Saved by What? (2)
Notes
Transcript
This is week two in our section of our sermon series titled “Saved by What?”
We spoke of Sola Fide last week. Faith Alone
In essence we wanted to assure you that when we believe God and it is counted to us as righteousness.
Some years ago, before world war two, a couple of companies made cake mixes quite regularly.
They made them and they were rather tasty to those who tried them.
But you see, the majority of ladies would not buy the cake mixes from the store.
The reason they did not buy them was quite simply for two reasons:
One group found that the mixes did not require any effort on their part and thus they felt guilty to give their husbands something they did not work over.
A second group thought the cake could taste good because it was too simple. (It only required the adding of water.)
The company went back to the drawing board and submitted a product that required adding your own eggs, maybe oil, water or milk.
Thus the people began to buy the products in droves.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you shared the Gospel with them or maybe you can remember someone sharing the Gospel with you the first time?
Often times when the “Good News” is shared, we are approaching someone who is going through a rough patch, or someone who is sick, maybe even someone facing a terminal disease of some sort, and sometimes it is after the death of someone close to the individual.
The question most often asked goes something like this: “What do you understand it takes for God to allow a person into heaven?”
The usual answer or most often answer given to this question is some form of: I’m a good person basically, or my good will outweigh my bad, or look at this or that I have done, or God and I have an agreement.
All of these answers are based on the work and goodness of man.
The first idea I want to point to from the text:
Salvation is Not Justification In Our Work.
Salvation is Not Justification In Our Work.
Ephesians 2:9 (ESV)
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Notice that you and I not only fall short of the glory of God, but we have personal desires that are not of God.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah reminds us of two things here:
The heart is deceitful
The heart is desperately sick
But also:
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Salvation is Justification In Spite of Our Works.
Salvation is Justification In Spite of Our Works.
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Grace = unmerited favor
Grace = unmerited favor
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Salvation Rests in His Work — Grace
Salvation Rests in His Work — Grace
Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
Walking Away, But In...
Walking Away, But In...
We did not deserve it.
We do not deserve it.
We will not deserve it.
But He Gave It and Offers It.