Only By Grace.
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It’s all The Gift of God
It’s all The Gift of God
It is only by grace we can receive anything of God. Whatever we have received was from his grace.
John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
It has to be by grace only because we are spiritually dead. By spiritually dead I mean we are not going to come to Jesus on our own. It takes the grace of God to draw us.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
1. Condition: Spiritually Dead
1. Condition: Spiritually Dead
Ephesians 2:1–3 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
2. Certainty: Gift of Grace
2. Certainty: Gift of Grace
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
3. Calling: Created for Purpose
3. Calling: Created for Purpose
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
We believe in the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins cancels out our debts. This can only be done through grace.
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
