Grow With Pastor Joe

The second nutshell truth of life in Christ is that we are saved through faith. Eph. 2:8-9 shows the relationship of grace and faith. You may be asking, “Which is it? Are we saved by grace or faith?” Yes. Both. Always. C.H. Spurgeon rightly declares, “It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ’s blood and merit.” Christ alone saves. Christ alone saves by grace through faith. It is not sincerity that saves. It is not works that saves. It is not religion that saves. Salvation is not in rituals. Salvation in the grace of Christ. Salvation is freely offered by grace and obtained by faith alone. This is God’s gift to us. The grace of God not only provides salvation but prepares the way for us to be saved by faith alone in Christ alone. Faith is the response to Christ as revealed by His grace. Grace has revealed the word, work, and will of God so that we may now put our faith in Him. The relationship of grace and faith is eternally true. It is by the grace of God that He accepts me through faith. It is by the grace of God that He accepts me at all. God’s grace accepts faith’s acceptance of His provision of salvation in Christ. Just as grace is the motivation of salvation, it is faith that is the means of our salvation. Grace offers the gift, but faith must receive the gift. While grace is the initiator or ignition of faith, it is faith that is God’s chosen instrument to receive salvation. Faith appropriates as one’s own what grace makes available in Christ. The believer’s faith doesn’t earn God’s grace, rather, it embraces, experiences, and enjoys God’s grace. It is only by faith that anyone can be in Christ. Faith alone embraces, experiences, and enjoys our wealth and walk in Christ. Faith doesn’t add to God’s grace it only accepts it. The nineteenth century Scottish preacher, Thomas Chalmers writes, “Faith is like the hand of the beggar that takes the gift while adding nothing to it.” Salvation is all by grace through faith. It is God’s “grace are ye saved through faith and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God.” Our salvation in a nutshell is all by grace through faith alone. The gift of God is not merely grace or faith. Although both are gifts of God’s merciful work in Christ for, in, and through us. The gift of God in this passage is both our wealth and walk in Christ. It is our saved position of wealth in Christ and our sanctifying practical walk in Christ. Grace only accepts faith. Grace cannot and will not accept anything less than that.

What is faith? Faith is not a work for us to achieve salvation but to receive the salvation made available through the work of Christ. Faith itself is a complete trust, confidence, dependence upon another. Saving and sanctifying faith is a total renunciation of own’s own self-righteousness, self-effort, or self-will and in turn a total reliance upon Christ alone. True saving and sanctifying faith renounces self and relies on the grace of Christ alone. It is faith that has been God’s eternal instrument for man to be in right relationship with Him. Salvation is only received by faith. It is faith that rests completely upon Christ’s atoning work. Faith is the only instrument that grace can play. Faith participates with the work of grace for, in, and through us. Simply put, faith accepts the grace of God in Christ. Faith is man’s responsibility and only proper response to Christ. Not only does God only accept us by faith but He doesn’t turn away any who repent and believe on Christ. It has been said by many, “No sin can damn the man who believes and nothing can save the man who does not believe.” Only unbelief sends a soul to Hell. It is only by God’s undeserved, unearned, and unimaginable grace through faith in Christ that we are saved. No one in Heaven deserved to go there. All who are there and will ever eternally enjoy Christ have done so by grace through faith. There are no unbelievers in Heaven. God desires that we would believe Him and receive Him by faith. God desires and deserves that we would continuously put our faith in Him alone. Romans 1:16-17 says, “¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Faith not only saves, but it sanctifies. All of life in Christ is by faith. Faith enters us into Christ by the riches of His grace. Faith embraces and enjoys the riches of His grace. Without belief (faith) we don’t belong to Christ, nor will we behave Christ-like. Without grace through faith, we would still be in our past condition as Eph. 2:1-3 describes. Faith embraces and enjoys our wealth in Christ. Our walk of faith in Christ expresses our life in Him. Faith appropriates the wealth in Christ and applies it in a daily walk. Life in Christ is the prerequisite and power to daily walk in, with, and for Christ.

So far, this nutshell passage of life in Christ has shown us that we are saved by grace through faith. Grace ignites salvation, faith is the instrument of salvation and good works are the intention of our salvation. Good works don’t save, that has been made clear. However, we were saved “unto good works” because of His good work for, in, and through us. Good works are the mission of the those who are in Christ. Eph. 2:10 says, “¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” The plan of salvation was not just for the purpose of taking us to Heaven, but for us to be ambassadors of Christ, salt, and light in the world. We were saved to serve. We don’t work for our salvation but now our salvation works in and through us for the world to see the grace and glory of Christ. The good works that we have been saved unto point us back to the relationship of grace through faith. Believers in Christ have not been left on their own. The same grace that saves also sanctifies, sustains, seals, and strengthens us. Grace never stops working for, in, and through the believer. The same faith that saves also sanctifies, sustains, seals, and strengthens us. Faith never rests in own’s own ability but only in the availability of God’s grace. Good works in my life are to display His work of grace in me and my faith in Him. Each moment, those in Christ can experience by faith His work of grace. God’s grace never takes a day off. His grace never rests but our faith can rest in His careful and constant work of grace in our lives. Faith receives the gifts (enabling power) of grace to respond in good works. Good works done outside of grace leads to pride in the believer. My works are only good when ignited by His grace through the instrument of faith. Good works never do a good work outside of His grace through faith in Him. When we think we are doing the good works we then take credit for our performance. The average Christian is performance driven. We think only of working for Christ as opposed to our works being in Christ. Any good work that we do is Christ in us. We get the credit and glory for all things in our life that are not Him. All displays of good works in our life are His grace in us and our faith in Him. Good works apart from God’s grace and our faith in His provision is nothing more than idolatry. Oh how we have made an idol of good works. Good works are intended to point to the ignition of grace and instrument of faith in Christ alone. Our good works do not impress God, but good works are a part of God’s intention for our life. He placed us in Christ so that we would be in union with Him. The more we walk with Christ the more we will walk like Christ. Look at what Eph. 1:3-4 says, “³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” The purpose of being saved by grace through faith is that we would be saved unto good works by grace through faith. God’s desire for our life in Christ is that we would be holy (separated from the world and separated unto Him in purity, both attitude and actions), without blame (nothing in our walk that doesn’t display Christ) before Him in a faithful love for His work of grace for, in, and through us.

Notice first that we are His workmanship in Christ. We are to be a working workmanship for His glory by grace through faith. It is not these works that provide salvation but it is being saved that gives power to be a working workmanship of God. The word “workmanship” is the Greek word poiema. The word is used as a root word for poetry. In ancient culture, it included the idea of any artistry from painting, sculpting, or music. In other words, we are a masterpiece of God’s mercy. We have already seen in Eph. 2:1-7 that God plans to put us on display throughout the ages to come. Therefore, our wealth and walk in Christ is centered in the fact that our life in Christ is a masterful poem of God that displays the glory of His grace. It is odd for us to think that we are a work of art. Many would pay millions for an original Van Gogh but the life we have in Christ is priceless. There is nothing that can buy life in Christ. Life in Christ is our story, our song, our sculpted-out masterpiece of God’s own hand of grace and love in Christ. He has made us new and is making us new. We are a masterpiece that is already and not yet complete (Eph. 2:1-10). Our good works are not our own creation. Our walking in good works is the creation of His grace in us through faith in Him. This is done so that He alone gets all the glory. In other words, God is the sculpture of your salvation (See Rom. 8-9 and Isa. 45 & 64). God by the riches of His grace has sculpted out your salvation in Christ. He painted it with a precise stroke of the brush of His grace. His grace and glory are the melody of the song of our life of faith. God has made the unworthy, undeserving, and unregenerate useful in His hands. My faith is only useful in His hands. My good works are only useful in His hands. The good news is that His grace always is offered in His hands. By faith we open our hands to His grace so that we may be His workmanship and live as workers who walk in faith alone.

He has done all of this so that our life would be lived in the newness that we have been give in Christ. Our wealth directs our walk. Our walk is dependent upon our wealth. We can now by faith walk in good works in our life as we live in the grace and goodness of Jesus. He has ordained that we should walk in them. God not only expects those in Christ to live unto good works, but it is His grace that empowers their good works. Our good works that we walk in by faith display, declare, and demonstrate His grace. By faith we display His grace in our life. By faith our good works are on display for the world to see God’s work of grace for, in, and through us. Our good works are not to display us but Him in and through us. By faith we declare His grace in our lives. By faith we walk in good works to declare not only that God has been gracious to us but that He offers His grace to all who believe. The old hymn “To God Be the Glory” reminds us of this truth in verse two saying, “The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” We have been pardoned by grace through faith to produce good works by grace through faith. By faith we demonstrate His grace in our lives. This means that by grace through faith we demonstrate His grace through forbearing, forgiving, sharing with those in need, proclaiming the gospel and a million other things. Our good works don’t demonstrate how good we are but rather they demonstrate how good He is, has been, and will be forever.

If we could sum up Ephesians it is in these three incredible verses. If we could sum up this chapter it would be the truth of these verses. If we could sum up what it means to be in Christ it would be these three verses. If we could put in a nutshell what it means to have our wealth and walk in Christ it is right here in these glorious words. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone unto good works to the glory of God alone. Our wealth and walk in Christ are by grace alone. It is unearned and undeserved yet is unending. Our wealth and walk in Christ are through faith alone. Faith alone receives and responds to grace. Faith alone accepts grace and only faith is accepted by grace. Our wealth and walk in Christ are unto good works. His good work in saving us by grace through faith is for the purpose of our good works displaying, declaring and demonstrating the riches of His grace in Christ. Does your walk match your wealth? Are you working for Christ or working in Christ? His grace is doing a work for, in, and through you by faith alone. Is your Christian life more dependent upon your own grit or His grace? If your life was put in a nutshell would it point more to self or to Him? Our life in Christ in a nutshell shows that from start to finish God alone gets the glory. His grace demands it. Faith desires it. Works display it. May we walk in the wealth that we have been given in Christ so that He would get the glory that is due Him.

Grow with me as we study the believer’s wealth and walk in Christ.

Grow deeper.

Grow higher.

Grow wider.