SAVED BY GRACE. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

SAVED BY GRACE (Ephesians 2:8-10) INTRODUCTION Only a sinner saved by grace! This is my story, to God be the glory I m only a sinner saved by grace! This was James M. Gray s, the author of this song, story,. Gray was the president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in the 1920-30s. Also he was one of seven consulting editors of the Scofield Reference Bible. His testimony about being saved by grace is every believer s story, because the only way to be saved is by grace, to God be the glory! This also was the story of the apostle Paul. He was a sinner saved by grace as he writes in Ephesians 2:8,9 Eph 2:8-9 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- (9) not by works, so that no one can boast. We are saved by grace, not by works. To understand, believe, and live daily by this truth is critical to our spiritual health as well as our salvation. A friend of mine is struggling right now because he has forgotten that he is saved by grace. He feels that God wanted him to do something and he didn t do it so now he believes that God has forsaken him and that he is lost. This is a form of works salvation. My friend has forgotten that we are saved by grace, not works. I want each one this morning commit ourselves to believing, receiving, and acting upon the grace of God that saves us. WHAT IS GRACE? What is grace? Some years ago a minister by the name of R. Lofton Hudson wrote of an experience he had during a conversation with a friend who attended church only occasionally, and who was chatting rather casually about how little he knew about religion. Dr. Hudson asked him, "Tell me, what do you October 9, 2016 Corntassel CP Church Page 1

think of when I say the word grace'?" The friend's immediate reply was, "Why, Grace is a blue-eyed blonde!" I m afraid that this may be what many think of when they hear the word grace. What is grace? The traditional definition of grace is unmerited favor. What does that mean? Unmerited means that you don t deserve it. Favor is God s blessings, goodness, benevolence, and kindness. Grace is receiving as a free gift God s salvation, even though we don t deserve it. Justice is receiving what we deserve. Grace is receiving what we don t deserve. We don t deserve salvation, so God gives it to us freely by His grace. Another definition is using the word grace is in the form of an acrostic, God s Riches At Christ s Expense. We receive all of God s riches at the expense of Jesus sacrifice on the cross! Rom 3:24 NIV and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. We are justified (i.e. declared righteous or saved) freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace not by works. WHY DO WE NEED GRACE? When we ask why we need God s grace to be saved, the answer is that we are inadequate to save ourselves. Two cows were grazing alongside a highway when a tank-truck of milk on its way to the distributor happened to pass. On one side of the truck in big red letters was a sign that read, "Pasteurized, homogenized, standardized, Vitamin A added." One cow turned to the other and remarked, "Makes you feel sort of inadequate, doesn t it?" We are all inadequate to save ourselves. Even if you are "pasteurized, homogenized, standardized, add Vitamin A," you still are inadequate. Even if you try to clean yourself up morally, even if you turn over a new leaf, even if you quit doing all the things you think are wrong, it is still not adequate. Some years back Reader s Digest asked the great fighter Muhammed Ali what his new-found faith meant to him. Ali replied: October 9, 2016 Corntassel CP Church Page 2

"[It] means [a] ticket to heaven. One day we re all going to die, and God s going to judge us, [our] good and bad deeds. [If the] bad outweighs the good, you go to hell; if the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven. [I m] thinking about the judgment day and how you treat people wherever you go. Help somebody through charity, because when you do, it s been recorded. I go to parties, [see] good-looking girls. [I] take a box of matches with me. [I] see a girl I want to flirt with, which is a sin, so I [light] my matches, [touches his finger] oooh, hell hurts worse than this. Buy a box of matches and carry them with you. Put [one] on your finger and see how long you can hold it. Just imagine that s going to be hell. Hell s hotter, and for eternity." Ali is right. Hell is hot. But those who go there do so not because their list of good works is too short. They go there because their belief in themselves is too strong. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by works. Our situation is even worse than being inadequate. We are sinners! We are guilty sinners! God doesn t judge us because we are weak, inadequate, or underprivileged. We are judged because we are guilty sinners. We have violated God s moral law. We are guilty law-breakers. We deserve God s justice. We deserve God s condemnation. But many don t believe that their situation is that bad in God s sight. Why, they say, I try to do the best I can. Sure I slip every once in awhile and commit a little sin. But those little sins can t be that bad. My sins can t be that serious to God! But let me illustrate the seriousness of even little sins. Let s say that I commit a little sin once or twice a day. Maybe I use some bad language or maybe I will get angry with someone, or maybe I refuse to forgive someone who did me wrong. Just one little sin a day. That shouldn t be too bad. Except that would be 7 little sins a week. It would be 360 little sins a year. And I am 74 and that would add up to 26,640 little sins. Now let s see how this would work before a human judge. Now suppose I got a parking ticket once a day, or maybe get a ticket for jaywalking, or maybe a speeding ticket. If I do this once a day for 74 years, how many tickets would I have? (26,640). If I was to stand before a judge October 9, 2016 Corntassel CP Church Page 3

with the accumulation of 26,640 violations of man s law, what do you think he would do? Would he be lenient? Would he think that was not serious? But we will stand before a holy and perfect God who created this universe. If we stand before a holy God with the accumulation of all our sins of a life-time, how serious would that be? We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all deserve God s just condemnation and punishment. We all need grace, not justice. Now God offers His grace to us in His Son, Christ Jesus. HOW DO WE RECEIVE GOD S GRACE? How do we do we receive God s grace? This is the critical question that must be understood. God s word tells us. It is by faith. There are different kinds of faith, but what is saving faith that is spoken of in this passage? For by grace are you saved through faith. What is the faith that saves us? Saving faith contains three elements: knowledge, belief, and trust. Knowledge. There is something we must know before we can say we have saving faith. In Romans 10, we see the importance of knowing something for our faith. Rom 10:13-14, 17 "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (14) How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Faith is always based on the Word of God; it s not simply a subjective feeling. You just can t make up your own faith in God. It comes from the Bible. What must you know from the Bible to be saved? First, you need to know that you are a sinner who cannot save yourself and that you are condemned to go to Hell. In short, you must know that you need to be saved. Second, you need to know that God sent Jesus Christ to take the punishment for your sins. You need to know that Jesus died for you and that he rose again. October 9, 2016 Corntassel CP Church Page 4

Then for faith to be saving faith you must know what the Bible says about you and about Christ. But just knowing this does not mean that you have saving faith. You must have belief. Belief. Belief is accepting what you hear in the Word of God is true. We can hear a lot of things, but unless we believe that it is true, it cannot reach the level of saving faith. You can know about Jesus. You can know that the Bible says he died for our sins and rose from the dead, but do you believe it is true? But believing that what the Bible says about Jesus is true is not enough to have saving faith. You must exercise trust. Trust. The third element is trust. By trust I mean committing yourself to what you believe to be true. The devils believe but are not saved. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe that He died on the cross and rose again. But they do not commit themselves to what they believe to be true. It is like I believe that George Washington was our first president. I even believe that he confessed to cutting down the cherry tree because he couldn t lie. But I haven t committed my life to George Washington. I don t see him as someone who can do anything for me today. I am not trusting in George Washington. Now apply this to saving faith in Christ. Saving faith in Christ is knowing that God sent His Son into the world to pay the penalty of my sins on the cross and that He rose again. It is believing that it is true. And it is committing my heart and life to Him and trusting Him to save me based on these promises of God. CONCLUSION For by grace are you saved through faith.it IS THE GIFT OF GOD Salvation is a gift that God offers us by grace through faith. But for a gift, to be a gift, it must be freely given without expectation of reimbursement. If you wanted to give an expensive gift to your friend, say for their birthday, and they insisted that they either pay for it or help pay for it, would it be a gift if you accepted their money? No, it wouldn T. God offers salvation to you as a free gift because that salvation already has been paid for. It was paid for by His Son. You cannot pay Him anything for this gift. You can t say, well I ll offer you my good works for your gift. If God accepted your works, would salvation be a gift? No. It would be a purchase you have made. It would be something you earned. October 9, 2016 Corntassel CP Church Page 5

But a gift also needs to be received if it is a gift. You can t pay for a gift, but if you don t receive it, it is not yours. How do you receive the gift of salvation? It is by telling God that you want to receive His gift. This is another way of Calling on the name of the Lord. You receive the gift of salvation by acknowledging to God that you are inadequate to be worthy of salvation, and that there is nothing you can do to earn the gift of salvation, that you don t deserve this gift because you are a sinner. But you believe God s promise to save you through Jesus Christ. And you put your trust in Him, the One who died for you and is now alive and wants to come into your life to be Lord. Have you ever done this? Have you specifically received the free gift of salvation? Have you committed your trust in the Lord? You are not sure that you have? Would you like to make sure? Let s bow our heads. If you would like to definitely take the gift of salvation by faith or if you want to make sure that you have received this gift, while we are bowed, pray along with me. Dear Lord, I want to receive your gift of salvation. I confess that I am a sinner and do not deserve it. But I believe your promise to save me through Christ Jesus your Son. I now put my trust in Him and ask that He come into my life to be my Savior and Lord. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Amen Now, if you would like to make a public profession of your faith in Christ, I invite you to come to the front while we are singing and I will have a special prayer with you. Amen? Amen! October 9, 2016 Corntassel CP Church Page 6