Good morning and welcome in. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of Ephesians, but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
Every morning there are people in the world who rise up and get ready to go to work. For some of them, they will put the key in the ignition and drive their own car, while others patiently wait by the bus stop. Some might hail a taxi but many will choose to get on the subway. Most of you probably understand that the subway is an underground train system or an underground passage that people must go through in order to get to their final destination.
A subway reminds me of the Christian Life because in order to obtain eternal life, we must go through the narrow tunnel of faith. We must develop tunnel vision.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
When you possess faith, you have trust and believe in someone very strongly. It is also defined as belief in God or the doctrines and teachings of a certain religion. It is fair to say that if we truly have faith in Christ, we are going to believe and trust the things that He teaches in the Holy Scriptures. Biblical faith will also result in doing God’s will, because pleasing God is a part of our salvation.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that do it the will of my Father which is in heaven.
We are saved by the grace of God, but one must always remember that it is through faith. This is why it’s so important to understand what faith really is. Grace and faith are two different sides of the same coin. They are two things that work together to complete our salvation. How many of you would go outside in the winter wearing only one glove or one boot? We need to have both of them on, just as we need grace and faith together to obtain eternal life someday.
Many people actually believe that they will be in heaven someday because they feel like they are a decent, good, upright person while the truth is we aren’t. If we were truly good, we wouldn’t physically die, but would live forever! Death is the result of sin which we have all inherited and has been passed down since the garden of Eden.
Romans 5:12-14 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:. (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
The bible concludes that all of us have sinned at one time or another and come short of the glory of God. There are none righteous, no, not one. We can become righteous but only through faith in Jesus and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.
First of all, the only way that any of us will ever be able to inherit eternal life is by getting forgiven with God which is only available through His only begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
There is only one way that we can access God’s forgiveness and it is by accepting Jesus as the sacrifice and atonement for our sins. Do you remember in the Old Testament when the Jews put blood on their doors to save them from death when they were in Egypt? In the New Testament, God sent His lamb Jesus as a sacrifice to save us from the death of our sins, and to grant us life.
We can never get to a point in our lives where we could ever do enough works to somehow make up for the past. If that were the case, it would be called reparations rather than forgiveness. Through faith in Christ is the complete and utter expungement of sin, not because of how good we are, but because of how good GOD is!
Nothing we can do can undo the past misdeeds we have committed. This is why forgiveness is a divine gift because it is something that we don’t deserve and can’t earn, we simply must receive it. This gift is only available through faith in Jesus Christ.
Human nature does not want to forgive others, but wants to punish and retaliate. God grants us a free gift of His mercy and grace when we place our faith in Jesus. Our sins add up to a sin debt that we owe God, but through Jesus, this debt of sin can be completely forgiven and washed away. This is why Jesus died on the cross, to pay our sin debts for us.
Again, many people feel that if they do enough good works and deeds that they will be able to enter into heaven forever someday, while the truth is that we all have sins that need to be forgiven. Jesus is the door to forgiveness with God whom we must go through in order to obtain it.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Salvation is a gift by God’s grace but again, it is through the passageway of faith. Genuine faith will result in works and works are the evidence of our faith in God.
James 2:17-18 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
We conclude that faith is something that you can see with your eyes.
James 2:20-22 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Remember that Noah built a huge ship that was a result of his huge faith in God. It is through his faithful work that his family was saved from the flood as they rode his ship of faith through the flood to their new destination.
God grants us a free gift of his forgiveness but in order to get to our final destination it’s going to require each of us to get aboard the subway of faith and develop some…
…..Tunnel Vision
Let’s think about these things for right now and Lord willing, we can talk some more tomorrow. Till then, bye-bye everybody. ❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 