SALVATION BY GRACE


     Thank you and once again a very pleasant good morning to each
one who has honored us with your time today.  We at the White
Park church of Christ have just concluded a very successful series
of Gospel meetings this past week and wish to express our thanks for
each one who visited with us throughout the week.
     Now, to our subject of the morning: "Salvation by Grace." This
subject has been the hope of sinners and the joy of saints since
Christ died on the cross. Paul states in Eph. 2:8, "For by grace are
ye saved through faith." And again, in  Titus 2:11, "For the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Then in
Romans 3:24, he states that we are "justified freely by his grace."
If the New Testament teaches anything, my friends, it teaches that
salvation is by grace, and to deny this is to deny the New
Testament of Christ Jesus, for it is founded upon grace and all the
blessings we derive therefrom are the result of God's grace to us.
Grace is unmerited favor and it means, "a gift, a favor, which one
receives without any merit of his own." To be saved by grace, then,
means that salvation, which we neither deserve nor merit, is
bestowed upon us through the favor, merit, and love of another!
Grace means a "free gift" and salvation is a free gift from God. It
is not something we earn; nor is it something which God bestows in
payment of a deft. "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. Salvation by grace has always been a gift of
God and we must thankfully receive it, by obedience to the gospel
and give praise to Him whose grace has redeemed us from sin!
     We are saved by grace, not by rites and ceremonies! This was
the fundamental mistake made by the early Jewish Christians. They
wanted to make salvation depend on the keeping of the law, on
tradition, and upon circumcision. They even went so far as to teach
that Gentiles could not be saved until they were circumcised and
submitted to the law. Acts 15:1, reads, "And certain men which came
down from Judea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be
circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." This
created such a controversy in the church that the brethren went to
the apostles in Jerusalem for a settlement of it. The apostles under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, said that circumcision was not
necessary to salvation.  Instead of circumcision contributing to
salvation, it was a positive hindrance since it was a part of "a
yoke" which no one had been able to bear. So states Acts 15:10.
Then, in verse 11, Peter states, "But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." One
of the great mistakes in the history of religion, has been made by
those who teach that salvation is the result of human merit, that it
is earned, and that it is bestowed through rites and ceremonies.
Against this false teaching, the Bible continually says, "Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Spirit; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7).
     We are saved by grace, not by works. As noted earlier, Paul
states, "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" (Eph 2:8-10).  In 2 Timothy 1:9, the same apostle declares,
"God hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus." Works are the fruit, not the ground, of
man's salvation. Here Paul declares that in being saved by grace, we
are created in Christ unto good works and certainly good works, of
all kinds, will characterize the lives of those who have been saved
by grace. It was to Christians like these that James said, "Faith
without works is dead" and "Ye see then how that by works a man is
justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:26, 24). If a saved
person will not perform good works, he will not be justified because
his faith is dead and, therefore, vain!  But, alien sinners are
saved by grace, not works. If justification depended on works, we
could boast of the fact that we had earned salvation and God must
give it to us in payment of a just debt. This conception of
justification completely nullifies grace.
     After affirming salvation by grace in Romans 3:23-26, Paul asks
in the 27th verse, "Where is boasting them? It is excluded. By what
law? or works? Nay, but by the law of faith," and in Romans 4:2,
Paul says, "For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof
to glory; but not before God." Works predicate salvation on man's
inherent merit; grace predicates it on God's inherent merit. Works
demand perfect obedience; grace allows for man's imperfections.
Works mete out justice; grace provides mercy. Works demand boasting;
grace excludes boasting. When depending on works, we take all the
credit unto ourselves and, in boastful selfrighteousness, glory in
our merit; but when depending on grace, we give all the credit to
God and in humble self-surrender glory in the merit of a crucified
Redeemer whose cross is our only source of boasting. God forbid that
we glory in our money, our position, our race, our learning, our
morality, our own righteousness, or our works; rather, let us glory
only in the cross of Christ by which the world is crucified unto us
and we unto the world!
     But, my dear friends, there is another phase of this important
subject which we must consider, and that is, Salvation by Grace is
conditional. Salvation has always been conditional -- God has always
required sinners to do something to be saved. "What must I do to be
saved?," is a question frequently asked in the New Testament and it
is still the most important question in the world. Whatever sinners
must do in order to be saved, must be done in order to be saved by
grace. When we, as sinners, obey the commands of God, we are not
trying to earn salvation by the mere doing of deeds. Rather, we are
obeying the conditions which God has laid down in the gospel,
because obedience is necessary to salvation by grace. Our faith is
not in obedience, but in God's grace;  our trust is not in doing of
deeds, but in Christ; our reliance is not on conditions, but on the
blood of Christ; and our hope for salvation lies not in what we do,
but in what God and Christ have promised to do for us! But we, as
sinners, must do something in order to be saved. Let us not forget
that! God`s grace cannot, and will not, save us until we, by faith,
accept it. Many are unsaved today because of the rejection of God's
grace,  not because His grace is unable to save!
     Going back to Ephesians 2:8, Paul says, "For be grace are ye
saved through faith." Here we have the two sides of salvation, the
Divine side and the human side. Grace is the divine side of
salvation, faith is the human side. Grace represents everything done
for us; faith represents everything we must do for ourselves. God,
Christ, the Holy Spirit, the shed blood, the gospel, the truth, all
of these, are represented by grace and are the manifestations of it.
Trusting Christ, repentance of sin, confessing Christ, and baptism
are all represented by faith and we are the manifestations of it.
Belief, or trust, is faith placed in a Saviour, repentance is faith
turning away from sin, confession is faith acknowledging a Saviour,
and baptism is faith coming to the death, or blood, of the crucified
Saviour. In other words, all we do must be done by faith and because
we are trusting in the merit, grace, love, and mercy of an almighty
God. Grace demands faith and faith is the only logical and
scriptural response to grace!  God's grace provides salvation; men's
faith accepts salvation. Grace is God's hand reaching down; faith is
man's hand reaching up. God's grace says to the sinner, "Come~;
man's faith says to God, "I will come."
     Jesus said, "Go preach the gospel to every creature" (Mk.
16:15). That is grace offering salvation to an undeserving world.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mk. 16:16). That
is faith obeying the commands of the gospel and receiving the
promised salvation. On the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts
chapter 2, Peter preached Christ crucified to those gathered. That
was grace. They were told to repent and be baptized for the
remission of sins, and they did just that. That was faith laying
hold of grace. To obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, by faith,
repentance, confession, and baptism, is the only way to be saved by
grace, for obedience to the gospel is Salvation by Grace!
     Will you not today, my listening audience, accept this great
offer of mercy and grace? Salvation, as a gift of God, is "without
money and without price" for "Jesus paid it all" and it is yours for
the taking. Believe and obey the gospel and this treasure is yours.
Live the life of a Christian faithfully and trust His grace till
death and then heaven will be yours and there, throughout eternity,
you can sing the song of "Amazing Grace" forever and forever.
     I shall continue these thoughts for the next few weeks, as we
study the subjects of (1) Faith; (2) Repentance, (3) baptism,
showing the complete plan or scheme of redemption laid out by
Heavens order. We trust you will continue to listen with a view to
eternity.
     If in any way we may be of assistance to any one who is
listening to this broadcast, please feel free to call upon us. If
you would like to discuss these matters further, please let us know.
If you would like a free Bible Correspondence Course to study in the
privacy of your own home, please drop us a card or request. The
mailing address is Route 1, Box 502, Anahuac, TX 77514. If you would
like a printed copy of this or any other of these broadcasts, please
allow the honor of sending it. Or, perhaps a cassette tape of these
broadcasts. Whatever way we can be of assistance to you in a better
understanding of God's eternal word, please let us know.
 
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