THE GIFT

Ephesians 2:8-10

Read Ephesians 2:8-10
So far in Ephesians we’ve been reading:
• how God has chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the earth,
• that He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit as guarantee of our salvation
• we are seated with the resurrected Christ on the throne of God
• that we have been adopted into the family of God having been given the inheritance of the riches of God. Riches, I might point out, that will take an eternity to exhaust.

Not only that, but the last couple of weeks we’ve seen that the gospel is able to release us from our miserable state of captivity to sin, Satan and the world.

Today we turn to ground zero of the gospel- Ephesians 2:8, “for by grace, you have been saved through faith” –if this passage is not the most sophisticated description of the gospel in the Bible, it is certainly the most Succinct.

John Wesley was one of the most influential men in Church history. Look at his resumé:
• He was an Oxford man, trained in doctrine and scriptures;
• descended from Puritan grandparents
• the son of an Anglican priest,
• ordained by the Church of England,
• his mother the godly Susanna Wesley.

But, in spite of all of his learning and pedigree, Wesley did not easily grasp God’s free offer of salvation. He spent 10 years fighting against sin and striving to fulfill the Law before he finally surrendered to the very message he had made a career of preaching to others.

On May 24th, 1738, Wesley dragged himself to a Moravian revival meeting on Aldersgate Street in London. Listen to what he wrote about what he experienced that night:

“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death…I was now thoroughly convinced; and, by the grace of God, I resolved to seek it unto the end…”

Wesley never ceased the remainder of his life to preach the doctrine of God’s gracious gift of salvation which is given to those who by faith take hold the good news. After his conversion, Wesley is believed to have traveled nearly 250 000 miles preaching the gospel nearly 40 000 times, no longer trying to earn God’s favor, but because of it.

If it could happen to Wesley, could it not also happen to you? Let me ask you, ‘what are you basing your hope upon for eternal life?’ Are you basing it upon your good works? Upon your charity? Because you were born into a Christian family? Because you attend church every Sunday?

It is a gift, you cannot earn it, you don’t deserve it, but it is available to anyone who truly desires it.

1) “For by… grace.” Grace, grace, God’s grace.

John’s gospel in the first chapter reads that God “became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory” he was “full of grace and truth” and of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” (1:14-16).

The Greek word for grace is Charis. It’s where Paul gets the word Charisma- grace gift. It could be argued that anyone who believes that grace, charis, is a gift from God is a charis-matic.

God is Spirit, right? Therefore, everything that He gives must be a spiritual gift. “Every good and perfect gift comes from God.” The Holy Spirit, salvation, sanctification, these are all Spiritual gifts- Charismas. And grace- Charis- is the foundation for every other spiritual gift that God gives. It is the gift!

a) Grace is lovely- it is found most perfectly in character and disposition of Jesus Christ. “We beheld his glory, full of grace.” Have you beheld his glory, have you felt the breadth and the width and the height of his grace upon grace? His grace is sufficient when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God” (John Piper).

b) Grace produces thanksgiving. Indeed, thanksgiving is a fruit of grace. Have you ever seen a repentant sinner weep before God in thankfulness to Him for His forgiveness?

c) Grace is God’s merciful kindness; His tender mercy which is found in the word of His grace, the gospel… the good news that Jesus Christ has been crucified and that the full wrath of God and His anger and vengeance against sin and the rebellion of man has been poured out on Christ so that when Jesus cried, “- it is finished” and breathed his last, it was finished.

And the proof the sufficiency of Christ’s death, the evidence that it was an acceptable and perfect atoning sacrifice is found in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That Christ was raised from the dead is an irrefutable fact of history. No serious historian can any more refute Jesus’ resurrection than refute that Constantine took Rome in AD 312 or that the Nazis murdered more than 6 million Jews.

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and “you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins.” “We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption of Jesus Christ.” “Made alive together with Christ.” “…purchased by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness” and “the exceeding riches of His grace” “because in forebearance God passed over the sins that we previously committed.” (Romans 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:1,6,7).

“We have access to peace with God,” that’s grace! (Romans 5:1-2)

2) “You have been saved…”

We talked about this last week, God who is rich in mercy saved us from ourselves, from Satan and from the corruption of this world. He saved us from spiritual death and made us alive in Christ because of His great love which he loved us.

• David was the king of Israel, he wrote, “This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all of his troubles.” (Psalm 34:6)
• “The Lord preserves the simple, I was brought low and he saved me” (psalm 116:6)
• “Look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)
• “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17).
• “I am the door, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” (John 10:9)
• “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved” (Acts 2:21; 4:12).
• “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
• The message of the cross is the power of God to those who are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18).

To be saved is to be delivered from judgment, for which our sin has already condemned us. It means to be rescued from the flames of hell and torment and gnashing of teeth and instead being given life and the riches of God’s grace and an eternity to enjoy them. What a gift!

3) “For by grace you have been saved through faith” …through faith.

a) Faith begins with the conviction that God exists, for it is impossible to please God without faith, because the opposite of faith is doubt. And a man who doubts is like a ship that is thrust back and forth by the waves of the sea. Faith is a shield, it preserves the soul from Satan’s fiery darts (Ephesians 6:16; Hebrews 10:39).

“Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 4:9; 1:18).

b) Faith that saves comes by hearing the gospel. “How shall they hear if no one preaches? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:14-17). That’s why I do this.

c) Man is justified by faith alone, that is true, but faith that justifies is never alone. And so it is by grace that we are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.” In other words, there is nothing that you did, “it is the gift of God. Not of works so that no one can boast…” like the Pharisee who went up to the temple and complimented himself before God for his religiousness. “O thank you God that I am not like this filthy impious tax collector.” But it was the tax collector who beat his breast and cried out for mercy who went home justified, not that self righteous Pharisee.

It is the gift of God. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,” not because of good works, but “for good works.”

“Bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance” John the Baptist cried out. Faith that justifies is never alone, it produces fruit, the fruit of the Spirit… love, joy, peace, gentleness, patience. What kind of fruit has faith produced in your life?

“What profit is there if you say you have faith but have not works? Faith by itself, if it does not produce works is dead faith and not living faith.” (James 2:14-17)

If I can leave you with something today, it is this:

1) If you have not already put your faith in Jesus Christ, what is stopping you? It is a gift, a free offer, but you gotta want it. You gotta recognize your need. I don’t need to tell you that you are a sinner because deep down you already know it- Jesus can rescue you from it, he can lift you up out of the mire of sin and helplessness and give you a new robe and a crown and seat you with him in the heavenly places. Just believe- ask him to come into your heart.
2) Maybe you think you’re a pretty religious man or women. You’ve been on church boards, you served communion, you come to church every Sunday and read your Bible, but you’re doing all that so that God will notice you and so that all of your good works will outweigh all of your sin. That’s not Christianity- it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and it’s a gift, not by works, but for works.
3) Finally, you have put your faith in Jesus and your Christian, baptized, twice just to be safe. But what comes now? What have you done with it? How are you investing it? Don’t bury it under a tree. In a few short years you’re going to meet your maker. What will he say to you? Will he say, “Well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a little and you will be trusted with a lot. Enter into my Joy.” Is that what you are striving for in this life? Make the most of the gift that you have been given- put it to work.