Compendium of Salvation by Grace

Driving home: So then verses eight to ten form what is probably, I am not dogmatizing, but I am saying they form what is probably the most condensed yet comprehensive statement of salvation by grace to be found anywhere in the word of…

Compares God's supreme concern to display His grace (Ephesians 2:7) to Norman Rockwell's unique artistic genius in depicting human interest situations. Just as Rockwell chooses subjects that highlight his particular skill, God orchestrates salvation to supremely highlight His grace.

If his goal is to display his grace, everything he does in the salvation of sinners will underscore and bring into sharp focus the amazing grace of God. amazing quality of that grace. Let me illustrate it this way. Imagine an artist such as Norman Rockwell, whose great gift, whose artistic genius is found particularly in taking human interest situations and making them live, so the minute you look at it, you kind of chuckle and say, I know what's in that picture. He may take the young fellow, the girl, the boy, who for the first time is going to the doctor to get a shot, and who but Norman Roc...

5:19 - 6:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: So then verses eight to ten form what is probably, I am not dogmatizing, but I am saying they form what is probably the most condensed yet comprehensive statement of salvation by grace to be found anywhere in the word of…

Compares God's desire to display His grace to a pianist whose crowning skill is impeccable execution of difficult passages. Such a pianist chooses compositions that showcase this specific skill, just as God designs salvation to showcase His grace.

lack of ability, at least so I'm told. Or take the pianist, the pianist who has many skills, many artistic skills. He knows how to read music. He knows something about shading and he knows all of the things necessary, but this particular pianist, his crowning skill musically is that of impeccable execution of the most difficult passages of piano composition. Now, if that is his crowning skill, what does he do? Well, he does not choose compositions when he concertizes which are calculated to show a man's ability primarily in the area of form, in the area of shading or other things, but he will ...

7:31 - 8:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand the meaning of the words, phrases, and thought relationships of Ephesians 2:8-10 to become a true theologian in the doctrine of grace.

Explains the meaning of 'compendium' by using the example of summarizing a complex toy instruction manual for a friend, reducing it to its essential elements. This illustrates how Ephesians 2:8-10 is a concise yet comprehensive summary of salvation by grace.

Suppose some of you got a new toy for Christmas and it had all kinds of instructions, instructions as to what to do and the rest. And after you went through all of that and your mom or your dad helped you to learn how to operate that new toy, one of your friends came over and you wanted him to enjoy your toy. Well, you don't hand in that big manual to get all lost. What you say is, well, this is how you do it. And you give him a little summary of everything that's in that instruction manual and you reduce it all down to its essential elements. You have given him, and you didn't even know it, a...

11:31 - 12:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is that there is a fundamental problem in the human heart whenever it would contemplate the subject of grace. And the Apostle Paul knew that the Ephesians had that problem, and the Holy Ghost knew that the church, unt…

Describes God's grace as a 'pure, crystal clear stream' of undeserved mercy. The human heart, by nature, pollutes this stream with 'dung and refuse of his own human merit' at the 'inlet' and defiles it at the 'outlet' by turning it into license for sin.

It is that there is a fundamental problem in the human heart whenever it would contemplate the subject of grace. And the Apostle Paul knew that the Ephesians had that problem, and the Holy Ghost knew that the church, until it is glorified at the coming of Christ, would always have that problem, and therefore God is careful to give us this compendium of grace after all the previous emphasis upon grace, because God knows that there is this fundamental problem arising from the sinful human heart with reference to the grace of God. Now let me explain what I mean and flesh out that answer in a way ...

16:39 - 18:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For by nature, no man will consent to be saved by pure grace for the simple reason, and it's alluded to right in our text, if salvation is by pure grace, then there is not an atom of grounds for the sinner to boast in an…

Depicts Ephesians 2:8-9 as a 'sentry guarding the inlet' of the stream of grace, preventing human merit from polluting it and ensuring that salvation is understood as purely by grace.

And the sinner says, I will not be saved on those terms. I must contribute something. There must be some area where I can point and say, this moved God to give it to me. This triggered my entrance into it. Salvation by pure grace, the human heart will have nothing of it because salvation by pure grace utterly strips the human heart of every last vestige of pride as our text says. But God's concern is to keep that stream of grace pure at the inlet. Therefore every man who is saved by the grace of God must understand that his salvation is all of grace. Verses 8 and 9 then are like a sentry guard...

21:38 - 22:28 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The grace of God can never be turned into license because the only positive proof that grace has come in pure at the inlet is that it flows out pure at the outlet in a life of holiness out of gratitude to the forgiving G…

Depicts Ephesians 2:10 as a 'sentry guarding the outlet' of the stream of grace, preventing it from being turned into 'lasciviousness' or a 'license for sin' by ensuring it flows out in a life of holiness.

But now what about verse 10? Well, that's God's sentry on the outlet. For you see, there is a devilish logic which says, if I'm saved on the basis of the doings of another, then what I do is of no importance. In the words of Scripture, let us sin that grace may abound.

23:42 - 24:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Master this compendium (Ephesians 2:8-10) to avoid spiritual laziness and discern subtle errors that undermine the truth of grace.

Recounts a liberal's observation to an evangelical speaker, noting that what evangelicals call 'free will' in salvation is just a different term for the 'spark of divinity' that liberals believed man contributed. This illustrates how subtle shifts in language can obscure the purity of grace and highlights the danger of spiritual laziness.

Or as one liberal said to a man who was speaking as an evangelical,

36:51 - 36:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Begin to taste the sweetness of grace in your own heart, experiencing the deliverance from sin and the transformation it brings.

Quotes lines from Charles Wesley's hymn 'And Can It Be That I Should Gain?' to illustrate the experience of grace breaking the chains of sin and setting the heart free, leading to following Christ.

But grace has wrought deliverance. Or in the words of Charles Wesley, can you say long? My imprisoned spirit lay fast bound by sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. He didn't say I sat there with the pincers of free will and cut them. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went out and did as I pleased.

38:20 - 38:59 Read in full sermon