Ephesisans 2:8-10 says...
Today's verses are Ephesians 2:8-10 which read,
v.8, 9 - 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.
Paul started by talking about what we were as dead to God and then went on to what we had become through the mercy and love of God as alive together with Christ. Paul will now share how that came to be.
We are saved by grace and the question is who's grace? The answer is God's grace through faith. What is the faith in? Well, not in or of ourselves. Our salvation comes from outside of ourselves through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There is no way to earn our salvation. It is a gift of God to us that He gave His One and only Son to fulfill the debt for sin and He is the only one who could do this because He was without sin, unlike us.
Paul is setting out the foundations of truth that we need to know about the salvation of the Lord. These are foundational truths that need to be taught in our churches at every level. Satan has used the church to create a system of thinking we can earn our salvation and thus robbing the glory from God given through His Son, Jesus Christ. Satan has been very successful with this plan but we need to keep our eyes on Who gives the grace in which we have faith to be saved.
v.10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
I learned at a recent conference that it matters where in the equation that you put the good works. The good works do not go into the equation prior to salvation as a way to earn salvation but rather the good works go into the equation after salvation to be fruit of what has happened by God in your life.
We were created in Christ Jesus to be like Him to the world around us. These good works that we do are already known by God who is the only One who can give eternal reward for them. These good works are also the path that we walk as we walk in or walk out our salvation. We are saved and therefore we do the good works that God has planned out for us to show glory to Him as we were created by Him to do this. Even the good works that we do after salvation are to point to God rather than ourselves.
Our salvation is not all about us but all about God. It is about God rescuing us from what we were. It is about God providing transformation through the giving of His Son for the forgiveness of our sins. It is about God providing the path of life that we will live after that great exchange of Jesus' life for yours. It is all about God. We get in trouble when we make it about us because we will soon start to take some credit and therefore fall into the trap of Satan to rob God of His glory.
"Lord, what a great salvation we have received from You. You planned it and supplied the means for it and even directed the outcome of it in our lives. May we always bow the knee to You when we talk about the salvation that we have received from You with others that You bring along our way to serve in the avenue of good works. May we give full credit to You for what has happened to us. May it truly be a gift from You in our words and actions before others. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.8, 9 - 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.
Paul started by talking about what we were as dead to God and then went on to what we had become through the mercy and love of God as alive together with Christ. Paul will now share how that came to be.
We are saved by grace and the question is who's grace? The answer is God's grace through faith. What is the faith in? Well, not in or of ourselves. Our salvation comes from outside of ourselves through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There is no way to earn our salvation. It is a gift of God to us that He gave His One and only Son to fulfill the debt for sin and He is the only one who could do this because He was without sin, unlike us.
Paul is setting out the foundations of truth that we need to know about the salvation of the Lord. These are foundational truths that need to be taught in our churches at every level. Satan has used the church to create a system of thinking we can earn our salvation and thus robbing the glory from God given through His Son, Jesus Christ. Satan has been very successful with this plan but we need to keep our eyes on Who gives the grace in which we have faith to be saved.
v.10 - For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
I learned at a recent conference that it matters where in the equation that you put the good works. The good works do not go into the equation prior to salvation as a way to earn salvation but rather the good works go into the equation after salvation to be fruit of what has happened by God in your life.
We were created in Christ Jesus to be like Him to the world around us. These good works that we do are already known by God who is the only One who can give eternal reward for them. These good works are also the path that we walk as we walk in or walk out our salvation. We are saved and therefore we do the good works that God has planned out for us to show glory to Him as we were created by Him to do this. Even the good works that we do after salvation are to point to God rather than ourselves.
Our salvation is not all about us but all about God. It is about God rescuing us from what we were. It is about God providing transformation through the giving of His Son for the forgiveness of our sins. It is about God providing the path of life that we will live after that great exchange of Jesus' life for yours. It is all about God. We get in trouble when we make it about us because we will soon start to take some credit and therefore fall into the trap of Satan to rob God of His glory.
"Lord, what a great salvation we have received from You. You planned it and supplied the means for it and even directed the outcome of it in our lives. May we always bow the knee to You when we talk about the salvation that we have received from You with others that You bring along our way to serve in the avenue of good works. May we give full credit to You for what has happened to us. May it truly be a gift from You in our words and actions before others. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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