Episode 434 - Show Notes
- How could people like you and I who have failed so many times, messed up often, and have found ourselves as sinners, how could we ever be forgiven by God? There is only one answer: God’s grace.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 - “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
- We have a human tendency to believe we must work for salvation, or at least become deserving in some way. Paul says, “No, it is the gift of God.” If you have been saved and forgiven of your sins, it is because you have received this gift from God. It cannot be obtained by works or good deeds. Paul calls this grace. Grace is the undeserved, unmerited kindness of God.
- The reason our works cannot save us is because they would never be enough. It would be impossible for us to merit such a great salvation by God. But we must understand that while our salvation is offered freely, it did not come free. No, a great price was paid for our salvation.
- God himself took the initiative to pay the great price for our salvation. The justice of a righteous and holy God must be satisfied. Jesus, the Son of God, took on humanity. He became one of us. On the cross, some 2,000 years ago, Jesus took our place. He became our substitute. He took our sins and died paying the death sentence.
- Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21 - “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
- The reason we cannot boast in our salvation is because we did nothing to earn it. So our boasting is about Jesus, his love, his sacrifice, and his grace. We will tell everyone about a God who is so loving that he offers to save and forgive sinners like us.
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