God's Amazing Grace

Intro: The storm was violent, waves crashed like thunderclaps and death loomed close. John Newton, a hardened slave trader, cursed the skies as his ship (the greyhound) tore through the black Atlantic night. He had mocked God for years, bought and sold human lives without a flicker of remorse. But as the sea threatened to swallow him whole, something shattered in Him. He clawed to the deck, not for safety, but for mercy! With trembling lips he cried out “Lord have mercy on me!” God did. His grace reached down from heaven and spared his life and saved his soul.

The slave trader became a preacher and abolitionist, and years later he penned these words that echos through the years. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” God reached into the depths and pulled John Newton from the pit. God desires to do the same for you!

CPS: God’s Salvation is so incredibly amazing, it is solely His work, in His way, according to His will.

I. Salvation is God’s Work (8a)

We are told from an early age, that if we want something we must work hard for it. But when it comes to our salvation, there is no work to do. Salvation is God’s work. Charles Hadden Spurgeon once said, “If we have to put one stitch into the garments of our salvation, we shall ruin the whole thing.”

ILL: I’d like to turn your attention to a hill far away, where there stood an old rugged cross, there Jesus was slain for the sins of the world. Just beside it was another like it, a thief was nailed to it. He had nails through both hands, so that he could not work; and nails through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord. He could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ Jesus offered him the gift of God; and he took it. Christ threw him a passport and took him to Paradise. So it is when we are saved, The Apostle Paul said “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), therefore we can’t lift a hand or a foot toward our salvation.

Salvation is By Grace! Paul emphasizes this by saying it twice (Eph. 2:5), A dead man can’t work, this is so amazing that its as if Paul is shouting from a roof top so that all can hear, He is driving home the point that salvation is the sole work of God in Christ Jesus! Grace (charis){Ka-rees} means kindness, good will, or favor toward another, It is the unmerited favor of God towards wayward man. It is everything for nothing, to those who don’t deserve anything! It’s God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace was on full display, on the cross, where Jesus hung, bled, suffered, and died for our sin. There, He took upon Himself our hell and offers us His heaven! Grace is epitomized as Jesus said “It is Finished” He took our place leaving nothing undone.

Praise God, Praise God, Praise God....(to the tune of Amazing Grace)”

II. Salvation is God’s Work, in God’s Way (2:8b-9)

We have established that salvation’s work is done. So what does it mean when I say “Salvation is God’s work in God’s way?” That was a question asked of Jesus many centuries ago, while in the county side, the day after Jesus fed the 5,000. “What do we do, so that we may work the works of God, Jesus answered This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. (John 6:28-29)” (Is.55:8-9) His way is not work (2:9), its simple faith in Jesus!

Faith(pistis){Pis-stees} means to believe to complete trust. Its the same trust you have in the pew you are sitting in. You plopped down in it without any thought to whether or not it will hold you up. So it is with our salvation! We trust Jesus to take us up! *Notice, Salvation is through faith. Faith is the instrument through which we receive salvation!

ILL: Archaeologist in Isreal have uncovered an ancient aqueduct through which the Romans brought their fresh water from the Carmel Mountains in the north down to the port city of Cesarea Maritima. It stands today as a reminder, a word picture, of how our faith is the aqueduct through which the living water of God’s saving grace flows to us! Faith is simply the hands of the heart that receives God’s greatest gift!

Its sad to see people turn something so simple into such a complex matter. Today, in Latin America, you can find people of the Catholic faith, in a morbid sense of penitence, during the the “holy days of obligation” crawling on their hands and knees up rocky paths to the tops of mountains to be nailed to crosses. By grace through faith seems too good to believe!

ILL: Its like the cake company that introduced a new cake mix that was a big flop. The instructions said “just add water and bake.” The company couldn't understand why it didn’t sell - until their research discovered that the public was uneasy about a mix that required only water, They thought it was too easy. So they altered the formula and changed the directions to call for water and an egg, then the cake mix flew off the shelves! That’s how many of us react to God’s salvation, it sounds to good to be true even though the Bible says “By grace you have been saved through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works.”

God has not changed nor will He ever change His formula for Salvation to make it more marketable. No amount of human effort, good deeds, or giving of our resources can buy God’s favor, it is a free gift just waiting to be recieved through faith! “How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed!”

Salvation is God’s work (grace), in God ways (through faith). Isn’t it Amazing!

III. Salvation is God’s work, in God’s way, according to God’s will. (10)

A. God’s Will

Do you know God’s will for your life? It can be found through careful examination of God’s Word. We often use the Bible like a game of chance, opening it at random and hoping the pages fall in our favor.

ILL: It reminds me of a story about an old preacher whose car broke down on a country road, he walked to a nearby roadhouse to use the phone. After calling for a tow truck he spotted his old friend Frank, drunk and shabbily dressed at the end of the bar. “What happened to you Frank?” he asked “you used to be rich.” Frank told the tale of bad investments that led to his downfall. “Go home,” the preacher said. Open your Bible at random, stick your finger on the page and there will be God’s answer.” Sometime later, the preacher bumped into Frank, who was wearing a Gucci suit sporting a Rolex watch and stepping out of a new Mercedes. “Frank.” said the preacher, “I’m glad to see things really turned around for you.” “Yes, preacher, and I owe it all to you,” said Frank. “I opened my Bible, put my finger down on the page and there was the answer - Chapter 11.”

That’s a bad joke, God’s desire is not for us to file bankruptcy, we are already bankrupt in our sin, God’s desire is for us to be spiritually rich in Christ Jesus! Primarily, His will is that you be saved! Salvation is God’s desire for mankind! Our text says “we are His workmanship” (poiēma){“Pew-e-ma”}, it means what God has made. This is where we get our English word “poem” from. Isn’t that an amazing thought! We are His special creation, His own work of art. His masterpiece, He formed you and fashioned you that no one else has DNA like yours. You are unique to Him and indescribably valuable to Him. His own special piece of art, so of course it is God’s will that you not perish (2 Peter 3:9) but to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4) because He loves you! That is the message of John 3:16, God SO loved the world, that means a great love (Eph. 2:4) that Paul tries to explain but is at a loss of words in Eph. 3:17-19, its a love we can’t get to the end of, sink to the bottom of, or ascend to the top of! Its a incomprehensible love! THAT’S WHY SALVATION IS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, SO THAT ANYONE CAN BE BE SAVED!

B. God’s Purpose

We are not saved through good works but for good works! When you are saved you are created anew for the purpose of fulfilling God’s work that he planned for us long ago in eternity past. Primarily its to tell the world of God’s amazing salvation. That by grace through faith in Jesus, He exchanged places with them, he took their hell and gives them His heaven, its a message of Hope regardless of who you are, where you come from, what you have done, and even what you are doing. If God can save a wretched sinner like John Newton and make him bearer of the Gospel of Christ Jesus He can do the same for you!