______________________ For more information, contact Beacon Baptist Church, 5818 Newton Road, Albany, GA.

Our phone number is 229-435-2394. We would love to pray for you and to speak with you about Gods grace in Christ.

SALVATION IS BY GRACE, NOT BY WORKS

By Pastor Reagan Marsh, June 2011

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Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 12

Many religious groups, organizations, and churches today teach that salvation is achieved by a combination of Gods grace and human works of righteousness. Such teaching is foreign to the Bible. The purpose of this pamphlet is to demonstrate biblically that salvation is a gift, given through the grace of God alone, and that our good deeds add nothing to the finished work of Christ.

The Bible is explicit that we are saved by faith alone, through Gods grace alone, found in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Lets look at this together. Salvation Belongs To God Alone: It Is His Gift. In Jonah 2:9, the Bible declares, Salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation is Gods, to give or to withhold. He has the right to save whomever he wishes, and he has the right to deny salvation. Compare Isaiah 43:11, where God reveals himself, saves sinners, and proclaims his own grace by himself. Romans 9:14-16 teaches that God is not unjust, and that salvation depends not on human will (a decision for Christ) or exertion (your own works), but on God, who has mercyso then, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. It is Gods choice to give or to withhold his grace, not ours. He is not obligated to us; he is under no compulsion to save. He is not motivated by any deficiency or need within himself. God saves men and women simply because it pleases him to do so, and he does it through the foolishness of proclaiming the gospel of Christs cross the power and wisdom of God on display, to those who believe, but sheer foolishness to those who are perishing in their sins (1 Corinthians 1:21). Think about Ephesians 2:8-9: By grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not of (from) yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of
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God who has an infinite fury at sin, who demonstrates his own perfect mercy by taking flesh and infinitely satisfying the demands of his holy and righteous hatred of sin. God, in Christ, became like us, in order to redeem us from our bondage to sin. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). If youve never done this, look in faith to Jesus alone today, and not to yourself. Salvation is by Gods sovereign, free grace, so that your boast and joy may always be, God did this look at how great God is! Friend, you are saved by works but not your own works. Christ has fully accomplished the work for sinners who will repent and turn to him alone in faith. Sinners are saved only by the works of Christ as the Godgiven substitute: he obeyed God perfectly in their place, and was obedient to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Look in faith and repentance to Jesus, and be satisfied with all that God is for you in him.

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ate ourselves) in Christ Jesus (being created in Christ Jesus is salvation!) for (not by!) good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So Gods gracious purposes for his own people are the basis of our salvation we are to display in our newness of life that he has done this work in us. We who are Christians are his workmanship, not a mixture of his working with us we are created by him, and for his own glory in and through us. Putting It All Together So Scripture alone teaches that we are saved by faith alone, through Gods grace alone, which is found in Christ alone, and the whole of our salvation and lives are only for the glory of God alone. Nothing less than this is saving faith, according to the Bible. Do you have saving faith? Or do you believe in God like the demons do? The demons tremble knowing that they will face an eternity of the holy wrath of God. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has purchased the grace, faith, and repentance that that God requires, for everyone who will turn to him in faith faith in Jesus righteousness alone, despairing of your own ability to be righteous and acceptable before God, and relying totally upon Jesus having fulfilling the requirements of God in your place. Have you truly turned to God on his terms? Or are you still trying to present yourself to God on your own terms? The cross of Jesus shows an infinitely holy
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works, so that no man may boast. So Gods grace, and the faith in that grace (your belief in his grace), are both his gift to you. You do not earn it or perform anything to help out. In Greek, the word this (from the phrase this is not of yourselves) refers to both grace and faith as one package gift: this grace and faith, together, are the gift of God and not from yourselves. The whole of your salvation is Gods gift. So, you cannot take pride in your salvation, nor can you claim that you did something to play a part in it. Earlier in that chapter, Paul is clear about what part you played in your salvation: you were dead and rightfully under Gods holy wrath at your sins. So you brought death and offense to the table, not righteousness or merit. Or look at John 1:12-13. But to all who did receive him (Jesus), who believed in his name (this is faith alone), he gave the right (notice Gods gift again) to become children of God, who were born not of blood (not physically birthed) nor of the will of the flesh (not a father & mother deciding to conceive) nor of the will of man (not even by a persons decision to get saved, nor of a persons attempts to improve themselves or do good things), but of God. So God brought you to life to spiritual birth by the free exercise of his own will to do so. Compare this with 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, especially verses 29-31, where it is of his (Gods) doing that we are in Christ, who became to usrighteousness and sanctification and redemption. Again, this is Gods work, not
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ours: so that, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. You may not boast in your own efforts or works or attempts at being righteous. Scripture is incredibly clear and consistent on this fact. The boast of a truly saved person is only always, God did this, in spite of me. Gods Opinion of Our Good Works and Good Intentions. What does God think of our works or our attempts to make ourselves right with him? All our righteous acts are as filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6. The Hebrew word translated here as filthy rags draws the picture of a disgusting used menstrual cloth a dirty tampon. On our own, thats what our righteous deeds are before this holy God. Philippians 3 an incredibly helpful chapter to consult on this question goes even further: Paul says, Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things (reputation, status, good works, etc.) and count them as rubbish. (Philippians 3:7-8) Rubbish in Greek draws the picture of a pile of fresh manure. A pile of animal dung is what the Holy Spirit, through Paul, says our righteous acts amount to. What does God think about our good intentions? Todays psychologists teach that people are basically good. We tend to think that were not so bad, our hearts and intentions are good, and we can basically shape ourselves up if we put forth
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God credits Abrahams faith in his word as righteousness (so salvation is by faith alone). James observes that his faith was proved genuine by his obedience: he put Isaac on the altar and was going to sacrifice him, because God told him to do so. Abraham, James points out, put his money where his mouth was! His point is that faith is an action verb it is never passive, never simply agreeing with God but doing nothing about it. The demons have faith, James reminds us in 2:19 (have faith and believe are the same word in Greek). But their belief does not save them; it does not produce obedience, so its not real saving faith. Its actually false faith. Repentance (turning away from sins) is done in faith. They have not repented, as evidenced by their continued rebellion, and so their faith is worthless, and therefore dead (James 2:17). Jamess point is that saving faith is never alone it is always accompanied and proved by works of obedience. Thats the exact idea we saw in Titus 3. So, James 2:24 you see that a person is justified by works: its evident that they are justified, because of their works. Saying I believe, I have faith does not prove anything. The demons do that. It has been said that we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone. Saving faith is always found walking hand-in-hand with the obedience that God demands. A helpful statement of this truth is found in Ephesians 2:10, where Paul reminds us that we are his (Gods) workmanship, created (notice that God creates us; we do not cre9

Incidentally, this is exactly what James 2 is talking about. Many people today think that James 2 is teaching that faith and works must operate together to achieve a persons salvation. They think that James teaches faith plus works. That misunderstands the passage. In fact, what James has in view is faith that is authenticated proved to be genuine by our works. James 2:18 is the key to understanding this text. I will show you my faith by my works. James is not making the point that your works add to your faith in some saving way. Be very clear on this point: hes already had some strong words for people who forget what the Bible says about the human heart in chapter 1. Theyre compared to a guy who looks in a mirror and promptly forgets what looks like (James 1:23-25). He is crystal clear, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (God), with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (God does not ever change, nor does he alter the way he deals with us.) Of his (Gods) own will he brought us forth (theres the spiritual birth again like in John 1) by the word of truth (the message of the Gospel of his grace). So James does not believe in salvation by grace plus works. James states directly, God alone births us, and God alone saves us. So in James 2, what were dealing with is the proof: the evidence that weve been born again spiritually. James 2 teaches that faith and works are two sides of the same coin: theyre heads and tails. Abraham is his example. In Genesis 15:6,
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enough effort, if we discipline ourselves. What does God say? The Bible says that The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9. To understand your heart in the Scripture is to comprehend it, to have an accurate evaluation of its state and capacities. God says here, no human being can fully or accurately comprehend just how sick, perverted, wicked, deceitful and corrupt they really are. In other words, the illness of sin is mortal; it kills and destroys. But I, the Lord search the heart. (Jeremiah 17:10). So we cannot see things as they are in reality, because we are blinded by sin. God alone can judge our hearts correctly. Our good intentions arent really good. Consider Genesis 6:5, where Gods observation of our thoughts and motivations the intentions of our hearts is that they are only evil continually. Ezekiel 20:16 echoes this: even the hearts of Israel, Gods own covenant people, were thoroughly corrupt and wicked. Instead of worshiping God rightly, their heart continually went after idols. David knew that this was true, confessing that I was brought forth in iniquity (Psalm 51:5) he said, I was born sinful and wicked. His son Solomon later agreed: Folly is bound up in (found in) the heart of a child (Proverbs 22:15). In Proverbs, folly is wickedness and rebellion against God, and the fool is one who acts wickedly and rebelliously. Years later, Isaiah would also agree, stating that we were rebels from before birth (Isaiah 48:8). So according to God, we have bad hearts,
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bad intentions, and no ability to change that bad situation on our own. It would be wicked for a holy God accept our evil, incomplete efforts to set ourselves right with him. How God Saves: Through Faith Alone. In light of salvation belonging to the Lord, being completely a gift of his grace, consider Romans 1-2. In Romans 1, Paul states that every humans heart is darkened by sin (Romans 1:21), and that every single person suppresses the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). In chapter 2, they are told that their disobedience to the truth (Romans 2:8) that is, their failure to believe that God alone saves is in fact showing contempt for the riches of Gods kindness and tolerance and patience (Romans 2:4). To think lightly of something that is actually weighty and wonderful is to show great pride and to despise that thing. Its like Jesus showed us in the story of the servant whose great debt was forgiven: he couldnt possibly repay it. Yet that servant despised the forgiveness his master gave him, because he did not in turn show it to others. That servant thought lightly of something that was incredibly weighty; he had pride, not repentance, and certainly not humility. So Romans 2:4 teaches us that it is the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. That is, God, in kingly authority and great grace, opens your eyes to see his mercy. Therefore, even your repentance is his initiative. It is his gift to you. He leads you to it.
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Consider Titus 3:4-8. Here, Paul explains (in much the same way as Romans 2) that salvation is Gods kindness appearing to us coming to us. Verses 56 are explicit: He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. So God saves, not on the basis of our righteous works, but because he is merciful. God saves by washing us (baptizing us with the Holy Spirit) at the moment of regeneration (the moment he makes us spiritually alive; see Ephesians 2:1-10) and renewal (which is a picture of how he not only cleans us, but he changes our hearts so that we will now be a holy people who are eager to do good works). Verse 7 is even clearer: were justified by his grace that is, were declared to be righteous on the basis of Gods grace, not works. And verse 8 says that Gods grace is the central focus of the Gospel, and therefore of our lives. As we look at Gods grace, Paul says here, it motivates our good works, not for salvation or to somehow gain Gods approval. Were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone not by some mixture of Gods grace and our own works, or by a strange hybrid faith in Gods righteousness and my own righteousness together. We have Gods approval if we are united with Christ through faith in him alone so we now demonstrate our faiths authenticity by devoting ourselves to good works. Faith, Plus My Works?
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