Wed Devo

This Sunday’s Sermon in a Nutshell I have been asked to speak at Turners Station Baptist Church this Sunday and thought I would use this Wednesday’s devo to bring about some thoughts for Sunday. Ephesians 2:8—For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. I am going to speak on the topic of the sure salvation of believers. In the Baptist church this is often referred to as “once saved, always saved”. I find this phrase to be a little misleading. I believe that if you are truly saved, you remain saved but this phrase can be taken in the wrong way. If when we say, “once saved, always saved” we would be correct if we were referring to placing faith in Christ. But if we are simply referring to walking an isle, praying a prayer, and putting our name on the church roll we may be sadly disappointed. Before you talk about how one would stay saved, you must look at what saves us to begin with. When asked about this subject, many would say, “You can’t get saved and then just do whatever you want and stay saved. You lose your salvation if you don’t continue in the faith.” True believers will not “get saved” and then do whatever, whenever. But this whole debate or argument will fade away when we see that what we “do” has nothing to do with our salvation. Paul wrote that it is by grace that we have been saved and our salvation is not a result of works. The fact of the matter is we aren’t good enough to save ourselves, much less good enough to keep ourselves saved. What we “do” before or after has nothing to do with saving us. It is strictly grace! In Romans 11 Paul speaks of salvation saying that, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” If we were saved by “works” or “do’s” they would nullify grace. Which in turn would give us something to boast about. Our works do not save us and they do not keep us saved, these both happen by grace alone. Ephesians 2:10—For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. I hope that you understand that we are saved by grace alone and nothing is owing to ourselves. If you don’t get that, this last part will not make sense. Paul writes that we are “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus”. The reality that you are saved is due to the fact that your salvation is the work of God. He created you (as a believer) in Christ. The new creation inside of you (2 Corinthians 5:17) was created by him and only through Christ. Once again, we do not “do” this-God does it. We were created for good works and they will necessarily follow in the lives of believers. Necessarily. They are not necessary for salvation, but they must follow. If I put you on an invincible chain and drag you around, you will necessarily follow wherever I go. The same is true with saving faith and works. Works or “do’s” are chained invincibly to saving faith. They must necessarily follow. God saved us that we would walk in them. Can a believer lose their salvation? Absolutely not. The only way this could be possible is if God ceased to be God. How can I lose something that I did not create, hold, or manipulate? God will not allow boasting before His throne. This has been ensured by the fact that since we are saved by Grace and not by works, we have nothing to boast about. We get the benefits, and He gets the glory.