thinking about: Ephesians 2:8-9

[repost from Thursday, April 13, 2006]

“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.”

This last week was very exciting in terms of evangelism. My daughter went with me to Finlay Park last Sunday and we talked to 11 people about their need for Christ. We have to remember that as we go out, we are only sowing seed. We only spoke with about 4 at USC Wednesday night and all professed Christ. I like one guy’s response—he got right to the point and proclaimed Christ’ payment for the penalty of his sin. All I could do is grin and shake his hand.

It’s hard to see people’s face change when they realize their sinful state before the LORD then choose to hang on to sin and not repent. Last Sunday each couple we talked to had a very different dynamic. One girl delighted in her admitting that all the bad she had ever done was break the 9th commandment. Her delight was quickly turned to distress when she learned that breaking one commandment is like breaking them all . . . but she would not budge. She would not repent. The guy she was with squirmed under conviction. I pray they repented and discover salvation in Christ Jesus. I pray everyone repented.

[pray for Candice and Stephanie and James and Kimry and Winston and Charles and Akiela and James and Loretta and Lamar and Celestine and Antonio and Terrance and Grayson and Danny]

I am really heart-broken to hear people verbally state they are still saved without repentance. They rely so much and the grace and mercy of God at the end of life and have no concept of their need to experience it now. People have been convinced that God is so loving, so caring, so merciful and full of grace that He will extend eternal life to them after they die. I realize in retrospect that when people begin to talk like this, they need to hear that they have broken another commandment and have made a god for themselves as their description does not match that of the God of the Bible. God does punish sin.

We all know the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Consider the second stanza:

“’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.”

Is that right? Grace teaches fear? This is a point of contention for many people because it seems that grace should provide relief, not distress. Can it be that what is said about grace in all the song is correct except this one snipsy little bit?

Ephesians 2 (among so many other passages) teaches that grace is what saves. But where does it say that grace brings fear? Back up a few verses there in Ephesians and read how it was “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (2:4-5). Mercy and grace together bring about a result that follows the awareness of transgression. What is it that awakens fear and dread and is used by the Holy Spirit to bring conviction into the life of a sinner but the LAW? Paul will later say, “The law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Ro 5:20).

A few years back I was in a very strange car accident. My parents were taking me up to Colorado from our home in New Mexico, about a 4 hour car-drive. It was late winter and we were scooting along the high desert highway in our GMC Suburban. Drawing closer to Colorado late in the afternoon, having passed Ship Rock already, we noticed the clouds getting dark across the mesa’s and dad (being the excellent driver he is) slowed a little.

Snow could be seen lightly salted on the mesa’s and foothills. Ice was forming on the road and patches of black ice appeared here and there. We were traveling at a greatly decreased speed, I think it was about 35 or 40 mph, when we suddenly began spinning out of control, hit the right shoulder and the Suburban flipped over and rolled down the small embankment.

At the time I did not have seatbelt on as I was actually turned to get something from behind my seat. I just remember suddenly being thrown to one side, then another and then I was on my head, on my seat, on my head, on my seat, on my head . . . all in a kind of slow-motion that made it seem so unreal. Glass was everywhere and dad was already checking to make certain everyone was alive. Elk stew had broken out of the container and was everywhere.

We got out, took inventory of each other. Two things suddenly occurred to us. First, we were on the highway of the high desert, miles from the nearest anything. Look again at the picture above to see what I mean. No cars coming, dark was setting in and snow clouds were blowing in over the mesas (they would be off to the right and behind from where this picture was taken). Second, looking from the direction we came were surprised by the small patch of ice that caused our delimma . . . and the ravine that we just missed dropping into. Had we gone off the road just a few feet before, I am not certain who would be telling this story.

Tom Nettles put it succinctly, "Many have learned first-hand that the doctrines of grace have a jolting effect when one who has been able to ignore them all his life first feels the impact of the encounter."

Grace teaching the heart to fear is like standing there looking into the ravine thinking, “I should be dead.” Grace at the same time relieves fear in much the same way as having just crawled from a wreck realizing that one still lives.

We deserve the worse. Remember Dickens’ Christmas Carol? The fact that ghosts came to old Scrooge was grace and his heart was taught to fear while at the same time grace his fears relieved. He could say the next morning, “How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!”

Pilgrim was quite fearful and distressed when he discovered that he had an unshakeable burden and lived in the city of Destruction, but he was thankful that he was made to find out!

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “ It is by the grace of God that ungodly men are preserved from instant death. The sharp axe of justice would soon fell the barren tree if the interceding voice of Jesus did not cry, "Spare him yet a little." Many sinners, when converted to God, have gratefully acknowledged that it was of the Lord's mercy that they were not consumed.”

Here is something to think about. We like gifts. We like to give them and we certainly like to get them. God’s gift of salvation by grace through faith is exactly that—a gift.

What was the last gift you got for someone? Where did you buy it? How much did you pay for it?
WHY did you buy it? Did you buy it because you thought that item would be good for the person in mind?

Why did you BUY it? Was it because you could not make it yourself?

Dwell there for a minute.

We buy gifts because we cannot make them ourselves. I buy a bike for my child at Christmas and I have a choice—I can pay someone to put it together for me or I can do it myself; regardless, I still have not made the bike. I can’t make a tire or frames.

That’s the way it is with God’s gift of salvation. You can’t just pick up pieces and construct your way to heaven. God made it possible, God puts it together and God gives it.

Oswald Chambers wrote: "God’s first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words, '. . . that they may receive forgiveness of sins . . . .' When a person fails in his personal Christian life, it is usually because he has never received anything. The only sign that a person is saved is that he has received something from Jesus Christ. Our job as workers for God is to open people’s eyes so that they may turn themselves from darkness to light. But that is not salvation; it is conversion-only the effort of an awakened human being. I do not think it is too broad a statement to say that the majority of so-called Christians are like this. Their eyes are open, but they have received nothing. Conversion is not regeneration. This is a neglected fact in our preaching today. When a person is born again, he knows that it is because he has received something as a gift from Almighty God and not because of his own decision. People may make vows and promises, and may be determined to follow through, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we are brought to the place where we are able to receive something from God on the authority of Jesus Christ, namely, forgiveness of sins."