Salvation by grace through faith

Trinity Sunday(First Sunday after Pentecost)

Ephesians 2:8

Salvation by grace through faith

 

Good morning.

Magandang umaga.

Kamusta ka?

 

This year I am having my sabbath year(Taon ng pagpapahinga). I think some of our members don’t know that I am spending my sabbatical. So they are wondering that I don’t preach often.

 

Yes. I preach about once a month, but I don’t really feel like preaching these days. Because Pastor Jang is so good at preaching. He is much better than me. Especially, he is good at presiding, praying, and preaching in worship. Thus it is a long way to go before I catch up. This is true. It’s not just a joke.

 

Today I would like to think about the salvation(Kaligtasan). I am going to take a look the second chapter of Ephesians, verse eight.

 

Some of our members were from Catholic backgrounds and others from Baptist Church when they were in the Philippines. When we started the Bible Study this year, after that some members came to me and said they heard about salvation for the first time.

 

Knowing about salvation is very important to live a Christian life. So we must understand exactly what salvation is. This time, we want to think about what salvation is and how our salvation works out.

 

OK. Let’s read Ephesians 2:8 together, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

 

Ⅰ. Salvation by grace

The first thing we think about is that salvation is given by God’s grace. Then what is grace?

 

Grace is all the blessings that God has bestowed on us. These blessings flow from God’s generous and underserved favor.

 

God in his grace “formed human from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living being.”(Genesis 2:7)

 

It was God who stamped on our souls his own image and “put all things under our feet.”(Psalm 8:6) God’s free grace continues with us and gives us “life and breath and all things.”(Acts 17:25)

 

There is nothing that we are, or we have, or we do, that deserves God’s smallest blessings. All the things we are and we have come as gifts of God’s free mercy, and any righteousness we may have is likewise the gift of God.

 

Salvation is also God’s grace. So we can say that salvation begins with God’s grace. This is called prevenient grace(Kagandahang biyaya). Salvation begins with prevenient grace. Prevenient means comes before.

 

At this moment, even though we can not feel it with our senses, the wonderful mercy and forgiveness of God is always with us on our journey of life. This is the grace. We are living in God’s free grace and prevenient grace.

 

Then why does God want no price from us, and God wants to give us free grace? It is to allow us to participate in the salvation of the Triune God.

 

Ⅱ. Salvation through faith 

We are not saved by prevenient grace. We must go before God by prevenient grace. Prevenient grace makes us realize our sins. At that time, we can move before God with repentance.

 

Repentance(Pagsisisi) is the act of confessing sin, hating sin, and turning back from sin, and realizing the love of God through Jesus Christ. So when we repent, we change our direction from self-centered life to God-centered life.

 

Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”(Mark 1:15). Repentance and faith go together. Therefore, we can say that salvation by grace through repentance and faith.

 

Then next, let’s think about what faith it is through which we are saved.

 

Faith is not a choice between two facts: There is God or there is no God.

Also, the fact that someone has faith or does not have faith can not be judged by the following facts: To go to church regularly or not.

 

We don’t need these faith, but only we need the saving faith.

 

1) Saving faith is trust in God and Christ who God sent for us.

 

2) Saving faith understands the necessity of Christ’s death, its merit, and the power of his resurrection

 

3) Saving faith is a resting on Christ as our atonement and our life

 

These faith we have then we can say Christ is our Lord and our Saviour.

 

Ⅲ. Justification and Sanctification

OK. Let me summarize for a moment what salvation is: Salvation by grace through faith. Grace and faith, both describe divine action and human response but God’s action always first. Grace is the source of salvation and faith is the condition of salvation.

 

And in the narrow sense, salvation consists of justification(Binigyang katuwiran) and sanctification(Pinapaging banal).

 

Justification is another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins and our acceptance with God. Justification changes our outward relationship to God from enmity to friendship, indeed to a father-child relationship.

 

And sanctification changes us inwardly from being sinner to being righteous one. Justification restores us to the favour of God. Sanctification restores us to the image of God. Justification removes the guilt of sin. And sanctification takes away the power of sin.

 

In summary, justification means God’s forgiveness of our sins and sanctification means believers’ growth in grace.

 

Ⅳ. Going on to perfection

In the broad sense, salvation is the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory.

 

In order to summarize, Prevenient grace – Repentance – Justification(New Birth) – Sanctification – Perfection

 

As Jesus said, “Therefore you must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(Matthew 5:48) The final goal of our salvation is perfection(Pagiging ganap). Sanctifying grace leads us to perfection. In other word, the fullness of salvation.

 

Let’s read Hebrews 6:1 together, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection”(Hebrews 6:1)

 

Finally I want to summarize three points about perfection.

 

1) Perfection is the restoration of the image of God

“Have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”(Colossians 3:10)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”(2 Cor. 5:17)

 

2) Perfection is to grow to the fullness of Christ.

“Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”(Ephesians 4:13)

 

3) Perfection is the life of love filled with the Holy Spirit.

“Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.”(Eph. 5:17)

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”(1 John 4:18)

 

One more time let’s remember the way of salvation: Prevenient grace – Repentance – Justification(New Birth) – Sanctification – Perfection

 

The way of salvation is clear. But remember that it doesn’t matter where we stand in the midst of salvation. What matters is whether we continue to go on to perfection.

 

May we all experience the abundant grace of God and go on to perfection every day.

 

Prayer:

Holy triune God.

Be merciful to us, and save us from all evil.

May the Lord be in us, and may we be in you.

Let us know more about the love of God.

Let us grow into the fullness of Christ.

Please grant us the grace of perfection. Amen.