Salvation From Sin For Love And Good Works.

 This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on July 11th 2021 by Colin D via zoom. For the audio please click here.  To listen to the worship please click here.

SALVATION FROM SIN FOR LOVE AND GOOD WORKS.

In our Christian walk, we can get so caught up with the daily issues that we forget about the mission. We have been called like Dory from Finding Nemo to rescue the sons of God. The challenges are very real, but the mission is important. Let us remind ourselves of the great salvation!

 

2 Peter 3:18 “¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” It is great to come to salvation, but we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.

 

Let us look at 6 aspects of salvation from Ephesians 2: 1- 10

 

1.      We were saved from our sins: When we were saved, we were dead. Eph 2:1 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” That is our past. If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, that is your present condition. The problem is sin is not of lack of education. An educated thief is just a smarter and bigger crook. Romans 8:7 “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” Before we were born again, we couldn’t respond to God if we wanted to. We were objects of wrath – Eph 2:3 “Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath”. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. We can even do good things and fall short of His glory. Luke 6:33 “and if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.” So good works don’t make us right with God.

 

2.      We were saved by love: Eph 2:4 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive”. That is how we are made alive – because of His great mercy and grace and love for us. Mercy is not giving us what we deserve but grace is to give us what we don’t deserve or cant earn.

 

3.      We were saved by love giving us life: Salvation gives us life. How do we know we are alive? 1 Corinthians 2:14 “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but consider them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” If we are not made alive by God, the things of God don’t attract us.

 

4.      We were saved for a purpose: Eph 2:6-7 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” He has seated us with Him and His desire is that he can show us the incomparable riches of His grace. God is not there to judge us or punish us. He wants to show us his kindness and mercy.

 

5.      We are saved by Faith: Eph 2: 8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith”. All we have to do is believe. Remember the thief on the cross – he only believed in faith and Jesus said today you will be with me in paradise. Romans 10: 9 “if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

 

6.      We are saved for good works: Eph 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” God has a purpose for our life. We are a masterpiece of God. We will only be fulfilled if we fulfil our purpose. We are created to do the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. We are uniquely fashioned for a unique purpose. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All good we do apart from him are like filthy rags. But in Him, our good words are to His glory. John 15:8 “this is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Matthew 28:18-20 is a good work God has prepared for us.

 

God has made you, handpicked you for a unique purpose. The reason we are on this earth is to bring glory to God by not losing sight of the mission. When we share the gospel we get our reward whether they come to faith or not. We cannot save anyone, only God can. You are alive today because of His mercy, grace and mercy.

 

Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” When we meet the needs of the community, within the church and outside, we are serving the Lord. We are doing this through the JOG offering etc. But let us continue to do it personally as well.

 

Give yourself to serving the church, reaching lost and building relationships – for by doing this we bring glory to God. We were saved to bring glory to God. We are here to rescue men and women from the wrath of hell. One day God is going to reward us.

  Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.