Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at some scripture from Ephesians 2 but before we do that, I wanted to ask you a question….
How many of you out there know how to swim? Because I grew up on a lake, I learned to swim at a very young age, but I read recently that over half of the population doesn’t possess these skills.
This morning I was thinking about somebody who was out in a boat, accidentally fell overboard, and they couldn’t swim at all. The one thing that saves them and keeps them afloat, is their life jacket. Without it, they wouldn’t make it very long in the water. They put their faith and trust in that life jacket that it’s going to keep them afloat and save them.
In the church, it is God’s forgiveness and mercy that keeps us afloat. Without a life jacket, people are going to perish. Without God’s grace and forgiveness, all of us would perish.
Eph 2:8-10
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.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
It teaches here that by grace we are saved. Because our salvation requires grace, we need to understand what this word really means.
First of all, Grace is something that we do not deserve. The reason why I say that is because we are all wretched sinners upon this earth. Each of us have come short of the glory of God. The common understanding of grace is unmerited mercy that God gives to us by sending Jesus Christ His Son to die on the cross. God gives grace to help us to become transformed into what he wants us to become. Grace is unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration, or sanctification. The archaic definition means mercy, or a pardon.
Let’s take a look at this word “pardon” for just a moment.
Many times when you walk around the community, you may hear somebody say, “pardon me”. Pardon is the action of forgiving or being forgiven for an error or an offense. It’s to forgive and to excuse a person of their fault. Think about somebody who was guilty of some crime, who was allowed to go free when they are granted an official pardon by a judge or a magistrate.
Well, every single person on the face of the earth needs a pardon with God. This is why we all need to learn to forgive one another. It doesn’t matter if they’re poor or rich. It doesn’t matter the place of society that people come from. It doesn’t matter if they’re a judge or a fisherman, each of us need a divine pardon if we want to inherit eternal life someday.
All of us have sinned. Each of us are in the same boat together. Each of us are equal in the eyes of God, we’re all sinners. No matter if we sinned one time, or a thousand times, we all need a pardon with God. This is the reason that Jesus Christ came to the earth, so that we could have forgiveness with God. A divine pardon is available to all those who come to Him in faith. God is very merciful and long suffering. If he wasn’t, this world would have been destroyed years ago. He wants each of us to come forth, and repent and apologize for our misdeeds, so he can lift our sin burden from us.
I want to ask you something today. If there was an official piece of paper somewhere, and it didn’t cost you anything to go and get it, but it was an official pardon for all of your past misdeeds, would you go and get it? It doesn’t cost you anything and you don’t have to pay for it, would you go and get it?
Grace is given to us not on the basis of how good we are, but on the goodness of God. It’s given to us not on the basis of our deeds, but rather the deeds of God’s mercy. Our world today is so lost in sin, and the truth is, forgiveness is available for all those who come and get it.
Have you ever spent an entire day preparing a meal for your family, only to find at supper time, nobody shows up? Imagine how God feels when he sends this world, His only begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins and misdeeds yet there are many people who won’t come forward to get forgiven.
We cannot work off our own sin debt. Salvation and eternal life is not through works, it is available through the goodness of God’s forgiveness. It’s a completely free gift. I think this is a hard concept for many people out in the world to receive, because some people don’t want to take anything for free, but nonetheless, forgiveness cannot be earned with God. Believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven and when you truly believe in Him, you will come forth and get forgiven for your sins.
Do any of you like going to a rummage sale? We really enjoy this and have a fun time with the family doing it because the children find inexpensive things and toys. For years now at certain rummage sales they place a box at the end of the driveway called a free box. People will randomly throw things and items into the box just to give away. The word “free” means given without a charge. You can just take it without any kind of cost or payment.
Think about having a free education given to you somewhere at a school. You don’t owe them anything at all because it’s all free. Imagine going through a lunch line and you have a free lunch ticket. You don’t have to pay for your meal. It’s freely given to you. When something is free. It’s without any kind of re remuneration. You don’t have to pay for it.
In the Christian life, Jesus pays our debts. What each of us need to do is lay our sins and misdeeds down at the cross of Christ. When we do this, God grants us a free gift of His forgiveness.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Imagine somebody giving you a gift on your wedding day. They decide to give you a house on your wedding, the only problem is, when they give you the gift you are required to pay for the house and they set up some kind of payment plan with you. That’s not a gift, my friends, that’s somebody who wants to sell a house.
A gift comes with no strings attached. Someone lets it go out of their hand, and it goes into the possession of the other person with no strings attached at all. That is a true gift.
This is the way that Gods grace is towards us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful just to forgive us of our sins. We can come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need. When we seek God’s forgiveness, He gives it to us as a gift. He doesn’t harbor resentment or bad feelings towards us, He simply forgives us and washes away our sins in the blood of His Son Jesus. There are no strings attached.
Jesus is a gift that God has sent into this world. Just like a present that you have to open up, each of us need to open up our hearts to Him. In Christ Jesus is the greatest gift and treasure that you could ever receive because He is the access point to heaven itself.
Up here in the woods, we only have one access road to our little lake. When I walk down to the lake I am constantly reminded about how Jesus is our access to God’s holy kingdom. Just like our road, it is a very narrow road of grace. No matter how hard we try, no matter what good works we may do, it is simply not enough to get us into heaven. It doesn’t matter if you give all your money to the poor, or if you have the gift of prophecy. It’s not enough. No matter if you speak in tongues and understand all mysteries, it’s not enough to inherit the kingdom of heaven. We all come up short.
When the final roll call is read, there is only one solution to our fate and it is only found in Jesus Christ. It’s called forgiveness. We can’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, we simply need to receive it. God extends to each of us on the face of the earth a free gift. You can’t make up for your past or undo what you’ve already done, so God in His mercy grants us a gift of forgiveness to wash away all those things that we’ve done wrong.
Forgiveness. What an absolutely amazing idea to think about. The world’s concept of forgiveness is very shallow but God’s forgiveness is divine. God’s forgiveness is real and it comes with no strings attached. Please come and get some today.
Think about those things for today and Lord willing, we’ll talk to some more tomorrow. Till then bye Bye, everybody.♥️
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