WEBVTT 00:00:10.990 --> 00:00:15.009 Thank you, John. Now let's open our Bibles together 00:00:15.009 --> 00:00:25.449 to Ephesians, the second chapter. Occasionally, 00:00:25.449 --> 00:00:30.129 some biblical words or concepts are attacked 00:00:30.129 --> 00:00:34.350 as being outdated or no longer meaningful to 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:38.409 20th century educated, scientifically enlightened. 00:00:39.849 --> 00:00:44.189 and religiously evolved people. I think of such 00:00:44.189 --> 00:00:49.210 Bible truths as the historicity of Adam and Eve, 00:00:49.390 --> 00:00:53.030 that is, that they actually did live as a man 00:00:53.030 --> 00:00:58.369 and woman in the beginning of history. The flood 00:00:58.369 --> 00:01:03.469 of Noah, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 00:01:03.469 --> 00:01:07.670 as the only means of our reconciliation to God. 00:01:09.230 --> 00:01:14.090 his literal resurrection from the dead, his second 00:01:14.090 --> 00:01:16.849 coming again in glory and the end of the world. 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:22.310 Truths like this are attacked as being outdated. 00:01:23.269 --> 00:01:26.549 Such an example happened yesterday in the Minneapolis 00:01:26.549 --> 00:01:30.129 paper in the letter to the editor by Howard Mills, 00:01:30.370 --> 00:01:32.310 who was the president of the United Theological 00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:35.569 Seminary of the Twin Cities in New Brighton. 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:41.730 Mr. Mills, among other things, denies the virgin 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:45.750 birth of Jesus Christ as being literal, denies 00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:48.590 the literal resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:01:48.930 --> 00:01:52.510 and in fact says it's unnecessary to believe 00:01:52.510 --> 00:01:57.349 such things because we have come beyond those 00:01:57.349 --> 00:02:00.349 sorts of literalistic kinds of interpretations, 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:04.629 he says. It's unfortunate to see a man who is 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:07.879 a president of a theological seminary who is 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:12.159 an unbeliever, who does not hold to the things 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:15.919 which the Bible teaches most certainly and which 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:21.680 are surely essential, fundamental truths if one 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:25.219 calls himself a Christian. It may be a seminary, 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:30.360 but it's not a Christian seminary. Some words 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:40.020 are said to be outdated. Repentance. propitiation, 00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:44.259 sin. Even the word salvation is thought by some 00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:49.000 to be obsolete. But you know the Bible is living 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.080 and powerful. It is as relevant to this modern 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:55.900 generation as it has been to any of those in 00:02:55.900 --> 00:03:00.439 the past. Its teachings and its words are still 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:04.120 fresh with significance to all people everywhere. 00:03:05.770 --> 00:03:09.050 We look today at a text, Ephesians 2, verses 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:13.669 8 through 10, which contains one of those words 00:03:13.669 --> 00:03:17.349 which is said by some people to be old -fashioned 00:03:17.349 --> 00:03:23.150 and antiquated. It is the word saved. Our text 00:03:23.150 --> 00:03:27.969 reads like this, For by grace you have been saved 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:32.250 through faith, and that not of yourselves, it 00:03:32.250 --> 00:03:35.879 is the gift of God. not a result of works that 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:40.400 no one should boast. We are his workmanship created 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:44.599 in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:49.500 beforehand that we should walk in them. Literally, 00:03:49.500 --> 00:03:53.479 the apostle tells us here, you are having been 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:57.620 saved. That doesn't flow real well in the English. 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.479 That's why it's contracted just a little bit 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.050 to make it better in the English. But that's 00:04:03.050 --> 00:04:05.590 literally what he says. You are, in other words, 00:04:05.610 --> 00:04:10.710 you are living in a state or a condition perpetually, 00:04:10.710 --> 00:04:16.509 continually, you are in a state of having been 00:04:16.509 --> 00:04:21.670 saved. Notice he doesn't say you are being saved, 00:04:21.910 --> 00:04:24.829 although that can legitimately and biblically 00:04:24.829 --> 00:04:29.000 be said and is. He doesn't say here, you will 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.439 be saved, although again, that is a biblical 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:35.300 truth that can be stated. But here he is saying, 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:39.300 you are in a condition that can be described 00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:45.379 as, quote, having been saved. In other words, 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:50.660 it is a settled, once for all fact. You are having 00:04:50.660 --> 00:04:53.879 been saved, or as it says here, you have been 00:04:53.879 --> 00:05:01.459 saved. abiding condition of the soul. It is a 00:05:01.459 --> 00:05:06.079 condition into which one is permanently placed 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:11.639 when he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.980 you have had the response, as I have on occasion, 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:18.680 when asking a person if he's a Christian or she's 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:23.319 saved, the response is sometimes, well, I certainly 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:28.050 hope so. Have you ever heard that? I am glad 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:31.769 that our salvation is not a hope -so salvation. 00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:39.689 Ours is a know -so salvation. God has provided 00:05:39.689 --> 00:05:44.870 and wants for us to know that we have been saved. 00:05:47.370 --> 00:05:50.129 But if asked what salvation is, I wonder what 00:05:50.129 --> 00:05:53.839 you would say to someone. If you would like to 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:57.040 see a brief summary of salvation, you're looking 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:00.240 at it right now. Probably one of the best, if 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:03.579 not the best, summary of salvation in the entire 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:07.240 New Testament. Salvation is here described in 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:10.439 three simple phrases. If you will write these 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:14.079 phrases on your mind, you will know how to answer 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:16.579 someone who asks you the question, what is salvation? 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:21.579 In the first place, we see that salvation is 00:06:22.490 --> 00:06:27.230 By grace. Write that down in your mind, if not 00:06:27.230 --> 00:06:30.769 underlining it in your Bible. Salvation is by 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:34.829 grace. By grace, you have been saved. This is 00:06:34.829 --> 00:06:37.790 the basis of salvation. Literally, the apostle 00:06:37.790 --> 00:06:42.930 says here, by the grace, you have been saved. 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:46.370 In other words, he's pointing to a specific concept 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:49.350 of grace, which he's already developed in his 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:51.740 writing in this epistle. He mentions it, in fact, 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:55.319 in just the previous verse. He says that in the 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:58.639 ages to come, God will show the surpassing riches 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:02.680 of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.439 Jesus. And he says, by that grace, by this grace, 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:12.639 you have been saved. You'll notice it does not 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.839 say that we are saved by love. It's true that 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.860 God loves us. But the Apostle writes here, by 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:21.160 the inspiration of the Spirit, I remind you, 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:28.560 by grace you have been saved, not by love. Lewis 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.480 Barry Schaeffer writes regarding the distinction 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:36.259 of the two, Divine love and divine grace are 00:07:36.259 --> 00:07:40.100 not one and the same. God might love sinners 00:07:40.100 --> 00:07:44.000 with an unutterable compassion. and yet because 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.379 of the demands of outraged divine justice and 00:07:47.379 --> 00:07:51.120 holiness, be unable to rescue them from a righteous 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:55.959 doom. Divine grace and salvation is the unrestrained 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:01.120 compassion of God acting toward the sinner on 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.800 the basis of that freedom already secured through 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:06.939 the righteous judgment against sin that is secured 00:08:06.939 --> 00:08:11.199 by Christ in his sacrificial death. Divine love, 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:14.589 my desire to save, yet be unable righteously 00:08:14.589 --> 00:08:19.170 to do so. But divine grace is free to act since 00:08:19.170 --> 00:08:26.470 Christ has died. God saves us by grace because 00:08:26.470 --> 00:08:29.569 of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ when he 00:08:29.569 --> 00:08:33.870 died and rose again on our behalf. Because of 00:08:33.870 --> 00:08:39.110 Christ's finished work 2 ,000 years ago, God 00:08:39.110 --> 00:08:43.299 now can righteously Act at his love toward us 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:49.879 so that by his grace he saves us. Grace is further 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:53.779 explained in Ephesians chapter 2, as someone 00:08:53.779 --> 00:08:56.840 has said, to exclude any possibility of self 00:08:56.840 --> 00:09:01.320 -achieved salvation. Or to say it another way, 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:03.980 I believe that Paul explains more about grace 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:08.019 here so that he can carefully guard it against 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:12.200 possible confusion. Surely the Holy Spirit led 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:14.639 him to say some additional things about grace 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:17.259 that are important so that we can understand 00:09:17.259 --> 00:09:21.600 what grace really is. Grace is defined further 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:26.559 as being not of yourselves. I left out the word 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:28.840 that for a moment, and we'll get back to that 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.080 in a moment. But right now I want you to concentrate 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:36.779 on not of yourselves because that further defines 00:09:36.779 --> 00:09:40.399 what grace is. He is saying here that this salvation 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:44.179 that is by grace does not find its source in 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:50.220 us. There is not any inherent possibility in 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:55.059 the sinner for him to save himself. There is 00:09:55.059 --> 00:09:58.879 no spark of divinity in him that can be fanned 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:03.080 so that eventually he can self -achieve his salvation. 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:09.840 He cannot inwardly generate salvation of himself. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:14.340 Thus the apostle says, this salvation by grace 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:21.179 is not of yourselves. That rules out every man 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:25.559 -made religion in the world, including unbiblical 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:29.740 Christianity. And this article that I quoted 00:10:29.740 --> 00:10:31.720 from earlier shows that there is that kind around. 00:10:33.850 --> 00:10:36.809 Christianity professed, but which is not genuine. 00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:41.029 Every man -made form of religion falls under 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:44.269 this category, for religion is man's attempt 00:10:44.269 --> 00:10:49.929 to save himself through his own actions of some 00:10:49.929 --> 00:10:54.509 sort. It is his attempt to get to God, but the 00:10:54.509 --> 00:10:57.909 source of it is within him. You see, that's what 00:10:57.909 --> 00:11:02.850 religion is. Religion is man seeking to find 00:11:02.850 --> 00:11:07.789 within himself the way to God. Biblical Christianity 00:11:07.789 --> 00:11:12.789 is God revealing himself and the one way of salvation 00:11:12.789 --> 00:11:16.629 to man, for man to respond to. It does not find 00:11:16.629 --> 00:11:22.049 its source in man. Secondly, he says regarding 00:11:22.049 --> 00:11:24.730 the salvation by grace that it is not a result 00:11:24.730 --> 00:11:29.409 of works. Now whether it be the works of the 00:11:29.409 --> 00:11:34.590 law, as would apply to his Jewish readers, or 00:11:34.590 --> 00:11:38.149 the works of fleshly and pagan religion, as would 00:11:38.149 --> 00:11:41.669 apply to his Gentile readers, Paul wipes them 00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:45.309 both out by saying it is not a result of works. 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:49.149 Now to us today, that means that salvation is 00:11:49.149 --> 00:11:52.509 not the result of ritual. It is not received 00:11:52.509 --> 00:11:56.429 by sacraments. One does not receive salvation 00:11:56.429 --> 00:12:00.629 by baptism. by keeping the Ten Commandments, 00:12:00.669 --> 00:12:04.809 by obeying the Golden Rule, or any other works 00:12:04.809 --> 00:12:09.509 which a man may do. As the poet has said, not 00:12:09.509 --> 00:12:14.629 the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's 00:12:14.629 --> 00:12:20.370 demands. We cannot work in any way to satisfy 00:12:20.370 --> 00:12:23.210 the righteous law of God that demands perfection. 00:12:26.119 --> 00:12:30.679 Salvation must be by grace, not a result of works. 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:34.679 In Romans 4 .4, the apostle clarifies that if 00:12:34.679 --> 00:12:38.740 in fact we were saved by works, it would make 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:42.879 God our debtor, so that God would then owe us 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:46.539 something, and we would be in heaven one day 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:49.440 as a result of what God was indebted to give 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:56.710 us, and God will be no man's debtor. Salvation 00:12:56.710 --> 00:13:02.730 is not by works. It is, on the other hand, a 00:13:02.730 --> 00:13:08.789 third phrase, the gift of God. He uses the word 00:13:08.789 --> 00:13:12.250 gift because salvation comes without any prerequisites. 00:13:12.289 --> 00:13:16.629 There are no strings attached to it. Salvation 00:13:16.629 --> 00:13:19.470 does not require one turning over a new leaf. 00:13:20.669 --> 00:13:25.669 It does not mandate self -reformation. How many 00:13:25.669 --> 00:13:28.470 times have you talked to someone about faith 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.929 in Jesus Christ and about salvation by grace? 00:13:32.049 --> 00:13:34.450 And the response is, well, you know, I want to 00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:40.309 do that as soon as I get myself cleaned up. There's 00:13:40.309 --> 00:13:43.610 always, it seems, that idea, I have to do something. 00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:48.090 But when we have that attitude regarding salvation, 00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:54.090 it negates the very idea of a gift. This gift 00:13:54.090 --> 00:13:58.610 is provided by God at infinite cost to him, but 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:02.490 freely to us. The cost to him, of course, was 00:14:02.490 --> 00:14:05.429 the death and resurrection of his beloved son. 00:14:07.269 --> 00:14:10.690 His work is complete. The gift has been paid 00:14:10.690 --> 00:14:15.870 for in full. Now God desires to give it freely. 00:14:16.110 --> 00:14:21.269 It is the gift of God. And then he says, fourthly, 00:14:21.269 --> 00:14:23.820 in another phrase, The reason for all of this 00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:29.019 is that no one should boast. Paul's idea is this, 00:14:29.059 --> 00:14:31.779 that there is no place in heaven for self -congratulations. 00:14:34.299 --> 00:14:36.799 No one in heaven can ever take himself by the 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:39.419 hand and congratulate himself on having achieved 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:41.700 this significant thing of getting to heaven. 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.940 Because God will have no boasting in heaven, 00:14:46.059 --> 00:14:49.940 except the boasting that is in himself. And that's 00:14:49.940 --> 00:14:52.519 the way it ought to be. God said through Jeremiah 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:57.120 of old, let him who boasts, boast in this, that 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:02.120 he knows me. Paul said, I do not boast except 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:08.240 in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.139 the only boasting done in heaven is in the Lord 00:15:11.139 --> 00:15:15.059 Jesus Christ who is the Lamb, declared by all 00:15:15.059 --> 00:15:19.179 of us one day to be worthy because he shed his 00:15:19.179 --> 00:15:24.440 blood. and redeemed us from the tribes, the nations 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:27.980 of the world. That is the only boasting allowed 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:31.580 in heaven. Therefore, God has purposely called 00:15:31.580 --> 00:15:37.500 the base, the despised, the poor, the zeros of 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:43.080 this world, as far as the world counts us. So 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:45.679 when we get into heaven, the only boasting will 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:52.379 be done is in the Lord. There is no place for 00:15:52.379 --> 00:15:58.019 our boasting because salvation is by grace. Secondly, 00:15:58.019 --> 00:16:02.100 we see that salvation is through faith. That's 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:04.000 the second phrase you need to write down in your 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:08.000 mind. What is salvation? Well, in the first place, 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:12.419 it is by grace. Secondly, it is through faith. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:18.059 Here Paul touches on the means by which we appropriate 00:16:18.059 --> 00:16:22.350 salvation. This preposition here, dia, through, 00:16:22.529 --> 00:16:28.889 is the channel by which we receive this gift 00:16:28.889 --> 00:16:33.070 that God has. One author put it this way. Faith 00:16:33.070 --> 00:16:38.529 is the faculty by which we accept the free gift 00:16:38.529 --> 00:16:43.029 God has procured for us. Never in the Bible is 00:16:43.029 --> 00:16:47.389 faith viewed as a work or an accomplishment of 00:16:47.389 --> 00:16:51.480 a person. It is not a quality to command. It 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:54.720 is not a virtue on the part of a man or woman. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:58.659 It is simply that in us which responds to God. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.139 Skevington Woods said it this way, it's a trustful 00:17:01.139 --> 00:17:06.160 response that is itself evoked by the Holy Spirit. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:11.559 Faith is more than an intellectual assent. It 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.519 is a reliance upon certain facts. Boy, that's 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.490 an important thing to get a hold of. Faith is 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:21.650 not just saying these things are so. It is saying 00:17:21.650 --> 00:17:28.450 I commit myself to these things. Do you realize 00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:33.069 how faith is woven into the very fabric of our 00:17:33.069 --> 00:17:37.329 everyday life? Some people struggle with faith. 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:39.390 And they say, oh, I could never live by faith. 00:17:39.470 --> 00:17:43.210 It's got to be scientifically proven to me. And 00:17:43.210 --> 00:17:45.309 yet they overlook the fact that every day they 00:17:45.309 --> 00:17:50.970 live, Again and again they exercise faith. A 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:53.269 person is thirsty, so he goes to the faucet and 00:17:53.269 --> 00:17:55.109 he turns it on and gets a glass of water and 00:17:55.109 --> 00:17:59.710 drinks it. When he does that, he is trusting 00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:02.269 that there is an employee of the water department 00:18:02.269 --> 00:18:05.890 of that city who sees that that water is pure, 00:18:06.009 --> 00:18:10.720 or at least fit to drink. Furthermore, he is 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.660 trusting that somehow that water was never intercepted 00:18:13.660 --> 00:18:16.940 between the water plant and his house so that 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:19.559 something was injected into it to make it unfit 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:22.960 to drink. In fact, he does not even think about 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.400 it. But it is an act of faith on his part, on 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:31.039 a very human level. A person goes to a restaurant. 00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:35.859 He looks at the menu. He orders the meal. The 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:39.059 meal is brought to him. He eats it. As an act 00:18:39.059 --> 00:18:44.160 of faith, he has never seen the cook. If he had, 00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:47.400 he might change his mind about eating it. He's 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:50.180 never seen the kitchen. That, too, might influence 00:18:50.180 --> 00:18:52.319 whether he wants to eat the meal. What has he 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:57.859 done? By faith, he has eaten food, trusting that 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.920 that cook has not only cooked the right food, 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:02.720 but has cooked it in a way that it's edible. 00:19:03.579 --> 00:19:05.579 And he has trusted that somebody has checked 00:19:05.579 --> 00:19:09.069 that kitchen so that it's sanitary. It is an 00:19:09.069 --> 00:19:11.130 act of faith to eat that food in a restaurant. 00:19:13.369 --> 00:19:16.069 You came in this morning and sat down in a chair. 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:20.509 Now you looked at that chair, maybe, to determine 00:19:20.509 --> 00:19:22.349 whether it would hold you after all the Christmas 00:19:22.349 --> 00:19:27.849 eating you've done. The chair looks sturdy. It's 00:19:27.849 --> 00:19:32.970 made out of metal. It looks like the workman 00:19:32.970 --> 00:19:35.130 who put it together did a good job with the wells. 00:19:35.230 --> 00:19:39.819 So what do you do? You know the facts. Now you 00:19:39.819 --> 00:19:42.400 rely on them. You sit down in the chair and it 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:46.839 holds you. You see, that's a very simple act 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:51.819 of faith. Now, folks, if we can believe the man 00:19:51.819 --> 00:19:55.619 who works at the water department, if we can 00:19:55.619 --> 00:20:00.220 trust the cook in a restaurant, if we can rely 00:20:00.220 --> 00:20:02.819 upon a metal worker who put together a chair, 00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:07.369 Can we not rely upon the eternal God of the universe, 00:20:07.609 --> 00:20:15.109 what he says? That's all faith is. It is committing 00:20:15.109 --> 00:20:19.670 oneself to, it is relying upon the facts as God 00:20:19.670 --> 00:20:23.950 says them. Now we need to look at that word, 00:20:24.029 --> 00:20:29.369 that. He says in verse 8, and that not of yourselves. 00:20:29.549 --> 00:20:33.480 What does that refer to? Is it the faith? Is 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.980 it the grace? Well, theologians debate this, 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:41.440 as theologians are wont to do, because the language 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.619 here is debatable. It can go either direction. 00:20:46.900 --> 00:20:49.920 Probably what the apostle has in mind is the 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.400 whole package of salvation, which is by grace 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:56.140 through faith. And so he's saying that that whole 00:20:56.140 --> 00:20:58.660 thing comes as the gift of God, including the 00:20:58.660 --> 00:21:01.900 grace, the faith as well. It is the gift of God. 00:21:02.829 --> 00:21:05.450 This salvation that he's talking about that is 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:10.150 by grace, through faith, that is not of ourselves. 00:21:10.450 --> 00:21:17.849 It is the gift of God. Some people have intellectual 00:21:17.849 --> 00:21:21.670 problems with faith. I talked with a friend within 00:21:21.670 --> 00:21:25.849 the last couple of weeks who said, in essence, 00:21:26.130 --> 00:21:29.710 and he used the phrase, in fact, that faith is 00:21:29.710 --> 00:21:35.019 such a blind leap. Into the dark. Is that what 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:42.579 faith is? No, not at all. That's ignorance. Faith 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:46.380 is depending upon what one knows to be true. 00:21:47.259 --> 00:21:52.140 What God has said. It may go beyond what we can 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:56.400 observe, or beyond what we can rationalize with 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:00.819 our minds, but if God says it, that doesn't mean 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:03.369 that therefore, It does mean, rather, that it 00:22:03.369 --> 00:22:08.309 is true, and we can depend upon it. Faith simply 00:22:08.309 --> 00:22:11.710 takes God at his word. It is not a blind leap 00:22:11.710 --> 00:22:15.849 into the dark. It is an enlightened leap that 00:22:15.849 --> 00:22:21.970 trusts God. Intellectual objections to faith 00:22:21.970 --> 00:22:26.230 really are not that at all. Intellectual objections 00:22:26.230 --> 00:22:29.950 to faith are actually moral problems, not intellectual 00:22:29.950 --> 00:22:32.930 problems. Because you see, the heart of it is 00:22:32.930 --> 00:22:37.190 sin. The heart of it is unwillingness to turn 00:22:37.190 --> 00:22:41.650 from self to trust God, to turn from rebellion 00:22:41.650 --> 00:22:45.910 against God to depending upon Him. Intellectual 00:22:45.910 --> 00:22:51.470 problems against faith are really, in their essence, 00:22:51.730 --> 00:22:56.730 moral problems, sin problems. Others claim not 00:22:56.730 --> 00:22:58.509 to have the gift of faith. They say, well, it 00:22:58.509 --> 00:23:00.609 says here the gift is given by God and I have 00:23:00.609 --> 00:23:06.190 never been given that gift. My friend, if you 00:23:06.190 --> 00:23:08.769 would today believe, you may. The gift is yours. 00:23:11.849 --> 00:23:14.230 It is not a matter of saying, well, I was never 00:23:14.230 --> 00:23:17.109 given the gift, therefore I cannot believe. If 00:23:17.109 --> 00:23:24.279 you would believe, you can believe. Does faith 00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:30.079 save us? Well, yes and no. How's that for a good 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:34.299 answer? I'm running for political office in a 00:23:34.299 --> 00:23:38.380 couple of years. No, that's not a political answer. 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:41.559 That is an honest answer. Faith saves us in the 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:44.240 sense that it is the channel by which we receive 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:48.799 God's gift. But faith is not our Savior. Christ 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:54.099 is our Savior. There are some who wonder about 00:23:54.099 --> 00:23:56.599 their faith. They say, well, I'm not sure what 00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:00.619 I believed. I'm not sure if I was old enough. 00:24:00.700 --> 00:24:03.299 I'm not sure that my faith was sufficient back 00:24:03.299 --> 00:24:07.460 then. You see, the important thing is not how 00:24:07.460 --> 00:24:12.579 you believed, it's whom you believed. It is not 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:15.960 faith that saves us in that sense. It is Christ 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:20.170 that saves us. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, 00:24:20.230 --> 00:24:22.750 it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee, 00:24:22.769 --> 00:24:25.849 it is Christ. It is not thy hope in Christ that 00:24:25.849 --> 00:24:29.450 saves thee, it is Christ. It is not even thy 00:24:29.450 --> 00:24:32.369 faith in Christ, though that be the instrument, 00:24:32.609 --> 00:24:37.150 it is Christ's blood and merit. You see, the 00:24:37.150 --> 00:24:39.509 assurance of our salvation doesn't rest upon 00:24:39.509 --> 00:24:44.670 the quality of our faith. It rests upon the quality 00:24:44.670 --> 00:24:50.650 of our Savior. Whom we have believed. Paul said, 00:24:50.690 --> 00:24:55.690 I know whom I have believed. I know that I have 00:24:55.690 --> 00:24:58.829 believed. I know whom I have believed. And that 00:24:58.829 --> 00:25:03.329 he is able to keep that which I have committed 00:25:03.329 --> 00:25:09.609 to him against that day. Just as salvation comes 00:25:09.609 --> 00:25:16.079 to us by grace, it is secured to us. by grace. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:20.720 Now Paul says something more about salvation 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:23.359 as he describes it to us. What is salvation? 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:26.859 Well, salvation is by grace, it is through faith, 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:32.039 and thirdly, it is for good works. Very simple 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:35.900 concepts, but ones that will revolutionize a 00:25:35.900 --> 00:25:39.759 person in coming to Jesus Christ. Salvation is 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.700 for good works. Here we have the purpose of salvation. 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:47.599 He tells us in verse 10 that we are God's workmanship. 00:25:48.299 --> 00:25:52.500 That is, the saved, or to put it in the context 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:55.119 of Ephesians, he is saying the church, capital 00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:01.480 C, all of the saved, we, are God's poema. That 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:03.980 is the Greek word, but you hear in that, do you 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:07.339 not, the word poem. That's the main thought behind 00:26:07.339 --> 00:26:10.940 the word. We are God's poem, his workmanship. 00:26:11.710 --> 00:26:15.750 His work of art, His masterpiece. We are God's 00:26:15.750 --> 00:26:19.549 product. Only one other time in the New Testament 00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:23.109 is this word used, and it's used in Romans 1 00:26:23.109 --> 00:26:27.829 .20. Where there it speaks about the heavens 00:26:27.829 --> 00:26:32.750 as being God's poem. He says, God has displayed 00:26:32.750 --> 00:26:36.250 His glory through the things that are made. Now 00:26:36.250 --> 00:26:41.079 that phrase is the same word, poema. There God 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:43.839 is writing a poem of creation in the heavens 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:48.480 so that reading the stanzas of the stars, people 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.539 are able to at least discern the deity and the 00:26:52.539 --> 00:26:58.319 power of God. But God is writing another poem. 00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:03.579 It is the poem of redemption. And my fellow Christian, 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:10.619 we are the stanzas of that poem. We are God's 00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:14.440 poem, created in Christ Jesus, not of ourselves, 00:27:14.940 --> 00:27:19.099 but in Christ Jesus, and that is emphasized here. 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:23.319 He has created us. God's work is the work of 00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.400 creation. We are new creations in Jesus Christ, 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:32.900 Paul says elsewhere. He tells us that the stanzas, 00:27:32.900 --> 00:27:37.380 which we are, are written in the good works of 00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:42.569 our lives. Created in Christ Jesus for good works. 00:27:46.109 --> 00:27:49.789 God has created us that we might walk in those 00:27:49.789 --> 00:27:55.569 good works. And by that walk, he then writes 00:27:55.569 --> 00:28:00.890 the stanzas in his poem. The walk here is our 00:28:00.890 --> 00:28:04.549 lifestyle. That's what he's talking about. The 00:28:04.549 --> 00:28:06.789 same word is used earlier in the chapter in verse 00:28:06.789 --> 00:28:09.349 2 when he says, in which you formerly walked. 00:28:09.410 --> 00:28:14.750 In what? Trespasses and sins. Before we were 00:28:14.750 --> 00:28:20.329 saved, we had a lifestyle, a walk. Trespasses, 00:28:20.490 --> 00:28:23.369 sins, two words that would describe the way we 00:28:23.369 --> 00:28:27.150 lived. We missed the mark. We overstepped the 00:28:27.150 --> 00:28:30.630 boundaries that God had set. And we were dead, 00:28:30.809 --> 00:28:34.940 spiritually. But now he says we've been saved 00:28:34.940 --> 00:28:40.200 by grace through faith. And the purpose is that 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:43.839 there's a change of lifestyle. There is now good 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:49.559 works which God has prepared beforehand for us. 00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:52.480 That seems to suggest that God has prepared for 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:57.779 each of us a special life purpose. That he has 00:28:57.779 --> 00:29:01.000 prepared a stanza for us to fulfill in his poem. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.680 and as by the Holy Spirit we live for Christ, 00:29:04.900 --> 00:29:08.940 good works flow out of us, and the stanza is 00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:15.140 filled in. Only the saved can perform good works. 00:29:16.140 --> 00:29:19.019 You say, wait a minute, I know a man down at 00:29:19.019 --> 00:29:21.460 our office, and he doesn't even claim to be a 00:29:21.460 --> 00:29:24.420 Christian, but oh, he's a good man, he does good 00:29:24.420 --> 00:29:29.099 works. Well, the works that he does may be relatively 00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:33.970 good, But they are not ultimately good in the 00:29:33.970 --> 00:29:37.089 sense that it's used here. You see, when God 00:29:37.089 --> 00:29:41.309 calls these works good, what he means is that 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:46.410 he is producing them in us and through us. Therefore, 00:29:46.529 --> 00:29:48.710 he finds them acceptable. They are good works. 00:29:49.549 --> 00:29:52.369 An unregenerate person can never know, however 00:29:52.369 --> 00:29:56.369 relatively good his life may be, it is not the 00:29:56.369 --> 00:29:58.730 Holy Spirit in him producing those works for 00:29:58.730 --> 00:30:03.460 the glory of God. That's why I say only a saved 00:30:03.460 --> 00:30:07.859 person can perform good works. There are other 00:30:07.859 --> 00:30:10.519 kinds of works mentioned in the Bible. There 00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:15.200 are the works of the law, Galatians 2 .16. The 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:20.700 works of the flesh, Galatians 5. The works of 00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:25.819 darkness, Romans 13, Ephesians 5. The dead works, 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.579 Hebrews 6 .1. And even there it's talking about 00:30:29.579 --> 00:30:32.200 religious works that are without life. The spirit 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:34.720 is not in them, therefore they are dead works, 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.740 as far as God is concerned. Good works are only 00:30:39.740 --> 00:30:43.960 possible in those who have been saved by grace 00:30:43.960 --> 00:30:49.500 through faith. These good works come after salvation. 00:30:51.099 --> 00:30:53.660 Salvation is not a result of the good works. 00:30:54.299 --> 00:30:57.619 The good works come after salvation as proof 00:30:57.619 --> 00:31:02.460 of it. You see, one of the practical results 00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:06.240 of good works in the life of the Christian is 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:09.579 that they provide for him assurance of his salvation. 00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:15.180 Are you sure you're saved today? How do you know 00:31:15.180 --> 00:31:19.619 you're saved? Do you realize that it's insufficient 00:31:19.619 --> 00:31:22.140 to point back to a prayer that you said sometime? 00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:26.920 And we're talking about the assurance of your 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:29.980 salvation. It is insufficient to write a date 00:31:29.980 --> 00:31:32.519 on the cover of your Bible and to be able to 00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:34.339 look back there all the time and say, well, that's 00:31:34.339 --> 00:31:39.619 when I prayed the prayer. As far as God is concerned 00:31:39.619 --> 00:31:42.200 in his word, the assurance of salvation comes 00:31:42.200 --> 00:31:46.299 through the good works in our lives. I remind 00:31:46.299 --> 00:31:48.880 you, not works that we produce in our own self 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:53.299 -effort, fleshly works. Not the Christian life 00:31:53.299 --> 00:31:58.519 as we try to live it in ourselves. But our assurance 00:31:58.519 --> 00:32:01.339 of salvation comes through the Holy Spirit producing 00:32:01.339 --> 00:32:05.960 in us good works that are pleasing and acceptable 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:09.920 to God. Do you have assurance of your salvation? 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:13.740 You see, the purpose of salvation is a change 00:32:13.740 --> 00:32:17.000 of life. It's transformation. Now our good works 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:20.690 are not perfect in this life. Because we are 00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:23.190 not yet perfect. We still have sin dwelling in 00:32:23.190 --> 00:32:26.970 us. We still have the flesh that is able to express 00:32:26.970 --> 00:32:30.690 itself in ugliness and disobedience to God. We 00:32:30.690 --> 00:32:33.710 can choose to follow the flesh. We can choose 00:32:33.710 --> 00:32:38.930 to yield our members, our abilities, our capacities, 00:32:39.230 --> 00:32:43.730 to sin, to be instruments of sin. We can do that. 00:32:44.029 --> 00:32:50.869 How sad. When we do, by the way, when we do choose 00:32:50.869 --> 00:32:54.289 to make that decision, we begin to lose the assurance 00:32:54.289 --> 00:32:56.210 of our salvation. Have you ever noticed that? 00:32:58.670 --> 00:33:03.329 I talked to a dear, dear friend of mine yesterday 00:33:03.329 --> 00:33:08.369 in another state who has even been a pastor of 00:33:08.369 --> 00:33:10.869 a church, been used of God in building a church, 00:33:11.009 --> 00:33:13.849 but has been involved in sin in the last few 00:33:13.849 --> 00:33:16.640 months. He's out of his ministry. now restored 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:21.079 to his family. He's made things right with God. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:25.460 You know what he says? Because of the works in 00:33:25.460 --> 00:33:28.799 his life, the way the flesh has dominated him 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:31.880 over the past period of time. He said to me yesterday, 00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:34.539 you know, I've had to go all the way back to 00:33:34.539 --> 00:33:37.799 my salvation. He said, I have had doubts as to 00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:44.140 whether I am even saved. Now why is that? Why 00:33:44.140 --> 00:33:48.230 is it that happens to you? and to me, after we 00:33:48.230 --> 00:33:51.650 have been dominated by the flesh. It is because 00:33:51.650 --> 00:33:54.569 it is the good works produced by the power of 00:33:54.569 --> 00:33:57.569 the Holy Spirit in us that provides for us the 00:33:57.569 --> 00:34:02.089 genuine assurance of our salvation. Not good 00:34:02.089 --> 00:34:05.710 works to earn salvation, understand that, but 00:34:05.710 --> 00:34:08.809 good works that come because we have been saved 00:34:08.809 --> 00:34:11.170 and the Spirit of God is working in our lives 00:34:11.170 --> 00:34:16.469 for the glory of God. It may be that you, like 00:34:16.469 --> 00:34:18.769 my friend, have been making the wrong decision. 00:34:19.590 --> 00:34:22.630 And sin has been expressed in your life. The 00:34:22.630 --> 00:34:27.170 flesh has been dominating you. And as a result 00:34:27.170 --> 00:34:29.510 of that, the works of the flesh and all of their 00:34:29.510 --> 00:34:36.329 ugliness have been seen, exposed. And you today 00:34:36.329 --> 00:34:40.170 are wondering, am I even saved? All kinds of 00:34:40.170 --> 00:34:44.219 doubts can go through your mind. I can't tell 00:34:44.219 --> 00:34:46.159 you whether you're saved. That's not my job. 00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:49.820 But I can tell you this, that salvation is by 00:34:49.820 --> 00:34:55.079 grace through faith. We are saved by grace. We 00:34:55.079 --> 00:34:59.300 are kept by grace, thank God, not by our works. 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:03.519 But if you want the joy of your salvation, if 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:06.980 you want the assurance of your salvation, then 00:35:06.980 --> 00:35:10.679 your life needs to be yielded to the Lord. And 00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:12.760 you need to allow the Holy Spirit to produce 00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:15.219 in your life works that are pleasing to God. 00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:18.380 Now if that's not where you've been, my Christian 00:35:18.380 --> 00:35:20.840 brother or sister, that's where you need to get. 00:35:21.579 --> 00:35:24.119 And you'll find that the assurance of your salvation 00:35:24.119 --> 00:35:29.219 will return. The church is God's masterpiece 00:35:29.219 --> 00:35:34.199 through which he has designed to exhibit his 00:35:34.199 --> 00:35:39.280 grace and his wisdom for eternity to come. Every 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:42.239 one of us who's a believer in Jesus Christ is 00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:45.739 a part of that. As I've said, we are a stanza 00:35:45.739 --> 00:35:49.679 in the poem of redemption that God is writing. 00:35:51.380 --> 00:35:54.079 Laman Strauss remarks regarding the wonder of 00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:57.900 this. He says, God takes rough, crude sinners, 00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:02.480 dead in trespasses and sins, and produces vessels, 00:36:02.659 --> 00:36:07.719 meat for the master's use. Sin -marred, defective 00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:11.980 material is transformed by God into useful instruments 00:36:11.980 --> 00:36:15.940 of righteousness. That's the purpose of your 00:36:15.940 --> 00:36:19.340 salvation, by grace through faith. It is for 00:36:19.340 --> 00:36:26.480 good works in your life. Is that the kind of 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:31.980 salvation that you profess? There is no other 00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:34.780 kind of salvation. and the kind of salvation 00:36:34.780 --> 00:36:40.219 that Paul describes in these verses. There was 00:36:40.219 --> 00:36:43.219 a rather bizarre lady who lived at the turn of 00:36:43.219 --> 00:36:47.159 the century. Her name was Sarah Winchester. Have 00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:48.599 any of you ever been to the Winchester Mansion? 00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:52.340 Yeah, some of you have. San Jose, California. 00:36:54.820 --> 00:37:00.380 Mrs. Winchester was the survivor of the Winchester 00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:02.619 who developed the rifle in the last century. 00:37:03.179 --> 00:37:08.699 inherited a fortune. She was a woman who was 00:37:08.699 --> 00:37:16.099 plagued by spirits. She was told by spirits, 00:37:16.179 --> 00:37:20.420 she felt, that if she would keep building her 00:37:20.420 --> 00:37:25.239 house, she would never die. You say, how can 00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:27.800 anyone ever believe that? Well, how can people 00:37:27.800 --> 00:37:30.820 believe what they do except by the deception 00:37:30.820 --> 00:37:35.059 of Satan? The spirits told Sarah Winchester as 00:37:35.059 --> 00:37:37.099 long as she built that house, she would never 00:37:37.099 --> 00:37:41.019 die. And so she kept building for 40 years. She 00:37:41.019 --> 00:37:45.079 spent, what was in that day, $5 million building 00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:49.679 the house. The house is a rambling structure 00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:57.260 that has 2 ,000 doors, 10 ,000 windows, 150 ,000 00:37:57.260 --> 00:38:02.750 panes of glass. It has 40 stairways. some of 00:38:02.750 --> 00:38:08.409 which lead nowhere. It has 47 fireplaces, 13 00:38:08.409 --> 00:38:16.469 bathrooms. One day, Sarah Winchester died. When 00:38:16.469 --> 00:38:19.190 she died, by the way, she left behind three storehouses 00:38:19.190 --> 00:38:23.329 of materials, enough to continue building that 00:38:23.329 --> 00:38:29.710 house for another 40 years. But she died. She 00:38:29.710 --> 00:38:33.420 was sincere in what she believed. In doing what 00:38:33.420 --> 00:38:35.780 she was doing, this would cause her to escape 00:38:35.780 --> 00:38:40.739 death, but it didn't. You see, there is no salvation 00:38:40.739 --> 00:38:46.519 except that which is by grace, through faith, 00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:54.019 unto good works. Is that the salvation that you 00:38:54.019 --> 00:38:57.639 know today in your own heart? Let's bow together 00:38:57.639 --> 00:39:06.789 in prayer. If you do not have the assurance of 00:39:06.789 --> 00:39:09.570 your salvation, I cannot tell you why that may 00:39:09.570 --> 00:39:13.750 be the case. It is possible that you have not 00:39:13.750 --> 00:39:18.889 been saved. You may be saved today, if you will. 00:39:20.929 --> 00:39:26.409 Whatever your past objections have been, whatever 00:39:26.409 --> 00:39:28.929 your hang -ups have been before this, will you 00:39:28.929 --> 00:39:36.980 today say, Lord, I do trust you. I put aside 00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:43.519 my empty works, my dead works, the self -righteousness 00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:50.440 to which I have clung. I cast away. And I turn 00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:55.360 to you and I receive you by faith. And I trust 00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:01.019 you alone to save my soul. My friend, that salvation 00:40:01.019 --> 00:40:06.920 is the gift of God. It's by grace. Will you by 00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:11.079 faith receive it and through your faith make 00:40:11.079 --> 00:40:18.260 it your own? My Christian brother, sister, is 00:40:18.260 --> 00:40:20.619 God's purpose in your salvation being realized? 00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:27.539 If it were possible to read God's poem of redemption, 00:40:28.269 --> 00:40:30.989 And to skip down through that poem to your stanza, 00:40:31.110 --> 00:40:36.510 to your life's stanza. Would you be glad for 00:40:36.510 --> 00:40:43.269 the way that it reads today? If not, will you 00:40:43.269 --> 00:40:48.010 confess to the Lord the mess that you've made, 00:40:48.110 --> 00:40:54.199 the wrong decisions you've made? And then ask 00:40:54.199 --> 00:40:57.219 him by his Holy Spirit to begin living his life 00:40:57.219 --> 00:41:00.880 in you. So that your life can be characterized 00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:09.440 by what God calls good works. Lord, to the end 00:41:09.440 --> 00:41:14.099 that this invitation may be realized in our lives, 00:41:14.219 --> 00:41:20.079 we ask your blessing upon it. I pray that there 00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:25.349 will be not one go away today. without receiving 00:41:25.349 --> 00:41:31.949 or having received your gift, purchased at such 00:41:31.949 --> 00:41:38.829 a cost in the bloody and horrible death of your 00:41:38.829 --> 00:41:43.309 son, but a death which was well -pleasing in 00:41:43.309 --> 00:41:47.449 your sight, for your justice was fulfilled in 00:41:47.449 --> 00:41:52.170 it, so that your grace could save the likes of 00:41:52.170 --> 00:41:59.760 us. I pray that the good works you desire to 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:04.539 see in us as a people will be realized today 00:42:04.539 --> 00:42:09.119 and this week. In Jesus' name, amen.