NOT BY WORKS / EPHESIANS 2:8-9

(KJV) 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— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

One cannot be “saved” and gain a right relationship with God by good works, acts of love, devoted efforts to keep God’s commandments or any sort of religious routines. One can be spiritually saved only by God’s grace – His unearned favor, love and enablement. There are clear Biblical reasons for the fact:

1. The unsaved (those who have not been restored to a personal relationship with God) are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1), under Satan’s influence and control (Ephesians 2:2), enslaved to sin (Ephesians 2:3) and under God’s condemning judgment (Ephesians 2:3).
2. In order to be saved (restored to a right relationship with God), one must respond to and accept God’s provision of mercy through His Son, Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-5), be forgiven of sin (Romans 4:7-8), be made spiritually alive (Colossians 1:13), be freed from the power of Satan and sin (Colossians 1:13), be made a new creation (Ephesians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17) and receive the inner presence of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39; 20:22). No amount of self-effort can accomplish these things. 
3. Salvation comes to an individual by God’s gift of grace – His unearned favor that comes as a response to the person’s godly faith (Ephesians 2:5, 8). God’s gift of grace includes the following: (a) God calls people to repent (to turn from their own rebellious way, accept His forgiveness, surrender their lives to Christ and follow His purposes for them) and to accept His invitation to new life by faith in His Son, Jesus (Acts 2:38; Matthew 3:2). Along with this invitation comes the work of the Holy Spirit within a person, giving him or her the power and ability to respond to God. (b) Those who respond in faith and accept Christ as Lord and Savior – the Forgiver of their sins and Leader of their lives – receive additional grace. This allows them to be spiritually renewed, or “born again” (John 3:7), by the Spirit. In the process, the Holy Spirit comes to reside within them, also making available Christ’s invitation to be filled with the Spirit for additional power to communicate His message of forgiveness and new life to others (Acts 1:8; 2:38; Ephesians 5:18). (c) Those who become new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) receive continuing grace to live for Christ, resist sin and serve God’s purposes (Romans 8:13-14; 2 Corinthians 9:8). God’s grace operates within committed followers of Christ, giving them both the desire and the power to fulfill God’s good purpose for their lives (Philippians 2:12; Philippian 2:13). From beginning to end, salvation is by the grace of God.

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1. THOSE … DIOBEDIENT / EPHESIANS 2:1-2
2. THE FULLNESS OF HIM / EPHESIANS 1:22-23
3. IN MY PRAYERS / EPHESIANS 16-20
4. HIS … POWER / EPHESIANS 1:18-21
5. HOLY SPIRIT … A DEPOSIT / EPHESIANS 1:13-14
6. SEAL … HOLY SPIRIT / EPHESIANS 1:13
7. CHOSEN … PREDESTINED / EPHESIANS 1:11-12
8. TO BRING UNDER ONE HEAD / EPHESIANS 1:10
9. THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL / EPHESIANS 1:9
10. REDEMPTION / EPHESIANS 1:7
11. IN CHRIST JESUS / EPHESIANS 1:1
12. RULERS AND AUTHORITIES / EPHESIANS 3:10
13. DECEIVE / EPHESIANS 5:6
14. BE SURE / EPHESIANS 5:5
15. ACCESS TO THE FATHER / EPHESIANS 2:18
16. CHILDREN OBEY / EPHESIANS 6:1
17. GUIDED BY GRACE ABOUT

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