons that
are involved in this matter of what we call salvation or redemption. There are three persons involved.
If you go back to verse 1 through 3, he talks about the sinner.
He said, and you hath he quickened who were dead. dead in trespasses
and sin. Man in the garden did not die
physically, not immediately. He lived for years after his
sin, but he died spiritually. You who were dead in trespasses
and sin, God hath quickened. You who walked according to the
course of this world. That's how natural men walk.
They walk not according to the course of holiness, not according
to the course of God, but according to the course of this world,
even according to the devil. That's what it says. That's not
a pretty picture, is it? It's not pretty at all, but it's the
truth. He said we walk according to the course of this world,
and we fulfill the lust of our flesh, and the desires of our
flesh, and the desires of our mind, and the lust of our minds,
and we are the children of wrath, even as others. Now, that's not,
as I say, a pretty picture, but that's the picture of every man
out of Christ by nature. dead in trespasses and sins,
walking according to the course of this world, according to the
leadership of Satan, fulfilling lust. And lust just does not
only apply to sexual sins. It applies to lust for power
and lust for riches and lust for fame and lust for anything,
an unholy desire or panting or yearning after those things that
are forbidden by God, lusting for them. But that's the picture
of every man out of Christ. That's the picture of every man
by nature. We know it's within us, the evil thoughts. Christ said it's not what man
puts in his mouth that defiles him. I know there are preachers
stomping up and down the country, hollering for people to quit
this and quit that and quit the other, all of these outward sins,
you know, but that's not our trouble. Our trouble is not meat
and drink. Our trouble is our hearts. That's
where the trouble is. We have heart trouble. Out of
the heart proceeds evil thoughts. That's what the Lord said. Out
of the heart proceeds murder. Hatred is murder. Out of the
heart proceeds fornication. Out of the heart proceeds jealousy
and envy. These are the things Christ said
that defile a man. That's what we are by nature.
We make ourselves all pretty on the outside, but we wouldn't
dare let people know what we think. We wouldn't dare let people
look into our hearts, would we? We fix up the outside so we can
impress folks, you know, so we can justify ourselves before
men. But God looks on the heart. God
does not look on the outward countenance. God looks on the
heart. He said, my son, give me your heart. He said, keep
your heart out of any of the issues of life. So here Paul
lets us look, first of all, at the sinner dead in sins, without
hope, without God, without Christ, without strength. Dead in sin. Then he goes on and lets us look
at someone else in verse 4. But he says, but God. I love
those two words. You who were dead in sin and
you who walked according to the course of the world, even following
the powers of Satan, fulfilling the lust of your mind and flesh
and the desires of your heart. But God. There's the Heavenly
Father. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin. that quickened us together with
Christ. God loves sinners. Every attribute of God is manifested
in this thing called redemption. Did you know that? God's attribute,
you say, that's a big word. Well, it just means the character
of God. You have attributes, personality, your nature, those
things that describe you. Well, there are things that describe
God. God knows all things. God's omniscient, omnipotent,
omnipresent. God is righteous, God is holy,
God is love, God is long-suffering, God is almighty. You see, those
are attributes of God. That's what we mean when we say
attributes of God. We need to study these things.
And every attribute of God, every characteristic of God is manifested
or revealed in the redemption of sinners. For example, his
foreknowledge chose a people, he foreknew us, and his wisdom
devised the plan of redemption. It's his wisdom that said Christ
will be the surety. His patience endured our rebellion,
God's long-suffering. And then his love sent his Son.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And
his justice bruised the Son. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, and it pleased God to bruise him. You see, not only
the love of God is manifested at Calvary, but the justice of
God. God cannot look on sin. God cannot
tolerate sin, and so when his son was made sin, he turned his
back on Christ. You say, God forsaking God, how
can that be? I don't know. No man can understand
that, but that's what the scripture says. And his power raised Christ
from the dead, and his grace called us, and his immutability,
that means his unchangeableness. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. His immutability preserves us. You who are dead, we look at
the sinner, not a pretty picture, in his sins and guilt and rebellion,
a servant of sin, under the dominion of sin. But God did something
about it. But God in his mercy, but God
in his love, was not willing that man should be left in that
condition, but he determined to redeem a people for his glory. and for his eternal praise, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Then
in verse 5 and 6 we have the Savior presented. He quickened
us in Christ. He made us alive in Christ. He
quickened us together with Christ. He raised us up together with
Christ and seated us in heavenly places in his Son. All of God's
mercies and grace and blessings are in Christ. in Christ the
Lord. In 1 Corinthians 1.7 it says,
But of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So we see three
here. We see the sinner in his deadness,
in his depravity, in his decayed condition. Then we see God. But
God, in his mercy, in his grace, In his great love, wherewith
he loved us, God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Then we see Christ, Christ
our Lord in the fullness of time. After God had promised him and
prophesied him and then pictured him in the Old Testament types
and shadows and prophecies, God sent him in the fullness of time.
God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, took on himself bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. The
Lord Jesus Christ was tempted and tried in all points as we
are, yet without sin. He dwelt on this earth thirty-three
and a half years, and then he died on that cross of Calvary
for our sins, and was buried, and after three days God raised
him from the dead, and took him to glory, and seated him on his
right hand, and there in Christ we are accepted. Paul said, Accepted
in the Beloved. Now, here's the sum and substance
of it all in the next verse. Verse 8 and 9, far. And when
you come upon the word far in the scripture, for example, like
this verse, Ephesians 2, 8 starts with far. What do you want to
see what it's there for? It's talking about what's just
been said. The sinner's dead, but God is merciful and Christ
has died. Why? For by grace are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation's the gift of
God. Now, sin's wages. We earn the
wages of sin. Hell is earned. Judgment is earned. The wrath of God is earned. But
salvation is not earned. It's the gift of God. You see
that in Romans 6, 23? The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let's break this text down in about four or five points in
the time that we have left. First of all, the apostle says,
for by grace, By grace are you saved. What does the word grace
mean? Unmerited favor. Unearned, unmerited, undeserved. It's free grace. Listen to this
great old hymn. Grace, tis a charming sound,
harmonious to my ear. Heaven with the echo shall resound
and all the earth shall hear. Grace first planned the way to
save rebellious man. All God's attributes are on display
in that eternal plan. God first inscribed my name in
his eternal book. It was grace which sent the Lamb
who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my soul to pray
and made my eyes overflow. It was grace that kept me to
this day and will not let me go. Oh, it was grace that taught
my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. How precious,
precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Grace is seen in our election.
God chose us. Christ said to the disciples,
you didn't choose me, I chose you. I set my love upon you. You didn't love me, I loved you.
I loved you. We didn't love God, we loved
him because he first loved us. Our love is a response to his,
but he loved first. Grace chose us. Grace loved us. Grace is manifested in our redemption. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that he was rich, yet for your sake became
poor. It was grace that called us.
The Apostle Paul said, God who separated me from my mother's
womb, call me by his grace. It was the grace of God that
sought us out. It was the grace of God that
found Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and arrested him
in his rebellion and brought him to faith in the Son of God.
It was the grace of God that found Abraham in the land of
idol worshipers and said, Abraham, I'll take you to a land and there
I'll make you a great nation. It was grace that preserved Noah
when all the world was destroyed by flood. It says Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's the grace of God that found
you. You are what you are by the grace
of God. Now, who maketh thee to differ?
Paul asked this in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7. Who maketh thee to
differ? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now, if you received it, why do you boast as if you
didn't receive it? It's the grace of God. It's grace
that keeps us. Every blessing of God is in Christ,
and it becomes mine for the grace of God. I don't deserve anything
from the hand of God but wrath and judgment, and you don't either.
We don't deserve anything. The hymn writer said, suffer
a sinner whose heart overflows, loving the Savior to tell what
he knows. Once more to tell it would I
embrace. I'm just a sinner saved by God's
grace, just like you. just like everybody else. Old
Richard Baxter said, I preach as one who may never preach again.
I preach as a dying man to dying men. For by grace are you saved. It begins with grace and it's
completed in grace. Grace planned it, grace purchased
it, grace applied it, grace preserves it, and grace will fulfill it.
What's the next thing? For by grace, listen to this,
by grace, Are you saved? Now, if you'll take any of the
better translations, you'll find that that says this, for by grace
you are saved, or you have been saved. I was talking with a missionary
this morning from France, and he said the French translation
of this verse says this, by grace have you been saved. You're already
saved. This is a present salvation.
It's a present possession. John said that. John said we
have passed from death unto life. We are the children of God. Now
are we sons of God. And if you say that a man is
truly saved, listen to me, he's truly saved for all eternity.
If you say that a man has a present salvation, a certain sure redemption,
it's a sure thing. He is redeemed. He has been saved.
You've got to precede it by grace. You've got to precede it with
the word grace. You know why? For there's no present salvation
except that which begins and ends with grace. There's no man
who can preach or possess a present salvation unless he possesses
it by grace. Why? Because in grace the work's
finished. If it's by works, it may yet
fail. In other words, if my salvation
depends wholly and completely on what Christ did, then it's
finished. But if my salvation depends on
what I do, it's not finished because I'm not through yet.
And I may yet fail. In fact, it's a sure thing. Because
every creature has always failed. Let me show you some examples.
Go back to before the world was created. The angels that fell,
when did they fall? Well, they fell before Adam.
They fell before the world was created. The angels were made
before men. And those angels that kept not
their first estate, they were in heaven. They were all around
the universe. They had perfect surroundings.
They had perfection in themselves, but they failed. All right, Adam
was put on the earth in a perfect garden. He was created upright
and holy, and yet he failed. Noah saw the world destroyed
by flood. He wasn't off that ark but a
few months till he had planted a vineyard and gotten drunk and
caused one of his sons to sin a great sin. Look at Lot, who
was delivered from Sodom. The city was burned up before
his very presence. And yet it wasn't long until
he greatly sinned against God. Look at David. David, one of
the most powerful men that the world has ever seen, had one
of the greatest kingdoms that's ever been on this earth. And
yet David failed, utterly failed. Look at Solomon. The Scripture
says that Solomon was the wisest man who lived on this earth,
other than Christ, of course. far as natural men are concerned,
but he failed. The apostle Judas walked with
Christ. He was with the inner circle,
and yet he failed. It is the characteristic of men
to fail under any circumstances, in any environment. So our salivation
has got to be by grace. By grace have you been saved.
All right, what's the next term? You're saved by grace, by the
grace of God through faith. And man's not saved without faith.
He's not saved without believing on Christ. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. In order to be saved, a man's
got to hear the gospel and believe it. That's what scripture says.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But how are they going to call on him in whom they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
on him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? And how are they going to preach
except they be sent? Romans 10, 13 through 15. God sends his
preachers, and people hear them preach the gospel, the good news,
and they hear it and believe it, and God Almighty redeems
them. We're saved by faith. We're justified
by faith, not without faith. You've got to know Christ. Now,
faith, you say, what is faith? Well, definitions sometimes just
confuse rather than help us. But I think faith can be defined
with three words, found in 2 Timothy 1.12. The Apostle Paul says,
I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him. Now here's faith in three
words, knowledge, confidence, or trust, and committal. In other
words, faith, knowledge, first of all. You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. You've got to know who he is.
Who is Jesus Christ? Well, where do you go to find
out? Go to the Word. The Word tells us who he is. The Word
tells us what he did. The Word of God tells us why
he did what he did, why he came to this earth, why he died on
the cross, that God may be just and justify the ungodly. You
see, the law demands honor. It demands obedience. And the
justice of God demands satisfaction. The soul that sinneth shall die.
The wages of sin is death. Somebody's got to die for me.
Either I die or they die. And Christ died for me. That's
why he did it and where he is now. You see, I know who Christ
is. And secondly, there's confidence. Now, we say, well, Christ is
willing to save. Certainly he is. Is he able to
save? Well, Paul said, I believe he's able. I'm persuaded that
Christ Jesus is able. Now, I'm not persuaded that the
priest on the earth can save me. I'm not persuaded that a
preacher can save me. I hear preachers talk about the
power that's in their hand. I'm not persuaded they've got
any power in their hand. I'm not persuaded all of them
are even sincere. I'm not persuaded all of them
are not hypocrites. I'm not persuaded that there's
any ability in any man to do anything for me, but I'm persuaded
Christ can do it, God can do it, God can do all things. So
I rest my case in the hands of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul
says. I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded he's able,
he is able to keep what I've committed to him. What have you
committed to him, Paul? My soul, my life, my hope, my
sins, my all. It's all been committed to Christ.
That's faith. And by grace are you saved through
faith. Now watch this. And that not
of yourself. And that not of yourself. Faith
is not even of yourself. Look back over your conversion.
You were brought one day to the place where you realized you
were a sinner. You were made aware of your sins. Who made
you aware of your sins? The scripture says it was the
Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit has come, he will convince men
of sin. I can't do it. I can stand up
until I've dropped dead and tell people they're sinners and they'll
never believe me, but if God the Holy Spirit ever comes in
your heart and says, you're a sinner, you'll believe him. And you heard
the gospel. Who gave you ears to hear? Our
Lord said, blessed are your ears, they hear. And you saw Christ
in his beauty and glory and in his power to save. Who made you
to see? Who gave you eyes to see? Our
Lord said one day, Peter, And to the other apostles, whom do
men say that I am? And they said, well, some say
you're John the Baptist, and some say you're Elijah, and some
say you're one of the prophets. But he said, whom do you say
that I, the Son of Man, am? And the apostles said, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And you know what the Lord
said? Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Blessed are
your eyes, they see, and your ears, they hear. Oh, look back
over your conversion and you'll find that God did it all. You
saw the wisdom of God in the death of Christ. Who made you
see it? Well, you have to say with the Apostle Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. Now, the last statement, for
by grace, God's grace, God's sovereign grace, are you saved
already of present possession by faith, not apart from faith.
Lord, give me faith to believe. Like the centurion, Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief. Faith is the gift of God. It's
not of yourselves. Nothing's of yourselves. The
goodness of God led you to repentance. God gets all the glory. It's
the gift of God. Everything in salvation is the
gift of God. I heard somebody say, well, you
know, the Lord helps them that help themselves. That's not so.
God helps those who can't help themselves. That's just not true. God helps those who are helpless. That's right. He gives a free
salvation to the helpless. And he gives a complete salvation.
Nothing needs to be added to it. And he gives a finished,
certain, secure salvation. For he said, my sheep hear my
voice, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. No man can pluck them out of
my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all,
and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. This
is the sum and substance of the message that I've tried to deliver
to you for these past several years on this station, for by
grace are you saved, saved for time and eternity through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we're his workmanship.