Saved By Grace Through Faith

Speaker: V. P. Black
Date: April 12, 2004, Monday Evening Worship Service During a Gospel Meeting Hosted by the Strickland church of Christ in Glen, Mississippi
Main Scripture References: Ephesians 2:8-9

I want to talk to you tonight about one of the most controversial subjects in the church of Christ today. And if you have your Bible, I’d like for you to read some verses with me tonight. I’m reading to you from Ephesians, the 2^nd chapter, verses 8 and 9: “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” And there’s been a lot of confusion in the Lord’s church in the last few hears, and it all originated with this subject of grace.

The Gospel plan of salvation, as it is revealed in the Bible, is easily understood. For instance, can you conceive of God so loving man that He would send His Son to this earth to suffer, bleed and die that man might be saved, and then turn around and give to man a plan that he could not understand, and then damn his soul in an eternal hell for not understanding something that God knew he couldn’t understand from the beginning? That’s not the God that’s revealed in the Bible. But even though the plan of salvation is easily understood, there are rules that must be observed in order to understand the Truth on any subject.

Rule Number One is this: WE MUST ACCEPT THE BIBLE AS GOD’S FINAL, COMPLETE, AUTHORITATIVE REVELATION FROM GOD TO MAN. And unless we accept the Bible as that final, complete, authoritative revelation from God, then what the Bible teaches on any subject would not necessarily impress me, because there may be a latter revelation. So, I must accept the Bible as the Truth, the final Truth, on any Bible subject.

Rule Number Two is this: THE BIBLE MUST BE STUDIED INTELLIGENTLY. It’s for this reason that Paul said in 2Timothy 2:15, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”

And Rule Number Three that man must observe is this: NO ONE VERSE TELLS US EVERYTHING ABOUT ANY ONE PARTICULAR SUBJECT IN THE BIBLE. Let me give you some examples:

Here’s an individual who is an elderly man. He’s never been a religious person, but he decides in his old age [that] he ought to become religious—he doesn’t even own a Bible. So, he goes to the store and purchases a Bible. He comes home and opens his Bible, and it falls open to Acts 16:31 that says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved….” And so he says, “It wasn’t difficult at all. Here it is. It plainly says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved….’” You know, if that’s all that this individual knows about the subject of faith, it’s only logical that he would come to the conclusion that the only thing a person has to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But if he wanted to know the whole Truth on the subject of faith, he would read everything the Bible teaches on this subject, and then he would have a good, sound, Biblical understanding of the word “faith.”

Here’s another individual, an elderly person, [who] decides to become religious. He purchases a Bible, and his Bible falls open to 1 Peter 3:21 where it says, “The like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us.” You know, if that’s all that this individual knows about baptism—it’s what he read in 1 Peter 3:21—it’s only logical that he would come to the conclusion that the only thing a personhas to do to be saved is to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. But if he wanted to know the whole Truth on the subject of baptism, he would read everything the Bible teaches on that subject, and then he would have a good, sound, Biblical understanding of the word “baptism.”

Rule Number Four, and the final rule, is this: MAN MUST LOVE THE TRUTH. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10, Paul said, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved.” I don’t think God ever intended for man to understand the Truth…unless he LOVES the Truth. And I’m just as convinced, as in your midst I stand, that when an individual loves the Truth more than any other thing in the world, and that’s what he’s desiring—what he wants to know—[then] I think that man will know the Truth and learn the Truth.

Now, with these rules in mind, let us read our text again: “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Now, there are three words that we want to discuss—the word “works,” the word “grace,” and the word “faith.” And let me state in the very beginning—any view of the word “works,” or “faith,” or “grace” that minimizes the sinner’s responsibility to obey God is a perversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

So, we’ll take the first word, “works”—“Not of works, lest any man should boast.” So, we must realize that when we talk about the word “works,” this word is used in many ways. There are different kinds of works. For instance, in Romans the 3^rd chapter, and verse 20, Paul said, “…by the deeds of the law” or, “the works of the law”…shall no flesh be justified….” In Romans 13, and verse 12, Paul said, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us…cast off the works of darkness, and…put on the armour [armor] of light.” In 1 John 3, and [verse] 8, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this cause the Son of God was manifested, to [that He might] destroy the works of Satan [the devil].” In Romans, the 10^th chapter, beginning with verse 1 [-3], Paul said, “…my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to righteousness [knowledge]. 3 …they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish a righteousness of their own [their own righteousness]….” And then, in 1 Thessalonians, the 1^st chapter, and verse 3, Paul said, “…I cease not to pray for your work of faith…[verses 2-3: “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith….”].”