Welcome

[00:00:03] Hey, welcome back to The Gospel Course. My name's Thomas, and in this course, we're learning what the gospel is and why it matters. Today, we're gonna talk about how we are saved. We're ultimately gonna learn that we are saved by God's grace, and we'll get into what that means. But have you ever met these kind of people, they're really proud people?

[00:00:26] They're really excited about the things that they've done. They think they're better than other people. They think that they deserve some stuff, or they worked so hard that God needs to let them do something. Well, what we'll learn today is that grace does not afford us any right to boast, because the gospel is all about what we don't deserve.

Saved By Grace

[00:00:50] We're gonna look at Ephesians 2:8-9, where we're gonna discover that we need God's help. In Ephesians 2:8, it says, " For by grace are you saved through faith." So in Christianity, there is this admittance of, " I need help. I need grace. I need to be saved from myself and from the consequences of my sin." The good news, though, is that that salvation is for everyone.

[00:01:21] " For by grace are you saved through faith." And God wants all people to come to saving faith. He says in 1 Timothy 2, "Who ha- will have all men to be saved." So good news, you qualify as a person that needs to be saved, and, and grace and faith is all that is required. It's so simple that Romans 10 says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

What Salvation Means

[00:01:50] But maybe for you, you hear that word and you're not exactly sure what it means. The definition of the word is the act of saving, preservation from danger, destruction. Or great calamity. And what happens when we believe the gospel is that God rescues us from perishing after we die, that we would no longer have to pay for our own sins, but that we would be given everlasting life.

[00:02:17] We would be free to serve God forever. This grace is the means of salvation. It says in verse eight, " For by grace are you saved." Do you, do you know what grace is? See, grace is an unmerited love or favor. It's something that you don't earn. When you say, "Give me some grace," you're not saying, "I deserve it."

Grace Cost Jesus

[00:02:44] You're saying, "No, I know. Please help me on this one." You need grace just like I need grace. And just in case you need help remembering what grace is and what it means, here's a helpful acronym for you. It should come up on the screen. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. See, it is free to you. It is something you don't deserve, and it came at the cost of what Jesus did on the cross.

[00:03:12] The Bible tells us in Romans 5 that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And in 1 Corinthians 15, it says how that Christ died for our sins. So let me ask you this question. If you were a sinner when Jesus died for you, how did you deserve it? You see, you didn't, and neither did I. Nobody deserves it.

Faith Activates Grace

[00:03:38] Jesus laid down his life for his enemies, that they would be restored back to him. But it is faith that enables this grace. It's not just grace for grace's sake. We have to put our faith in God's grace. Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace are you saved through faith." So faith is the assent of mind to the truth of what God has revealed.

[00:04:06] It is me choosing to place my mind and my thoughts and my ideas on what God has said and, and believing that they are true. And when we do this for the gospel, that Jesus died for me and he rose again to pay for my sins, the Bible says in Romans 5 that we are justified by faith, that when we put our faith in the gospel, it makes us just and right, in right standing with God.

[00:04:33] But to receive God's grace, we must have faith that Jesus took our place. That is how it is activated. As we continue on, in verse 8 we see that we cannot do it by ourselves. This isn't something that I'm able to do. I'm not able to say I'm a self-made Christian. No part of the Christian life makes me self-made.

It’s a Free Gift

[00:04:58] For verse 8 says, "And that not of yourselves." There was nothing that I could do to earn favor with God. See, I'm not good enough, We can't work hard enough. We can't become a better person enough to ever have God's favor. It's just not possible because it says here that it is a gift. In verse 9 it says, "It is the gift of God."

[00:05:27] And if something is a gift, you can't earn a gift. You know how gifts work, right? Like, whenever you have a birthday or a special event, you might get a gift, but it wasn't something you deserved. Like, you didn't work for it.

[00:05:41] But the gospel is a gift. It's called in Romans 6, " The gift of God is eternal life." It is something that God gives to us based on our faith and what he has done.

[00:05:55] So since it's a gift, you need to know you can't work hard enough to receive a gift. That's just not how gifts work. Verse nine says, " Not of works." Now, this is the hang-up for many people because we feel like we need to atone or do things or adhere to some standard to be right with God. And in fact, the Bible says in Galatians 2 that a man is not justified by the works of the law, the law being that Old Testament, set of rules and all the things that we know we're supposed to be doing.

[00:06:30] And even if I could try to do them really well, they would never justify me before God. It's not possible to keep the standard perfectly because faith is perhaps the most important thing to God. To put faith in that He provided the solution and the free gift, and it's not my works. To put faith in that is perhaps the most important thing for the Lord.

No Room to Boast

[00:06:58] And lastly, we see here that if it's a gift, and we did not deserve it or work for it, then we don't get to brag See, verse nine says, "Lest any man should boast." There is no room for me to be able to say, "Look how great I am. I earned God's favor." That'll never be possible for any human being.

[00:07:22] The word boast is to glory or to speak with pride, that to laud in something and look what I have done. it's not possible for you to ever boast to say, " I deserve for Jesus to die for me. I deserve to be right with God. See, Romans tells us in Romans 3, "Where is boasting then?

[00:07:44] It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith." See, I told you faith is perhaps the most important thing for God. So there are no special Christians because all Christians are saved by God's grace, which is something that we didn't deserve to begin with. But how about for you? Have you accepted the gospel without applying your own works?

Invitation to Believe

[00:08:16] Have you been trying really, really hard for God to like you? Would you just let that go and simply put faith in what God says, that Jesus really did die for you? Would you receive the free gift to just ask God to save you based on your faith alone and what he's done? I hope that you will. It's as easy as Romans 10, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[00:08:42] That's all you have to do, put saving faith in what he's done and tell him about it.

[00:08:46] I hope that you'll follow along in our next lesson on the Gospel Course where we talk about security and how long this gospel lasts. Am I saved indefinitely, or what if I mess up? Make sure you tune in for that one, and we'll see you then