Our Salvation Summarized

 This post is a sermon that was preached at Wayside Community Church on Feb. 21, 2021 based on the Scripture, Ephesians 2:8-9. The salvation we enjoy that gives us a relationship with Christ is provided by grace, procured by faith, and proven by works. The worship service in which this sermon was preached can be viewed by clicking here.

Written Excerpts:

Ephesians 2:8-10 ^(NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Introduction: Quite a few years ago I pondered the question, “What is the main theme of the entire Bible?” After giving it considerable thought, I concluded there was one word that could adequately sum up the main theme of the entire Bible and that was the word, “redemption.” I went on to develop an outline and several lessons and sermons that explored how redemption is presented throughout the Bible.

If someone were to ask me, “What passage in the Bible best summarizes the salvation offered to us in God’s Word?” I think I might respond by quoting Ephesians 2:8-10. I have quoted from this passage a number of times in sermons, but I don’t believe I have actually preached from this text. Today I want to give a summary or overview of our salvation by using the words of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians in these three verses.

Some Bible scholars believe that this letter was not specifically sent to the church at Ephesus because some early manuscripts do not have the city’s name included. However, there are enough manuscripts that do have the name to convince other scholars that it truly was sent to Ephesus originally.

In any case, the letter is different from many of Paul’s letters in the NT because it doesn’t directly confront any particular problem in the church. In fact, some say that it reads more like a sermon in which the Apostle is explaining many aspects of God’s divine work in redemption followed by ways that truth should affect their conduct and daily living.

There are three main truths about our salvation that Paul expresses in these three verses.

I.          Salvation Is Provided by Grace.

The first truth regarding salvation is the fact that it is provided by God’s grace. This is a fact that Paul mentioned just 3 verses earlier as he was describing what Christ has already done for us. In verse 5 he states, “by grace you have been saved.”

A. Salvation by grace refers to what God has done and intends to do.

“For…” – The conjunction “for” at the beginning of verse 8 points back to what the Apostle had written in the previous verses.

v. 5 He made us alive after being spiritually dead.
v. 6 He raised us up to live in the heavenly realm with Christ.
v. 7 So that throughout the unending ages of eternity, He will receive glory, adoration, and praise.

(Francis Foulkes, Tyndale NT Commentaries) – Why can the life of heaven be possessed here and now? How is there such an exhibition of the love of God from which the whole creation of God can learn and wonder? Because “by grace you have been saved.”

B. Salvation by grace means it was pleasing to God.

Most of us know the standard definition of grace that we have always heard – “The undeserved (unmerited) favor of God.” Not only is “grace” defined as the “unmerited favor of God,” but the root word also includes such themes as “joy,” “thanks,” and “pleasure.”

Right before Paul mentions by grace you have been saved, in verse 5, he declared the love and mercy of God as the underlying reality in our salvation. When genuine love and mercy are the foundational motivations, the salvation by grace truly is a gift from God that gives Him joy and pleasure. We read in Ezekiel that God “has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” (18:23, 32) Which would imply that He gets pleasure out of saving souls.

v. 8c “… it is the gift of God.”

There also seems to be the hint of pleasure in the idea that this grace is a “gift” from God. Think of the pleasure a parent gets from giving gifts to his/her child. Because of His infinite love, God showers His favor and grace on us, saving us from eternal judgment and our present guilt and shame. 

I praise Him today for His grace!

C. Salvation by grace means it had nothing to do with our efforts.

v. 8b, 9 “… that not of yourselves… not of works lest any man should boast.”

Philippians 3:3-7 Paul talks about all the things he could boast about if there was any merit in them, but he clearly affirms there isn’t. Salvation is never because of what we’ve done. Salvation is never because of who we are (i.e., in the sense of race, economic status, family name…). “The ground is level at the foot of the cross!” We’re going to have more to say about salvation and works later, but the point that Paul is making here is the irrefutable fact that we did not do any work or effort that made God decide to save us.

(Lenski NT Commentary) – As little as a dead man can do the least toward making himself alive, so little can the spiritually dead contribute the least toward obtaining spiritual life.

It was purely because of His infinite love and grace.

II.        Salvation Is Procured by Faith.

The second truth provided by Paul regarding salvation is the fact that it is procured by faith.

Ephesians 2:8a ^(NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith…

After clearly stating that there is nothing anyone can do to earn or deserve salvation, Paul declares that there is something we do to receive it.

A. Faith does not earn salvation.

However, the phrase, “by faith,” in no way implies that faith is the one work we do that earns our salvation. Paul is simply reminding us that faith is the instrument through which we appropriate or obtain what God graciously offers. God offers salvation to us if we can believe it!

(Francis Foulkes, TNTC) – …this faith is defined best as a turning to God with a sense of need and weakness and emptiness and a willingness to receive what he offers, to receive the Lord himself.

B. Faith is a free choice aided by divine grace.

Some theologians are so strict about the doctrine of predestination they would say “only those to whom God gives the ability to believe will actually be saved.” Of course, it implies that “those to whom God refuses to give faith will be lost.” Other theologians rely on Scriptures which emphasize God’s desire for all to be saved and propose that the ability to exercise faith is part of universal grace God offers to everyone, but each one must choose to believe or not. So, we have the choice to believe God’s offer of salvation, but God is active in giving everyone the ability to choose.

Lenski said this: One often meets careless statements such as: "Grace is God's part, faith ours." Now the simple fact is that even in human relations faith and confidence are produced in us by others, by what they are and what they do; we never produce it ourselves. Even deceivers know that they must cunningly make their deceptions of such a nature that they may appear true and grand, and that they may thus produce faith in those whom they wish to deceive. There is no self-produced faith; faith is wrought in us. Saving faith is wrought by the saving grace of God.

Faith is not worked up on our own. We choose to believe because of what we’ve come to know and understand about God’s power, His motivation, and His character/reliability. When we do believe Him and take Him at His word, then He pours the grace of forgiveness and spiritual life into our spiritually dead hearts.

Paul in Romans – “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Faith that procures salvation is a heart conviction in the truthfulness and reality of God’s promise to the extent that I am willing to stake my entire future on it. “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand!”

III.       Salvation Is Proven by Works.

The third truth Paul explains regarding salvation has to do with the consequences of salvation.

A. Works provide evidence of saving faith.

In verse 9 we were told that our works had nothing to do with God’s gift. Anything we did or may do does not gain merit or convince God to save us. But now, Paul clearly declares that there will be evidence of works as a consequence of salvation.

Eph. 2^10a  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…

The word “works” here in v. 10 is the same word as in v. 9. It refers to labor, toil or deed. However, the word “workmanship” is from a completely different Greek word. It is used only one other time in the New Testament, Rom. 1:20.

Romans 1^{20 (NKJV)} For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

(Foulkes, TNTC) – [workmanship] … is used of the works of God’s first creation. Humanity was his making at the first, and now, because that work of his was spoil[ed] by sin, there is a new divine act of creation.

In the Romans text, Paul states that we can determine a number of truths about God by studying His creation – the things He has made – His workmanship. Now, in Ephesians, he uses the term to speak about the spiritual work God has done and is doing in the lives of believers. We are on display as the handiwork of God in a spiritual sense.

This workmanship or handiwork of God is the natural result of salvation and provides the evidence or proof that something spiritual and supernatural has taken place in us. Far too many people downplay the need for righteous works, claiming that grace means works are not important. But Paul is giving us the complete opposite picture.

B. Works arising from saving faith are entirely expected.

Eph. 2:10b which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

(Francis Foulkes, TNTC) – The nature and character of the works and the direction of the Christian’s daily walk (see on 2:2) are predetermined. This then corresponds closely with 1:4 which describes the end and goal of election as ‘that we should be holy and blameless before him’.

Just as you would expect that a child who has been sent to take a bath would return clean, so you could expect a person that has been saved by grace to show evidence in a changed life. Just as you would expect a student who has completed trade school to competently apply his/her trade, so you would expect a person that has been saved by grace through faith to demonstrate righteous works that correspond to the work of grace they profess.

Conclusion:

How is it with you? Are you now enjoying a personal relationship with Jesus Christ because you have been saved by grace?

Have you experienced the transformation that salvation brings, or are you just going through the forms of religion?

This salvation Paul describes, and I have tried to proclaim, is available to everyone who truly humbles themselves, turns from their sins and trusts completely in the grace of God through Jesus.

Closing Song: Jesus Is Calling