Saved By Grace Through Faith

I want you to open your Bibles
now to the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. Let's read verses
8 and 9. Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. or you save through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast." Now these two brief verses deal with
tremendous themes. They're filled with powerful
words. And the man who takes upon himself the awesome responsibility
of dealing with these two verses must deal with five powerful
words, five tremendous things. First of all, grace, the unchangeable,
unmerited, free and sovereign mercy of the eternal God to guilty
sinners of Adam's fallen race. God's grace. And this theme alone
is enough to occupy the lifetime of every preacher. Grace. God's
grace. What a word. How deep, how high,
how measureless, how strong. God's grace. And then the second
word, Brother Bush was praying a moment
ago, if indeed these things are so. Have you thought about that? If indeed these things are so. Think of it, what it means. The justification, the restoration,
the redemption of a sinner. To be delivered from sins penalty. No condemnation. To be delivered
from sin's power, sin shall not reign over you. To be delivered
from sin's practice, to be delivered someday from sin's very presence,
to be made an heir of God, if indeed these things be so. Saved by His power divine. Saved to new life sublime. Life now is so sweet and my joy
is complete. I'm saved. Think about that word. I'm saved. And then the word
faith. Our Lord said, all things are
possible, all things are possible to them that believe. He that
believeth hath everlasting life. You can have everything else,
just give me eternal life. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. What a word! Faith. And then the word works. not
of works. This word, this word works, misused
or misunderstood, can be your greatest enemy. It can damn your
soul. Did you know that one word, misunderstood? Christ said to those men at the
judgment, you're workers of iniquity. We have done, they said, many
wonderful works. Works! But that word rightly
understood can be your greatest comfort. Show me your faith by
your works. It just all depends on how you
understand it. And it's not easy. I'll tell
you that. When you buy your book and start studying higher math
and trigonometry or something like that, you'll find that a
whole lot easier to comprehend than spiritual truth. It has
to be revealed. And that one word, works, can
be your greatest enemy or your greatest comfort. And then boast. That no man should boast, lest
any man should boast. Men are going to boast in something.
Now you can just put that down. We are human beings and we're
going to brag on something. We're going to boast about something.
It's born in us. Pride is born in us. David said,
My soul doth make her boast of the Lord. Let not the rich man
glory in his riches. Let not the strong man glory
in his strength. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
I am the Lord and He knows me. Well, let's ask the Spirit of
God to be our teacher. And let's launch our little boat
out into these tremendous seas. And let's see if God will teach
us something about these words. First of all, He says in verse
8 of Ephesians 2, For by grace, for by grace, Lord, at thy feet
I behold the wonders of thy grace, but most of all admire that I
should find a welcome place. I that am defiled with sin, I
a rebel to my God, I that crucified thy son, I that trampled on his
blood. What strange, surprising grace
this is that such a soul has room. My Savior takes me by the
hand. My Jesus bids me come. Lord,
had I ten thousand hearts, they all would seek thy face. Lord,
if I had ten thousand tongues, they all would praise thy grace. For by grace. Now every attribute
of God, you know what attributes are? They're characteristics. They're that which identifies
a person. A person's attributes, God's
attributes. I think we preachers need to
learn to communicate. If we're not communicating, we're
not preaching. What I say may be so, but if you're not understanding
it, it's not preaching. If you're not walking with me,
then we're not on the same road, and we're not going to do any
good if you're going that way and I'm going this way. And we've got to make
plain what we're talking about and not just preach doctrines
and preach words. We're preaching a message to
people, to the hearts of people. Every attribute of God, every
characteristic of God, that by which God is revealed, or that
by which God is made known, and that which identifies God, is
revealed in salvation, is glorified in salvation. For example, God
is wise. That's an attribute of God. God
is wise. And the wisdom of God devised
the plan of salvation, which is consistent with the sinner's
need and with his glory. It took the wisdom of God to
plan redemption. God in his counsel, God in his
wisdom, purposed to redeem a people. And he purposed to save them
in such a way that the sinner's need could be met and the glory
of God could be accomplished. and all his other attributes
could be glorified. God is wise. And then God is
almighty. And it is the power of God that
executes the work He prepared for Christ to body. He sent His Son into the world.
Only God could do that. He raised Him from the dead.
He hath highly exalted Him. It's the power of God that executes
the work of redemption. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. It's all of God. Takes His power. Lord, indeed, I find Thy power
in Thine alone. can change the leper's spots
and melt the heart of stone. It takes His power. His power
executed the work. His sovereignty and power is
seen and glorified in all of redemption from beginning to
end. It'll take His power to raise
us from the dead. It'll take His power to conform
us to the image of Christ. And then God's justice. God is
just. God is righteous, God is holy,
and God's justice presided over this whole affair. To see that
this thing was done right and in order, and in accord with
His truth, that He might be just and justify, that He might be
righteous and redeem the unrighteous. There's a law to be honored,
there's a name to be glorified, there's a penalty to be paid,
there's a death to die, And then, God's immutability. What is that? It's a big word,
and we ought to be ashamed if we use it without at least defining
it. Unchangeable. Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. The immutability of God is that
characteristic which reveals that God is unchanging. God's
the same. Now, any theology or any study
you make of God that leads you to believe that God of the Old
Testament and the God of the New Testament are two different
gods, that's wrong. That's not God. He changes. I
am the Lord, I change not. God's revelations are increased. In the dispensations of his own
will and purpose, he reveals himself in different ways. God,
who at sundry times in divers manners spake to our fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son. But, Joe, both times he said the same thing. The same
thing. He's unchanged. He's unchanging
in his purpose, unchanging in his character, unchanging in
his attributes, unchanging in his decrees, unchanging in his
counsel, unchanging in his will, unchanging in everything. God
does not change. I heard some poor deceived individual
say one time, well, I love Jesus. He's sweet. He's not like the
God of the old Bible. That's wicked. That's the worst
kind of ignorance. Christ is saved, and the glory
of God is the grand results of redemption, but His wisdom, His
sovereignty, His power, His righteousness, His justice, all of these attributes,
these characteristics are revealed in salvation and glorified. But
His grace is the fountainhead of all salvation. His grace is
the fountainhead. Our election is of grace. The
Scripture says, even so at this present time, there's an election
according to the grace of God. There's a rendement according
to the election of grace. There's a rendement, even at
this time, according to the election of grace. Our justification is
by grace, being freely justified by His grace. Our calling is
by grace. God who separated me from my
mother's womb has called me by His grace, and our eternal glory
is by His grace. Look at verse 7, Ephesians 2,
that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
God's grace is the fountainhead of every blessing. Now every
attribute of God is revealed or is glorified, is honored in
redemption. But the fountainhead of redemption,
the fountainhead of salvation is the grace. Call it the grace,
call it the love, call it the mercy of God. I will be merciful. I will be gracious. 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. Every blessing that the sinner
receives from God comes to the sinner by the grace of God through
Jesus Christ. Now listen to these scriptures.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Lot said, Thy servant hath found
grace in thy sight. Moses said, Lord, if I have found
grace in thy sight, show me thy way. Gideon said, Lord, if I
have found grace in thy sight, show me a sign. The Apostle Paul
said, I am what I am by the grace of God. I strongly assert that the word
merit is an unknown word in the Lord's Church. The word merit is an unknown word in the Lord's
Church. In my flesh, Paul said, dwelleth
no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. It's by grace. Whatever I am,
is by the grace of God. Whatever I believe is by the
grace of God. Whatever I have is by the grace
of God. Whatever I shall ever become
is by the grace of God. There'll be no crown placed on
my head in return or in reward for anything that I've done.
There may be a crown placed there as an indication that I'm the
son of the king, I'm the prince, but it won't be put there because
of any service I've rendered to God Almighty. Secondly, for by grace are you
saved. Now let me give you some scripture
here, I'll be brief. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus has come into the
world to save sinners. of whom I am chief. Now I realize
that word has fallen into bad company, the word saved. But it's still a good Bible word,
is it not? Saved. It's a shame. It's a terrible
shame that the word saved has been so misused and abused as
it has been in this day. And it's become a football for
people to kick around in ridicule and jokes and Are you still saving
souls? You know, stuff like that. Well,
it's still a good Bible word. It says, for by grace have you
been saved through faith. And I want to ask you six questions
and give you just a brief scriptural answer. And these are six questions
that are worthy of your consideration in regard to this word, saved.
First place, how did man become lost? in the first place. Can you handle that? How did
man become lost? How did man become lost in the
first place? He wasn't born lost. I mean,
he wasn't created lost. We were born lost, but Adam wasn't.
Adam wasn't created lost. He was created upright. How did
he get lost? Well, it says in Romans 5, 12.
You want to turn over there a minute with me? Romans 5, 12. Romans
5, 12. How did man get lost in the first
place? He wasn't created lost. Adam
wasn't brought into this world lost. All right, it says in Romans
5, 12, Wherefore, as by one man Adam's sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all are
because all sin. That's where it came from, when
Adam fell, when Adam sinned. Now look at verse 17. For if
by one man's offense death reigned, verse 18, therefore as by the
offense of one judgment came, verse 19, for as by one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners. That's how man got lost,
representatively, that's how we got lost. Through Adam's transgression. You see, when God dealt with
the angels who failed, there were angels created who failed. God dealt with him individually.
Each one stood for himself and each one fell for himself. God
dealt with him individually. God dealt with our race through
one man. You see the Bible, the word Adam
is man. There's the first Adam and the
second Adam. The first man and the second
man. The first Adam is of the earth, earthy. The second Adam
is the Lord from heaven. And all men are identified with
and represented by that first Adam, because we're all flesh,
the many. And when he stood, we stood.
God dealt with man not like he did the angels. He dealt with
angels like a field of corn. They all fell. But man as a tree. Adam was a trunk. And all that
grow out of him are affected by his death. When the trunk
dies, everything dies. The leaves, the limbs, the branches,
the fruit, it all dies. And when Adam died, we died.
That's how man got lost. What does it mean to be lost?
That's the second question. What does it mean to be lost?
Is it something bad? Well, it sure is. Look at Ephesians
2.12, right below our text. At that time, at that time, you
were without Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no
hope without God in this world. That's a description of being
lost without God in this world. You're in this world, but you're
without God. Romans says the natural mind
is enmity against God. It doesn't understand, the natural
mind doesn't comprehend or understand or discern God, doesn't know
God, without God. Separated from God. Your sins
are separated between you and God. You're here, but you don't
have God. You're without hope, without
Christ, without God in this world. Without any fellowship, without
any communion with God. Who's lost? That's the third
question. Well, who is lost? Well, the
Scripture says all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. We not only had imputed to us, and that word imputed
means charged to our account, reckoned to be ours. We had not
only sin, guilt, imputed to us because of Adam, but we had sin
imparted to us because of Adam. That means passing on to another. In imputation, sin is charged
to the whole human race. We're all guilty by imputation,
charged to our account. Adam run up the bail, and we're
liable. And we're liable. Just like if
you're married to a woman and she goes down to the store and
runs up a bill, you're liable. You're liable. You see that?
And we're liable for Adam's transgression. It's charged to our account.
And then, not only that, but he imparted to us through the
seed into the womb. His nature. We're born with his
nature. He was a rebel and his sons are
all rebels. We inherit. We don't inherit
goodness, we inherit badness. Because we're sons of a bad man.
Fallen man. Well who's lost? Everybody. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like
sheep have gone astray. Every man's lost. I hear preachers sometimes saying
that this man is a good man, he pays his bills, he doesn't
drink or curse or gamble, and he works hard and comes home
at night, and all these things. He's a good man, but he's just
not saved. Now hold on a minute. Now hold on a minute. If he's
a good man, he doesn't need saving. I wish we'd quit calling the
rebels. I know he may be a a reputable man where men are concerned,
but he's not a good man where God's concerned. You cross him
and you'll find out. He hates God. I tell you this,
you cross him, you do some act against him, you'll find out
how good he is, you'll find out how reputable he is. You put
a snake in a cage, and he's a good snake, but I don't want to run
into him out there on the path between the Hinnikin vines, Charlie,
do you? You put a gorilla in a cage, and you can keep him
right here in front of the church in that cage, but don't let him
out. And men today, they're surrounded
by bars, by restraining fences. There's marriage that restrains
people. There's reputation that restrains
people. There's what people think of
them restrains them. Location restrains them. All
of these different things restrain them. And a lot of our so-called goodness
is not because there's any goodness in us, but because we're restrained
by these barriers. remove them and find out. I've
seen the nicest fellows on the job, give them a little authority,
and boy, you'll think they're God. Their whole nature will
change. Here's a fellow, he's a janitor,
and he sweeps around, does a good job. You make him boss, and you'll
find out how mean he is. You remove the restraints, you
remove the barriers, take him to another location, take him
to another place, take him to a different crowd. They're no
good I'd rather believe God's Word than believe these preachers.
The Bible says there's none good, no, not one. I'll take that.
Who's lost? All men are lost. Well, how are
men saved? Well, Ephesians chapter 1 tells you. Verse 3, Ephesians
1, God blessed them. Verse 4, God chose them. Verse
5, God predestinated them to be saved. That's how they're
saved. God the Father, by His grace. Verse 7, in whom we have
redemption. Verse 9, having made known unto
us the mystery of His will. Verse 11, in whom we obtained
an inheritance. By the grace of the Son we're
saved. God looked down in that old cesspool
of mire and filth and flesh of iniquity and He chose us and
sent His Son down here to wash us and redeem us and cleanse
us and make us acceptable to God. And then the Holy Spirit,
verse 11, verse 13, rather, in whom you trusted after you heard
the word of truth. You can't trust till you hear
the gospel of your salvation. Then you were sealed with the
Holy Spirit. I tell you this, I did a little canon while Doris
was in Alabama. Doris and Becky were down there
in Alabama visiting Darcy's mother and I called her one night about
I had some peppers I picked off my garden vine didn't want to
lose them Darcy's gone and I wanted to put up those hot peppers and
I don't know a thing about canning and I called her and Becky just
got glimpses of the pieces of the conversation Darcy was telling
us get the water hot in the about ten o'clock at night get the
water hot in the boiler and put the put the jars in the boiler
with the lids and with the caps and get the vinegar hot and Becky
said what is dad doing? Cannon? Yeah, cannon, boy. And you got to get it just right,
and you put those peppers in there, and you put the jar on,
and they look good. They look good. I did a good
job. And you set them over there. But you know what I waited on?
I waited on the top of that jar to boom. That means it's preserved. It's sealed. Huh? Sealed. And I'll tell you, if she doesn't,
you don't have anything, you know, it'll, it'll spoil. And
I waited, and I, you know, I set up late. I set up, watched the
late movie, and I went over there at twilight, and all three of
them, you know, all three went, and they're sitting up there,
I gave a couple of them away, but they sealed. That's what
he said, the Holy Spirit sealed. I'd spoil tomorrow, Bob D hadn't
sealed me. I ain't nothing, and you aren't
either. We're sealed by the Holy Spirit. There will be anything
except by His grace. That's what it means to be saved.
That's how men are saved. A fifth way. What does it mean
to be saved? That's how we're saved. The grace
of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the grace of the Spirit.
What does it mean to be saved? Well, it means, look at what
we were, Ephesians 2. Look at what we were. Ephesians
2, 1 through 3. You were dead in sins, trespasses. Verse 2, you were in times past
walking according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air. Verse 3, among whom we all had
our conversation, our citizenship, our behavior in the lust of the
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. We were by nature
children of wrath. That's what we were. Now look
at what God did, Ephesians 2, 4, but God. It wasn't but I changed my mind,
but I became a better boy, but I saw the light. No, sir. But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we were in that shape and in that condition,
dead in sin, he made us alive. That's what happened. And then
look at what we are now, verse 6. And he's raised us up together
out of the dunghill, out of the miry clay. He raised us up and
he made us sit together with Christ in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. That's what we are now. And what
are we going to be? Look at verse 7, that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
toward us in his redemption, in his kindness, in his mercy
through Christ Jesus. He's going to show us all. He's
going to show us off. He's not going to brag on us.
He's going to show us off to the praise of His glory. That's
what we're going to be. We're going to be trophies of
His grace. That's what it means to be saved. That's what it means
to be saved from children of wrath to sons of God, from kingdom
of darkness to the light of fellowship, from sin's bondage to the liberty
of the gospel, from eternal punishment to eternal glory. what we were, what God did, what
we are now, what we're going to be. Well then, preacher, who
can be saved? Let us turn to Romans chapter
10. Let's see if God gives us an answer. Romans 10, 13. Romans
10, 13. I'll just answer that question
in plain language. Who can be saved? Anybody wants
to. Anybody wants to be like Christ,
can be. Anybody wants to walk with the
King, the King will welcome you. Anybody wants in the family of
God, come on. That's right. Look at verse 13.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But you will not come to me that
you might have life, Christ said. You could if you would. You could
if you would. You could if you would, if you
would. All right, just in closing, look at Ephesians 2, 8 and 9
again quickly. For by grace are you saved, this
is important, through faith, through faith. Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief. I want to believe. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Without faith, there's no saving
call. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him
in whom they've not heard, and how shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they call on him in whom they've not believed,
huh? Without faith you can't work the works of God. Christ
said this is the work of God that you believe on him whom
God has sent. Without faith prayers are mockery.
Let him ask in faith, James said. If any man lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, but let him ask in faith. Without faith the blood
of Christ availed you nothing. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. Faith is born of need. Faith is based on the Word. Faith
is hard work. Faith is committal to Christ. I read in the scripture some
time ago something that has impressed me and continues to impress me.
Our Lord came down to the seashore, and the disciples were fishing
in their little boat. And he had fished all night,
and the Scripture said they hadn't caught anything. And he cried
out, Children, have you any meat? And they said, No, we haven't
caught anything. He said, Push your boat back
out there a little further. And they did. He said, Now cast
your net over here on this side of the boat. Was it Peter who
said, Lord, We have toiled all night and
caught nothing. We want you to know that. We've
fished here and there and yonder and everywhere else, and we're
pretty good at this job. We've been fishing all our lives.
We've toiled all night and caught nothing. Now watch this. Nevertheless,
nevertheless, at your word, I let down the net. And when he did,
they brought in so many fish, the net almost broke. That is to me a definition of
faith. I'm saying this to you. You might
say, Preacher, I've struggled, and I've tried, and I've done
this, and I've listened to this, that, and the other one, and
all this. If I could get you to come to this place, whatever
the circumstances, whatever the surrounding, nevertheless, Lord,
at your Word, I let down the net. I commit my soul, I rest
in you at your Word. I've never seen God, I've never
seen Christ with these natural eyes, but I believe his Word. And I rest my soul, my hope,
my family, my all, nevertheless, Lord, I commit it to you. You
promised your children will not starve, I take it your word.
I've never seen God's seed begging bread, that's what it says. You
promised to meet our needs, I'll take it your word. You promised
to redeem all who look to Christ, I'll take it your word. At your
word, I'll let down the men. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. I believe God. And I know the
smart alecks of this world, the wise and the prudent, are going
to argue and argue and argue. They're going to say this. They're
going to put all of their reasonable logic before you, but just tell
them, I believe God's Word. I rest on the Word. Our Father,
we thank Thee it's by grace that we're saved through faith, and
not of ourselves. We have nothing of which to boast
except Thy mercy, and we make our boast in the Lord. Move in
the heart of every person here, make plain Thy Word, Reveal Christ as the only foundation,
the hope of the sinner, and bring men and women to trust Him, to
believe on Him. Bless the services tonight here
and other places where our Word is preached. For Christ's sake,
Amen.

Saved By Grace Through Faith

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Saved By Grace Through Faith

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