Sola Gratia

So far in our series on the 5 Solas, we have looked at the doctrines of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. Sola Scriptura teaches us that God’s Word is the final authority on which we stand. Sola Fide teaches us that we are saved by faith, we are justified by faith, and we are to live by faith. This morning, we are going to look at the third principle of the Protestant Reformation, Sola Gratia.

Sola Gratia, or by grace alone, is vital to our understanding of how we are saved. Before we venture further on this subject, we need to understand what grace is. The word grace comes from the Greek word “charis”.

χάρις - grace - unmerited favor

The theologian John Stott said, “Grace is God’s free and undeserved mercy towards us.” It was the truth of Sola Gratia which inspired John Newton to pen the beautiful and beloved hymn, “Amazing Grace”.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

John Newton was the captain of a slave ship. During a violent storm at sea, he gave his life to God and renounced his work in the slave trade. He became a pastor who spoke out against slavery. He experienced the amazing grace of God and he developed a passion to bring others into an encounter with God’s amazing grace.

In most non-Christian religions, the concept of grace is completely absent. There is no grace in Islam. There is no grace in Buddhism. There is no grace in any of these false religions. Even the Book of Mormon states, “It is by grace we are saved, after all we can do.” (2 Nephi 25:23) That’s not grace at all.

I do want you to know this. “Among Protestants, there is a popular misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on grace. Sometimes it is said, ‘Rome teaches that we are saved by works, but Protestants teach that we are saved by grace.’ This statement, common as it is, is a slander against the Roman Catholic Church. Rome does not teach that one is saved by works apart from the grace of God. She, in fact, teaches that one is saved by the grace of God. The controversy is about the word alone.” We teach, according to the clear teaching of Scripture, that you are saved by grace alone.

Open your Bible to .

Ephesians 2:1–10 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB

8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

Paul richly described man’s state before encountering God’s grace. He said, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” You were dead. There was nothing you could do to change your situation. Being saved by grace is completely opposite to being saved by merit. Our salvation does not lie in what we have done. Salvation belongs to God. It is by grace alone. Grace and works are antithetical to one another. If there is any “work” that needs to happen, grace ceases to be grace.

Romans 11:6 CSB

6 Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.

To accept God’s grace by faith requires an abandonment of all other attempts to save yourself. God’s grace does for us what we could never do for ourselves. You might be thinking, “What role does faith play? Isn’t faith a work of some sort?” The answer is “no”. Faith is the channel for salvation. Faith is not an accomplishment or work. Faith is the means by which we accept God’s grace.

1. God’s grace pardons us.

Ephesians 2:4–5 CSB

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

God, by his mercy and love, made us alive when we were dead. The reason why people have trouble with this doctrine is because they fail to understand the depth of their own depravity, their own sinfulness. You were dead and unless God did something, you would stay dead. You were born this way. You were born with a nature to sin. God pardoned our sin by his grace through the work of Jesus on the cross. This is a legal action. A pardon means the verdict has been set aside. You were convicted and found guilty. Your sentence was death.

Romans 6:23 CSB

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What you should receive because of your moral depravity is death. Jesus took our punishment and paid the price for our sins through his death and shed blood. God’s righteous requirement was satisfied and God offers us a pardon by his grace. We had a debt that we couldn’t pay. Jesus paid it all. God’s grace cancels our sin debt.

Have you ever had a debt cancelled? Have you ever been financially struggling and then you find out that someone took care of your bill? I was reading about people who go into Walmart and other places who have lay-away and they pay for the items on lay-away. If you have ever had an experience like that, it is an extremely joyous experience. Think of what has been done for you through God’s grace. Think about what you have been forgiven. Think about all your failures and all your wrong-doing. Now, know that you have been pardoned if you have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice by faith. More could be said about this and the subject is rich and deep, but for sake of time, let’s look at another effect of God’s grace.

2. God’s grace delivers us from eternal damnation.

God’s grace doesn’t just take away our sins and provide us pardon from our sins; it also saves us from eternal damnation. This is an uncomfortable subject and it is not talked about as much as it should be. Some have even made jokes about it or think the Bible is not serious when it talks about it. Let me tell you. The Bible is clear. Anyone who does not accept Jesus as the way of salvation is damned.

Jesus spoke often about it. He knew it exists. He doesn’t want anyone to go there. It wasn’t created for people. It was made for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:41 CSB

41 “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

God doesn’t send people there. People make the choice through their free will to reject God’s plan of salvation.

Revelation 20:15 CSB

15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

In , Jesus described it as a place of torment. He said it is an eternal place. It is a place of complete darkness. It is a place from which no one can escape. We were all on the highway to hell, but God who is rich in mercy and by his grace delivered us from eternal damnation.

I want you to hear this. It is easy to get fearful and afraid when speaking of this subject. Two important things. First, if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you have nothing to fear. You are no longer a child of wrath. You are a child of God.

Ephesians 2:3–5 CSB

3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Ephesians 2:3–4 CSB

3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,

Eph 2:3-

You have been pardoned. You have been saved by grace. You were a child of wrath on the road to eternal damnation, but now you are a child of God. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Second, your home is with the Father in his house. Jesus is preparing a place for you in his house. Which brings us to the another facet of God’s grace. God’s grace pardons us. God’s grace delivers us from eternal damnation.

3. God’s grace blesses us with everlasting life.

We don’t have time to read it all this morning, but read sometime this week. The apostle John paints a beautiful and epic picture of what awaits those who trust in Jesus as their Savior. Jesus said,

John 14:2–3 CSB

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.

John 14:

There was an old translation that said Jesus was going to prepare “mansions” for his followers, but that is inaccurate. Jesus is preparing a place for us in his house. It is as if you have family coming to stay with you for the holiday season and you prepare a room for them in your house. Your place is in God’s house.

The concept of eternal life is very hard for us to wrap our minds around. Everything about our world ends, so the concept of being with God forever is a strange one. It can even cause us anxiety because we don’t understand what life would be like without being faced with an ending. We have no reference point for it, but Jesus clearly teaches that he gives his followers eternal life.

John 10:27–28 CSB

27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 10:27-

Sometimes I have people who like to challenge me about eternal life. Normally, the question is asked something like this , "Pastor, can you explain eternity to me because if you can’t explain it, maybe it is not true." I have a prepackaged response for this type of question. Usually I respond with, "I could, but it would take forever."

Seriously though, just because I can’t explain something, doesn’t mean it is not true. There are many things I can’t explain, but they are real. Eternity is a reality and the amazing grace of God is not only does he pardon us by his grace, not only does he deliver us from eternal damnation by his grace, but he also blesses us with everlasting life by his grace.

Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB

8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

The main point of being saved by grace through faith is so that no one can boast. No one can say, “God saved me because I am so good”. No one can say, “God saved me because I did all the right things.” No one can say, “God saved me because of what I have done.” Salvation is God’s gift. It is not because of anything we did, can do, or will do.

Like any gift, you have a choice to accept it or reject it. This past week, we hosted a wedding here at the church and I was thinking about an engagement. Traditionally, a man will work hard, save up, and buy the best ring he can afford to present to the woman he desires to marry. The woman has a choice to make. Will she accept the ring or reject the ring? To the woman, the ring is a free gift. To the man, the ring was costly. The ring doesn’t belong to the woman until she receives it.

The same is true about salvation. God, by his grace, offers to us salvation. It is free, but it is also costly. Jesus went to the cross and shed his blood. He died and he rose again. He did all of this because he loves you and he wants to save you from your sin. He wants to transform you, so you can experience his goodness, so we could experience his grace.

Each one of us have choice to make regarding God’s gracious offer of salvation. Will you accept it by faith or will you reject it in rebellion against God? The price has been paid. The pardon has been offered. What will you do?

Could you imagine a death row inmate. He has been sitting on death row. The time has come for his execution. He has had his last meal and he is walking toward the execution chamber. He knows he is guilty. There is no doubt about it. Then, the phone rings. It is the governor. He has issued a pardon, but the inmate has the choice to accept it or reject it.

God has issued, by his grace, a pardon for you. Will you accept it or reject it? To reject God’s grace is to reject life. To delay this decision is to continue on the way that leads to destruction. Will you put your faith in God’s grace?

To reject Him is to reject life. To delay this decision is to continue on the way that leads to destruction.

Pray

Father God, I pray this morning that you would move in hearts and draw people to yourself by your grace. You love us. You care for us. You have provided for us the way to life. Thank you and we give you glory for doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Thank you for holding us firmly in your hand. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, will you accept God’s gift of salvation this morning? Will you put your faith in God’s grace? Will you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord? It doesn’t matter how many times you have come to worship. It doesn’t matter who you parents are? It is a decision you have to make personally. Will you trust in Jesus’ ability to save you from eternal damnation? If so, pray this prayer to express the decision you are making.

“Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins, make me new. I ask Jesus to be my Savior and to be the Lord of my life, first in every way. My life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Our deacons will be coming forward to pray with you and for you. If you prayed to receive Jesus, please come to the front of this worship center and let us pray with you and celebrate your new life in Christ. If you want to pray for someone you know who needs to receive God’s gift of salvation, you come and get on your knees asking God to reach into that person’s life. Ask God to convict them of their sin and their need for salvation. I think we all have people in our lives who need to make the decision to receive God’s gift of salvation. The front of this worship center should be full as we lift up our loved ones to God.

In closing, let’s sing that old familiar hymn, Amazing Grace.

<after closing the time of invitation>

Perhaps you didn’t come forward for one reason or another, but you really do want to talk with us about what is going on in your life. Perhaps you need help, prayer, or you just want to know more about being a follower of Jesus. I would encourage you to do one of two things. After we are dismissed, just stay where you are. One of our deacons will come and talk with you and pray with you. The other thing you can do is check one of the boxes on the Connection Card. Put it in the offering plate as it passes. We will get in touch with you this week. You see, this church exists to minister to one another. We are here to support you in your walk with God.