But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)
This is the message of the Cross the gospel. That we could not and never could save our selves. For there is nothing we could do to be righteous or good. We could never earn love or forgiveness or salvation. We deserve nothing!
And yet out of the riches of Gods mercy and abundant grace upon grace Jesus gave up everything he had in order to give those spiritual blessings he had to us who did not deserve.
This is what we so often argue about:
Yet here the order is quite clear:
We are saved only by Gods grace
The means by which we accept that grace given as a gift is through faith
And out of that new life we receive we live for the good works that Christ created us to do.
Our faith and works do not earn grace. Our works are the way we live. We could never earn Gods love or our salvation by works or faith. And he grace is already given because of what Jesus did.
Thank you and thank you again!
All praise and glory be to you!
I humbly want to receive and enjoy this great gift!
Amen
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
ReplyDelete(Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV)
To understand works we must remember that of our own nature we are sinful and non is righteous, so the only good works we can do are because God is in us which is the gift of God through the work of Christ already done. Therefore the works we do are Gods and they come after the great work already completed in Christ. So none of us can boast for he saved us and the good works we do are his works through us. So all praise and glory be to God alone!
Amen