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Saved By Grace

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10

I. Your past shows your need for grace.

A. When we were born, we were born dead to God because we were born as sinners. Although we were physically alive, we were spiritually dead. We were dead because we walked in the ways of sin (vs. 1-2). Paul goes on to say in vs. 2 and 3 that there were three tyrants who held us as prisoners so that we could not escape from our sin and our death. Those three harsh tyrants are the world, the flesh and the devil.

B. So, what did we deserve for our sins and crimes against God that put us in prison? What did we deserve for actually wanting to stay in the prisons constructed by the evil influences of the world, the flesh and the devil? Verse 3 says that we were by nature children of wrath. We deserved to experience God’s fixed anger against our sin. The same God who is a God of wrath against sin in vs. 3 is a God of love in vs. 4. God’s love though is a holy love. He loves righteousness and hates sin. We deserved God’s anger and wrath. We deserved God’s judgment. And we were powerless to do anything about our spiritual situation because we were dead.

II. Your God is a God of love and mercy.

A. After the depressing description of humanity’s situation found in vs. 1-3, two of perhaps the most wonderful words in the whole Bible are found at the beginning of vs. 4. But God! But God stepped in and saved you by His grace. You have a completely new life because of what God did. Four words in vs. 4-7 show you who God is. 1) Love. How is God’s love for Christians described in vs. 4? He is a God of great love. Romans 5:8 reminds us of God’s great love: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”2) Mercy. His mercy is completely unexpected. But God regularly and consistently withheld the punishment we deserved because Jesus endured it for us on the cross. 3) Grace. Verse 5 is the first time that Paul will say by grace you have been saved. And Paul will repeat that truth in vs. 8 while in vs. 7 he writes about the riches of his grace. The word grace means gift. Grace is a free gift and unearned by us. We never get any merit badges from God because of our good works. 4) Kindness (vs. 7). God was kind enough to shrink Himself down to become one of us in the person of Jesus in order to exchange places with us on the cross. Jesus was kind to people who were enemies of God and deserved His wrath.

III. Your salvation is a gift that leads to a response of good works.

A. Ephesians 2:8-9 are two of the most important verses in the Bible. Our salvation is not a reward for our good works. It is a gift from God that we don’t deserve. And this salvation comes to us through faith (vs. 8). We are saved by faith in Christ’s good work of dying for our sins on the cross. Since we are saved by Jesus’ work and not by our own work (vs. 9), we have no reason to boast before God. If salvation and heaven are not a reward for my good works, then why should I do good works? Verse 10 answers that question. Our salvation by God will necessarily lead to good works. Out of gratitude to God for saving us and because we are now God’s new creation, we do good works for the praise and glory of God.

Application:
We do good works not to earn salvation but in response to the grace we have received in salvation.

Sources:
The letter to the Ephesians
Commentaries on Ephesians by Peter O’Brien, Bryan Chapell, and Richard Coekin