Www.salvation.com
Dr. James Merritt
Ephesians 2:8-10 11-7-99
INTRODUCTION
1. If God had a website on salvation, and you were to pull up that page to find what the God, who will decide who gets into heaven and who does not, says about salvation, what do you think you would find? (Incidentally, there is such a website, because I found it in preparing this message--what they had on several pages I believe God probably could condense down to one paragraph, which is the text we are preaching from today.
''For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of your-selves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.'' (vv.8-10)
2. There are three words in my version (the New King James) which, taken together, explain salvation completely and totally. They are the words ''by,'' ''through,'' ''for.''
3. Those three simple prepositions will keep you straight on this whole matter of exactly how a person is saved, and how a person can go to heaven. There is a debate as old as the New Testament as to whether salvation comes through faith alone, or good works. Even today Americans are split on the idea.
4. Fifty-five percent of all Americans in a nationwide survey said, that a good person can earn his way to heaven. But that's not all. 58% of Episcopalians, 59% of Methodists, 76% of Mormons, and 82% of Catholics agreed. Incidentally, 38% of Baptists also said that a good person can earn his way to heaven.(1)
5. When I was pastoring my very first church, my Chairman of Deacons, named Rolly Matthews, a godly old man, invited me to come down one day to see him deliver a calf. I had never seen that done before and it was a fascinating sight.
6. I am reminded of the story of the farmer who was helping one of his cows give birth, and he had the calf about half way out of tha ...
Dr. James Merritt
Ephesians 2:8-10 11-7-99
INTRODUCTION
1. If God had a website on salvation, and you were to pull up that page to find what the God, who will decide who gets into heaven and who does not, says about salvation, what do you think you would find? (Incidentally, there is such a website, because I found it in preparing this message--what they had on several pages I believe God probably could condense down to one paragraph, which is the text we are preaching from today.
''For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of your-selves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.'' (vv.8-10)
2. There are three words in my version (the New King James) which, taken together, explain salvation completely and totally. They are the words ''by,'' ''through,'' ''for.''
3. Those three simple prepositions will keep you straight on this whole matter of exactly how a person is saved, and how a person can go to heaven. There is a debate as old as the New Testament as to whether salvation comes through faith alone, or good works. Even today Americans are split on the idea.
4. Fifty-five percent of all Americans in a nationwide survey said, that a good person can earn his way to heaven. But that's not all. 58% of Episcopalians, 59% of Methodists, 76% of Mormons, and 82% of Catholics agreed. Incidentally, 38% of Baptists also said that a good person can earn his way to heaven.(1)
5. When I was pastoring my very first church, my Chairman of Deacons, named Rolly Matthews, a godly old man, invited me to come down one day to see him deliver a calf. I had never seen that done before and it was a fascinating sight.
6. I am reminded of the story of the farmer who was helping one of his cows give birth, and he had the calf about half way out of tha ...
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