Faith not works
Scripture: Eph 2:8-10.
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The emphasis that Paul places upon grace and faith and on the positive and negative aspects of how a sinners is saved, underscores the importance of these doctrines. These verses serve as a summation of what has been set down in the previous seven verses.
These verses tell us again how we are saved and why we were saved.
The word “for” links what is about to be said to what has been said already.
I. HOW IMPORTANT IT IS THAT WE UNDERSTAND HOW WE BECAME CHRISTIANS
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said that many mistakes flowed from a misunderstanding of this vital matter. If we get the foundations wrong, then we will get the whole structure wrong.
1. Salvation is all of grace. It is entirely of God. This is the sixth reference to grace in this epistle son far. All told there are twelve mentions of grace in the epistle. This is the middle reference. It is one thing to know the meaning of these words with your head. It is another thing to know the meaning with your heart.
2. Salvation came to the most undeserving and worthless of beings. Twice in this chapter our deadness is mentioned, verses 1, 5. There is a world of difference between carrying a conscious person and an unconscious person. One can assist you the other cannot! The dead sinner can render no assistance in their own salvation.
II. IT IS IMPORT FOR US TO LEARN THAT WE HAD NO PART IN OUR SALVATION
1. That is underscored for us. Verse 8. Even the faith we exercised in order to cling to Christ was not of ourselves. It was a gift from God.
It is given, Romans 10:17; 12:3; Gal 3:23, 25. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Gal 5:22. Faith COMETH by hearing – a spiritual process, Luke 24:32, 45.
2. Our redemption is spoken of as a work of creation. Verse 10, Col 1:6. Therefore, it is a work of God alone. A new work had to be wrought in order that we might be delivered from sin. It was not a case of renovation but of creation. The Christian is one in whom God is working! Gal 4:19, Phil 1:6; 2:13.
3. The Christian has no grounds for boasting. Man tends to boast of his works and become proud whenever he thinks he has had a part in his won salvation. “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others,” Luke 18:9.