"By Grace Are Ye Saved?"

Ephesians 2:4-9

4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

7. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

W

e must be able to answer the question posed by this series’ title and that answer must be based on more than just the baptism and infilling. Today, of necessity, we are examining the concept of grace. For anyone who knows its definition, it is evident that one can “do” nothing to attain grace and there is no way to merit it.

Without a doubt, man would be more “comfortable” if salvation could be earned. But, the definition of grace is “God’s unmerited favor.” This “messes up” Man, for it makes him “beholden” to the Lord—and we do not like to feel as if we “owe” anyone anything, for then, we have an automatic responsibility.

We hope that we will be able to conquer what we need to conquer, act, as we need to act and change as we need to change without any help from anyone. However, look at what has been proven to us: no matter how we might try or what we might attempt to do, as human beings, we cannot change. The Lord knows this not only about us, but knew this about Israel, also and because He knew that the people would not be able to keep the Law, He allowed them to atone for their sins.

The atonement required of the people was required every year. The significance of this is that obviously, no matter the sacrifice, it was insufficient. You see, though the sacrifice was made to God, it was through the effort of Man. We already know that human effort can never lead to salvation.

It must be fully settled in our minds that salvation does not come from anything that we can or do “know,” but rather, we are able to enjoy salvation because we are willing to walk in faith of that which Jesus has already done. This takes any possible “credit” away from Man and gives all glory back to God.

The reason that salvation is “by faith” (in God) is because human beings trust only themselves. Therefore, we are called upon to operate outside of ourselves for that which can be done by only One.

Man is on a great quest for peace in these last days. The Lord has left us a “foolproof” method for achieving peace, yet Man seeks his own way. Ironically, that “way” frequently involves war.

The quest for peace, though global in nature, begins in the individual. If one is “at peace” with himself, he will be at peace with others. To be “at peace” with himself, he must first be at peace with God. One can have this peace only if willing to accept what the scriptures say.

Man has problems, issues, needs and concerns that can only be addressed by a word from the Lord. His word on these things and everything else is contained in the Book we so “commonly” call the Bible. Unredeemed man does not know this and “saved” man conducts himself as if not believing it. We spend time and money looking to programs, ministries and charismatic personalities—yet, we will neither trust in nor believe God.

Despite all of our frailties and failures, we are not consumed. Why? Solely because of the “richness” of God’s mercy. However, we need to beware, for we get used to thinking as we choose to think, taking as much time as we feel that we need, refusing to simply submit to the Lord.

Rarely, do the worst-case scenarios occur to us, but the Bible does speak of the “reprobate mind.” Though only the Lord can truly know when one has reached this state, it is needed He Who “turns (one) over” to this. We would be wise to beware of thinking that only what we do is “right”—and everyone else is wrong.

God exhibits His grace to us in many different ways; even through the fact that though we have spoken many years of many things (in the Church) we now know that about those things we were largely “clueless.” Despite this, He has exercised patience in continuing to instruct us and send us revelation. For example, we have spoken the phrase “I’m saved” because I speak (or, have spoken) in tongues and been baptized in “The Name.” This statement offers nothing of one’s current state in the Lord. No one, no matter how frequently he speaks in tongues, nor how often he may have been baptized, is “saved” unless he has allowed the resident Holy Spirit to influence his pattern of behavior.

The truth of the statement “by grace are ye save,” should be every more apparent to us. If not for the unfailing mercy and longsuffering of the God that we serve, we would be without all hope.