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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor April
28, 2002 For
it is by grace you have
been saved, through
faith -- and this not
from yourselves, it is
the gift of God -- not
by works, so that no one
can
boast. Last
week we began talking about
opening our lives to God's grace.
Why do we need to do that? Paul
tells us why in Ephesians 2:8-9:
it is the grace of God that saves
us. 4-Trusting
Grace
and
Grace
Alone Paul
helps us understand the meaning
of "saved" -- or "salvation" --
by what he writes in his letter
to the Romans. Look with me at
Romans 10, starting at verse
9: For
it is with your heart that you
believe and are
justified,
and it is with your mouth that
you confess and are
saved. Notice
that Paul distinguishes between
justification and salvation. This
is an important distinction that
the Bible makes, and we need to
understand the difference between
the two words. A lot of people in
the church use the word "saved"
when they really mean
"justified." The
Greek word for "justified" is
dikaiosune. I like the way
Thayer's Greek Dictionary defines
this: "the state of him who is as
he ought to be; righteousness;
the condition acceptable to
God." This
is what people usually mean when
they say someone got "saved."
They really mean that person has
been "justified." He or she has
been made right with God, set
free from the guilt and penalty
to sin, and moved to where they
ought to be -- the place God
intended them to be -- in right
relationship to Him. So
when we say that someone got
"saved" in church last Sunday,
biblically we are saying that
person was
"justified." "Saved"
is a more expansive
thing than justified. To
be saved includes
justification -- but it
means more than
that. One
of the Greek words Bible
translators render as
"save" or "saved" is
soteria. This
word means the sum of
benefits and blessings
which Christians,
redeemed from all
earthly ills, will enjoy
in the consummated and
eternal kingdom of God
after the visible return
of Christ from
heaven. The
word sozo --
another word translated
"saved" -- means to be
rescued from danger and
to be made whole in the
sense of one's total
being. I
talked about the meaning of
"grace" last week, and this slide
(below) gives us a quick
review: Ephesians
2:8 gives us the answer: we are
"saved by grace through faith."
In other words, we appropriate
justifying and saving grace into
our lives by exercising
faith. The
writer of Hebrews helps us
understand what faith is in
Hebrews 11:1: Unfortunately,
due to the way the English
language is constructed, we tend
to think of "faith" as being the
same thing as "believing." That's
because in English, unlike Greek,
there is no verb form for the
word faith. So translators are
forced translate the verb form of
pistis -- pisteuo
-- with the word
"believe." But
the implications of "faith" and
"believe" are quite different. To
"believe" simply means giving
one's mental assent to the
validity of something. "Faith" is
more than that. Faith
is something that changes us at
the core. It changes how we
think, act and react with others.
Having faith, in the biblical
sense, is staking your life on
what you say you
believe. When
you see the word "believe" in the
New Testament you need think in
terms of faith -- being certain
to the point that you are
radically changed in your
outlook and your
actions. Now
that we've talked about "saved,"
about "grace," and about "faith,"
let's go back and look at the
rest of our text -- Ephesians
2:8-9: Paul
is saying that you must trust
God's grace alone for your
salvation. This
is a hard thing to do in a
culture that glorifies hard work
and individual
achievement. I
know this is a problem among many
in the church because everywhere
I go, when I preach revivals and
camp meetings and so on, I ask
people how they came to know the
Lord. Invariably, I get an answer
that involves how long they've
been a member of the church, the
offices they've held, the good
things they've done and the bad
things they haven't
done. All
of that is good, and I'm glad to
know they have worked out some
level of goodness in their lives.
But that's not the issue.
If
we are believers we are under
grace, not the law. Our
salvation isn't dependent upon
us, but only upon
Jesus. The
Old Testament sacrificial system
helps us understand how God views
the work of Christ on our behalf.
Suppose for a moment that you are
a Jew living in Old Testament
times. As evidence of your
repentance and that you're
seeking God for forgiveness, you
bring a lamb to sacrifice at the
temple. It is supposed to be a
lamb without any blemish, without
any defect. You bring the lamb to
the priest, God's representative,
and hand it over to
him. At
that point, that the priest isn't
looking at you -- his eye is on
the lamb. He inspects it
carefully. If the lamb is
acceptable, your sins are
forgiven. My
friend, in the New Testament
church if you come to the altar
of God you don't have to bring a
sacrifice, except your own
repentance. God has provided the
sacrifice. And you don't need a
representative. God Himself meets
you there. Look
with me at 1 John
2:1-2: Once
we come to the altar, God's eye
isn't on us to see if we measure
up. His eye is on the Lamb! And
every time, God's response is the
same: "Christ -- the Lamb of God
-- is worthy, your sins are
forgiven!" If
we are saved, it is by the grace
of God in Jesus Christ -- not by
our works of any kind. Until we
understand, believe, and accept
this we will never have a solid,
unshakable assurance of our
salvation. Why?
Because sooner or later you will
read the hard truth of James
2:10-11. In fact, let's read it
now: How
many of you have ever told a lie?
How many of you ever stole
anything? All of us are liars and
thieves -- lawbreakers! We may
done lots of good things in our
lives, but we all know we've not
been perfect. Frankly, we've all
done enough bad things to go to
hell. But
the Good News is that the Father
isn't looking at us. His eye is
on the Lamb. If
you want to live under the law
the deal is this: those who keep
all the law get life,
those who break the law at any
point get death. Who wants those
terms? I don't! No matter how
much good any of us may have
done, we've all broken the
law! You
know this is true, so if you're
depending at all on your good
works to get you to heaven,
you'll never have assurance of
your salvation. The only way to
be saved is by God's grace -- you
must trust His grace alone to
save you. Will
you open your heart to God's
grace morning? Will you give up
any and all reliance on yourself
or receive God's grace? It is
grace that can save you from sin,
death, and hell -- and guarantee
you a home in God's eternal
Kingdom.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
Ministry
of the
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Today
For the Gateway family
Pastor
Jerry's Weekly
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
Trusting
grace and grace alone
(Fourth
in the series, Opening Ourselves to
God)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
The particular words Paul uses in
this text raise three questions
we must answer to understand the
impact of what he is saying:
In
this
series
1) What does "saved" mean?
2) What is "grace"?
3) What is "faith"?
What
does 'saved' mean?[I]f
you confess with your mouth,
"Jesus is Lord," and believe
in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be
saved.
A bit of Greek study will help
clear this up.
What
is grace?
From
these definitions -- and from our
Ephesians 2 text -- we can make
some observations about the
nature of grace:
That
all sounds good, but it leads to
an important question: How do I
get this "grace" to my address?
How do I make it real to
me?
What
then is faith?Now
faith is being sure of what we
hope for and certain of what
we do not see.
This
next slide (right) explains what
this word "faith" means in the
original Greek.
Grace
aloneFor
it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith --
and
this not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God -- not by
works, so that no one can
boast.
Opening your heart to God's
justifying grace means you must
cease all efforts to save
yourself -- that you must cease
all reliance on any good works
you've done.
The
Lamb of GodMy
dear children, I write this to
you so that you will not sin.
But if anybody does sin, we
have one who speaks to the
Father in our defense -- Jesus
Christ, the Righteous One. He
is the atoning sacrifice for
our sins, and not only for
ours but also for the sins of
the whole world.
For
whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles at just one
point is guilty of breaking
all of it. For he who said,
"Do not commit adultery," also
said, "Do not murder." If you
do not commit adultery but do
commit murder, you have become
a lawbreaker.
Do
you want law or
grace?
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020428a: Trusting Grace and
Grace Alone.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado