Not of Yourselves, The Gift of God

Introduction to Ephesians 2 and the Nature of Salvation

0:03 We return today to our studies in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the word of God for the church in all ages given to us through this letter of the great apostle. Our attention for some months has been focused upon the second chapter of this letter, a chapter in which the apostle Paul is seeking to create in the Ephesian Christians a deeper understanding of and an appreciation for the salvation of God. And the method he adopts is to set before them two fundamental contrasts within that chapter. Verses 1 to 10 are the contrast between what the Ephesians were as individuals before the grace of God came to them and what they are now that the grace of God has come to them. He describes them in the first three verses as dead, bound, condemned, and then the hinge of that contrast is the first two words of verse 4, but God. And then from there through verse 10, we have a description of what they now are by the grace of God.

1:24 The second great contrast begins in verse 11 and goes to the end of the chapter, and it's a contrast of where they were by nature with reference to God's visible people, and now where they are by grace with reference to God's visible people, and the hinge in this paragraph is verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, ye that once were, are made nigh. And here is the contrast then, not between what they were and what they are, but where they were and now where they are. And we are drawing to a close our study, at least within the next couple of weeks, of this first paragraph, the first great contrast. And thus far, having looked at these verses, describing what believers become by the grace of God, we've seen, verse 4, that the author of this transformation is God Himself and God alone. But God is not an introduction, it is really the index of the whole passage. Everything that follows is a description of the activity of God.

2:35 He is the author of the change. Well, what motivated Him to effect this change? Well, verse 4 tells us. It's because of His rich mercy and His great love.

2:46 Nothing but richness of mercy, and greatness of love, would ever effect change in these dead, bound, condemned sinners. Well, what method did God adopt? Well, verses 5 and 6 tell us that. It's the method in which, though dead, He made us alive with Christ, raised us with Christ, and seated us with Christ.

3:09 The divine method is so to unite us to Christ, that the virtue of His death, resurrection, and ascension, actually becomes, becomes part of the living experience of the redeemed sinner. And what is God's goal in all of this? Verse 7 tells us, that in the ages to come, this God who has effected the transformation, might show the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. In other words, God's goal in adopting this method, and in doing what He has done, to need His sinners, is that throughout every coming age, He may manifest the glory of His own grace. And then, as though the Apostle realized we were so slow to grasp essential truth, He gives us, in verses 8 to 10, that which is sort of a summary, a review, and an expansion of salvation by grace. If God's goal in effecting the transformation through union with Christ, on the basis of His mercy and love, is that He might display His grace, Paul then tells us in verse 8, for by grace you have been saved. In other words, the goal has determined the end, and the end suits the goal.

4:34 Or the method of God, I'm sorry. The goal has determined the method, what He has done, how He did it, and everything that He has done, and the method He uses, reflects that goal to display His grace. So I have called, verses 8 to 10, a compendium, that is, a summary statement of salvation by grace. And it's in those verses that we've been feasting, I trust, for some weeks together.

The Compendium of Salvation by Grace: Faith's Place and Nature

5:01 We've seen the nature of the deliverance that grace brings. It's called salvation. By grace you have been saved, delivered from, and delivered unto. The principal cause of this transformation, it is the grace of God.

5:17 For by grace have you been saved. The instrumental means, through faith. The nature of the deliverance, salvation. The principal cause, grace.

5:31 The instrumental means, faith. And so we study together the place of faith in our salvation. The nature of saving faith. We looked at the biblical descriptions.

5:41 We tried to come up with a working analysis of faith that involves knowledge, ascent, and salvation. And so we study together the place of faith in our salvation. And trust. And when we concluded our last study, we had finished our consideration of this matter of the place of faith, the nature of justifying faith, and that brings us to a conclusion of our review, and to the area that we wish to study today, and it focuses on the little phrase, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

The Origin of Faith: 'Not of Yourselves, The Gift of God'

6:16 And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Having seen the place of faith as the instrumental means of our salvation, having seen the nature of faith in its biblical descriptions, eating, drinking, receiving of Christ, in its formal analysis, it is self-commitment to Christ that involves knowledge, conviction, and trust. Now we address ourselves to the question, what is the origin or the source, of this faith? Faith is essential to salvation.

6:52 By grace are you saved, not apart from faith, but you're saved through faith. Well, what is the nature of that faith? And we've answered the question, but now the question is, where does that faith come from? What is the origin of that faith?

7:07 What is the source of that faith? And the apostle answers that question for us in the little clause or phrase, and that not of yourselves, literally, of God, the gift. Now some may say, why in the world spend the morning studying a phrase like that? That's your problem, Pastor Martin.

7:28 You try to get too much out of every little phrase. If you'd only just do like Mr. Fisher did and take us through a whole big section. My friends, listen carefully now.

7:37 Do you know what the profit is of the kind of study we engage in?

7:43 The things that happen, as happened here last week, when you gave $4,200, are directly related to our studies in Ephesians. Did you know that?

7:53 Did you know that your generosity in giving to Christian benevolence is a reflection of your appreciation of salvation by grace?

8:03 And the apostle Paul ties those two things together in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. In the midst of talking about giving, he says, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Why does he insert that? He says, the more you understand the principle of grace towards you, the more you will be gracious in your response to the needs of others.

8:27 You see, there is a direct relationship between careful theological perception of the word of God and the most practical duties of the Christian life.

8:38 There's an intimate relationship. And there is an intimate relationship between understanding this question set before us this morning and many dimensions of practical Christian experience. What is the source of this faith? Is it enough?

8:53 Is it enough to know that we're saved by grace through faith, that faith in that sense is central to the saving process? Is it enough to know that the nature of that faith is a feeding upon Christ, a receiving of Christ, knowing the facts about Him, being convinced they are true, and then trusting myself into His hands? Is that enough? Paul says, no.

9:15 I want you to know something more. I want you to know the source or the origin of that faith. It is not of yourselves, of God. The gift of God.

Grammatical Analysis: Understanding the Parenthesis

9:24 Now, in thinking through the passage, first of all, I want to raise and answer the question, how are we to understand these words? That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And I suggest that we should regard these words as a parenthesis. Remember up in verse 5 we had a parenthesis?

9:43 Even when we were dead through our trespasses, parenthesis, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up. Let me suggest that if you have a pencil, you put a little parenthesis, for remember the quotation marks, parenthesis, punctuation and all of this were not in the original writing that Paul gave to us, and so we are at liberty on the basis of sound dealing with the word of God to put in these things that help us to understand the meaning. Put a parenthesis beginning with the words and that and end it with gift of God. Just before verse 9.

10:26 Now do you see how we read them? For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should glory. And if we understand the words in this sense, the meaning is clear. Paul is saying this, and this is a paraphrase.

10:45 Your salvation, dear Ephesians, is all of grace. But that grace operates effectively in you unto salvation, when you believe. By grace you have been saved, but when you believe. But lest you think that this believing means that you have contributed something to your salvation and therefore neutralize the gracious character of salvation, let me add, even the act of believing is not of yourself, but it is the gift of God.

11:21 I believe that's the way we are to understand the words of the Apostles, however, there is a problem with this understanding, and it's a problem of grammar. And I have sought to be honest with the problem of grammar, and I want you to be honest, so you're going to have a little grammar lesson this morning, to the end that you might be blessed by the truth of the word of God. Usually, in any language, pronouns must agree with their nouns in number, that is how many, single, plural, and gender, that is male, female, or neuter. Now you children, you know this all the time.

11:56 Suppose you said something like this, some of you little boys. Suppose you said to your dad, Dad, my friend Johnny came over into our yard yesterday, and while he was here, she broke my wagon. Now what have you done wrong? You say, you don't call Johnny a she?

12:12 Even if he is a little bit on the twinkie side, you don't call him a she. You call him he. Well, what have you done? Well, you've made a grammatical mistake.

12:23 You have mixed the wrong pronoun in there. You refer back, you referred to Johnny masculine, but you used a feminine pronoun. What you should have said is, Daddy, Johnny came to my yard yesterday, and while he was here, he broke my wagon. So you make the pronoun he agree in gender with the noun Johnny.

12:42 Right? You got the lesson? Suppose you said this, one of you girls, you're talking to your mother, and you say, Mommy, my friend Mary came to my house, and they broke my dog. What's your problem?

12:57 Well, Mary's not a they. You've mixed up the number. You should have used the singular pronoun, she, and you used the plural. Now, the problem in English is, you have no masculine or feminine when you get into plural pronouns.

13:08 In many other languages you do, and it's much more accurate. And you do in the Greek, by the way. What you should say is, Mary came to my house, and when she was here, she, not they, broke my dog. You see, the pronoun must agree in number and in gender.

13:24 How many? Masculine or feminine? Now, we have a problem of grammar in this text. When Paul wrote, By grace are you saved through faith, the word for faith in Greek is a feminine word.

13:40 And we would expect that he might say, and that, the demonstrative pronoun, would be feminine. But he didn't use a feminine. And he didn't use a masculine either. He used the neuter.

13:54 Like our word, it. A neuter pronoun. It. And, that, not of yourselves, of God, the gift.

14:04 Now, the Holy Spirit guided Paul to use a neuter pronoun instead of a feminine pronoun. We believe that the Spirit of God guided the biblical writers to the very choice of the words that they used. Sometimes, in quite a mechanical sense, many times not. There was the full employment of all of the mind and all of the faculties and all of their being in the writing, but the Spirit, so guided them that the words they penned are the words of God.

14:34 Now, some smart alecks have come along and said, see, can't refer to faith because Paul used a neuter pronoun and it doesn't agree with the feminine noun faith. Therefore, and it's amazing how when people have a bias to something, they'll give away ground that in other places they'd never give. They say, therefore, the word that refers to the whole salvation by grace through faith is not of yourself, but of God. Well, my friend, listen, there's a little mathematically equation or maxim or axiom that I learned as a child and it's this, that the whole includes all of its parts.

15:07 And if he's saying, by grace are you saved through faith and that whole salvation of grace through faith is not of yourself, if it includes the whole, it includes all of its parts, which means it includes faith.

15:20 It doesn't exclude it. If the that, the neuter pronoun, refers to the whole complex of the saving work of God, then it includes the faith and everything else. And this is the position taken by some very notable exegetes, that's people who give themselves to opening up the scriptures. And you know who stands at the list of such notables?

15:41 John Calvin himself. So it's not some sneaky Arminian who's trying to undermine salvation by grace. You can never accuse John Calvin of that. And John Calvin and many others build a rather convincing case for that position.

15:55 But after reading, studying, praying, examining, comparing scripture, I am personally convinced that when Paul said that not of yourselves, that he was not referring to the entire salvation, but as I've suggested, it was a parenthetical element to refer directly to the faith which brings us into conscious possession of salvation. And I suggest that this is the proper understanding for three reasons. Number one, the grammar permits such an understanding. Many competent Greek scholars admit this.

16:33 S.F. Salmond in the Expositors Greek Testament admits that this is a perfectly legitimate, though not too frequent, construction in the Greek. Bishop Mule in his commentary in Ephesians, Hendrickson, and I think the most convincing case, Abraham Kuyper in his work on the Holy Spirit, pages 407 to 414, has an excellent resume of the whole history of discussion on this text and shows that from the earliest times, the almost unanimous conviction of the most careful exegetes, men who lived in the Greek-speaking world, was to understand the text in the way that I have indicated.

17:15 And there are parallel passages in the New Testament where Paul uses this kind of construction. I will just mention them in passing. 1 Corinthians 6.6 where he speaks of people going before unbelievers.

17:27 He says going to court and that, he uses, a neuter pronoun, before unbelievers. He mentions it again in 1 Corinthians 6.8 and then in Philippians 1.28 and the structure is very parallel where he disregards the gender of the preceding noun and mentions the thing he's talking about in terms of a neuter pronoun.

17:48 Now, not to weary you with grammatical arguments, etc. I believe it is accurate to say in the history of careful exegesis of this passage, though this is an abnormal structure, it is not unique and the grammar permits such an understanding. Alright? My second reason is this.

Contextual and Scriptural Support for Faith as God's Gift

18:08 The immediate flow of thought favors such an understanding. The grammar permits it, but the immediate flow of thought favors it. Now, look at your Bibles.

18:21 If Paul is saying, for by grace you have been saved. What does grace mean? It means it's gratuitous. It's free.

18:29 It's uncaused. It has nothing to do with you. Alright? For by grace you're saved through faith.

18:36 Now, if he's saying, and that salvation is not of yourselves, he's repeating the same thought. It's gracious. It's not of yourself. It's the gift of God.

18:46 It's not of works. There's no advance in the thought.

18:50 If you were in college and you wrote something like that, the teacher would write back and say you are being guilty of tautology.

18:58 You're being guilty of unnecessary and meaningless repetition. Now, sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks that way. He knows we're so thick that the first blow of the hammer only sends a crack that he keeps hitting right at the same spot. Any of you ever have to break rock?

19:12 You know what you're talking about. And you see a little shiver down to that rock with a sledge. You just keep right at that same spot hammering away until boom, it goes. Well, God says that's the way my people are sometimes.

19:22 So he gets on the spot and he whack, whack, whack, whack, whack. And finally we get the message. But generally speaking in an epistle of this nature, that is just pregnant with tremendous interlacing of thought and progression of thought, it's unlikely that the apostle would just stand on the same ground and go over it again and again.

19:46 If that other view is correct, there's no advance in thought. But if the view I'm advancing is right, then there is advancement of thought. Notice what he's saying. For by grace you have been saved.

19:58 Your whole salvation is gratuitous. It rests in the activity of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God. And it comes to you through faith, but don't think that your faith is something outside the orbit of the gratuitous nature of salvation. Don't think that the provision in the plan is of God and that which hooks you into it is something you have produced.

20:27 No, no. Paul says the salvation is gratuitous. It comes through faith and even the faith which enables you to lay hold of it is gratuitous. It is the gift of God.

20:39 And now you see there is advancement of thought. There is progression of thought which is more in keeping with the development of the whole passage. Not only does the immediate flow of thought favor it in this respect, but if the other is correct, then there is no clear relationship to the points preceding and the points after. What is Paul trying to teach the Ephesians?

21:04 Well, verse 4 is the answer. Your salvation is of God. He said, I left you dead, bound and condemned in the first three chapters. Now, he says, I want you to see where God leaves you when He takes you in hand.

21:22 But God, and having enunciated the theme, He is going to carry that all the way through and He says, alright, and even the faith does not, from the tracks of the butt of the heart. God quickened, God raised, God seeded, and it is God who imparted faith. So it hooks in with the preceding and notice how it hooks into the following when He comes to His summary statement in verse 10. We are His workmanship created in union with Christ for good works.

21:55 How did I get into Christ? By a creative act of God. My faith is not even mentioned. Why?

22:01 Why? Because it's part of that creative work. And so I suggest that the interpretation that I am putting forward is not only grammatically permissible, it is favored by the immediate flow of thought and my third reason is that the emphasis of the remainder of Scripture demands this understanding. You see how my words have progressed in strength?

22:27 The grammar permits it, the context favors it, the rest of it, the rest of Scripture demands it. And may I remind you of the classic statement in the old Westminster Confession. And you may want to look at it on page 624 in your hymnals.

22:43 That's why we got the Presbyterian edition. We never use the section on the form for infant baptism and some other things, but we love having this confession in our hands.

22:57 Not 624, I'm sorry, but 674.

23:03 Paragraph 9. Under the section on Holy Scripture, notice this beautiful statement. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself. And therefore when there's question about the true and full sense of any Scripture, now that's our problem this morning.

23:21 What is the true and full sense of the phrase that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. That's the problem we're wrestling with, right? Now when we have such a problem, what are we to do? This is not manifold, that is the message of Scripture is not manifold, not many but one.

23:36 It must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly. And so I have asserted that the third reason for adopting this understanding is that the remainder of Scripture demands it. Why? Because elsewhere, faith is called the gift of God.

23:53 Explicitly so in Philippians 1.29. Paul says, it has been given to you on the behalf of Christ not only to believe, but to suffer, for His sake. In which he says, the believer has two gifts from God.

24:10 The gift of being enabled to believe and the gift of being subjected to suffering. And then of course, faith is implicitly called the gift of God in every passage where repentance is called the gift of God. For any true act of repentance involves the exercise of faith. And you have three texts in the New Testament, Acts 5.31, Acts 11.18, 2 Timothy 2.26, in which repentance is called the gift of God. And if it's repentance unto life, it involves faith. So faith is implicitly called the gift of God in those passages. It is explicitly called the gift of God in Philippians 1.29.

24:50 Secondly, elsewhere, believing is called the fruit of grace. Acts 18.27. They helped much those who had believed through grace.

25:04 He helped much those who had believed via, through, or in that context, possibly on account of, by the instrumentality of grace. So they are to attribute the act of believing not to the operation of some inherent faith that they had either by nature or as a common gift to all men.

25:29 They believed special grace, saving grace, that brought them to embrace the Savior. Therefore,

25:42 I'm convinced that this rendering is right. Elsewhere, faith is called gift of God. Elsewhere, believing is called the fruit of grace. And thirdly, under this third heading, elsewhere, faith is contrasted with works as the method of God's salvation.

25:57 Remember in Romans 4, he says, if it's of grace, it is no more of works. Galatians 2.16.3.2.

26:05 Well, that contrast is kept intact if we put the parenthesis. Look at it again. By grace you have been saved through faith, omit the parenthesis, not of works. And the contrast between faith and works is held intact if we regard that phrase as a parenthesis.

26:22 Well, this has convinced me over several weeks of study and meditation, and I commend it to you for your careful consideration. What is the meaning of the words? The meaning is that the origin of our faith is not to be found in us, in the preacher, in anything else, but it is the gift of God. Now, very quickly, how is it God's gift?

How Faith is God's Gift

26:44 How is faith the gift of God? It's obvious. He doesn't believe for us. How is it His gift?

26:50 Well, let me suggest it's His gift in three ways. He provides the ground of faith, the means to faith, and the power to believe. What is the ground of faith? The objective work of Christ.

27:05 What is the means of faith? The preaching of the gospel. Romans 10.17.

27:09 Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing of the word of God. But whence the power to believe? No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him.

27:23 Dead men can have the remedy held before them, but they will not embrace it until there's a living principle that enables them to embrace it. And so the gift of faith is not the sinner being, as it were, passively sitting back and not believing. No, he's very conscious of believing, but he believes because there is a ground of faith, the objective work of Christ, the means of faith has come, the preaching of the gospel, and then there's been the mysterious, powerful, quickening work of the Holy Spirit enabling the sinner to behold Christ and to embrace Him as His Lord and His Savior. So then, as the apostle writes to the Ephesian, he desires that they have a conscious, intelligent grasp upon the fact that their salvation is all of grace, it's all of God. Verse 4 again being the key. So when he introduces for the first time the matter of their activity, and I want you to get that. In this whole paragraph we've been studying, this little phrase, through faith, is the first time any activity on the part of the sinner has been introduced.

28:31 From verse 4 all the way down through the first part of verse 8, it's what God has done. But God, rich in mercy, great in His love, when we were dead, quickened us, raised us, seated us, that He might show His grace. By grace you have been saved. He is the agent of the passive verbs.

28:51 And now for the first time the human activity is mentioned. And lest any sinner dare to intrude upon the glory of the God of grace, Paul hedges up the way and says, I haven't jumped the tracks. And even your activity is the fruit of grace. He wants the Christians to know that.

29:10 In other words, he's saying, O Ephesians, admire the God whose mercy and love moved Him to rescue you. You were dead, you were bound, you were condemned. Admire the God whose rich mercy and great love moved Him to intervene. Admire the God who sent His Son to die, to be raised, to be seated, so that in union with His people they might be raised, seated, and brought to glory with Him.

29:39 O Christian, admire the God, who has set out so simple a condition. Simply believe. Cast yourself upon the Savior. But, O Christian, admire the God who enables you to come to those simple terms without which you would still perish.

29:58 In that wonderful hymn of Isaac Watts that we sing, "'Twas the same love that spread the feast that gently drew me in, else I had stilled and refused to come and perished in my sin.'" Paul wants us to admire the grace. And that's why he says, "'That not of yourselves, of God the gift.'" Well, having opened up the verse, what is the proper understanding of it?

Practical Effects: Greater Appreciation for God's Salvation

30:29 The answer, it should be regarded as a parenthesis. Having answered the question, how is faith God's gift? Now we come this morning to the third division of our thought. What will be the practical effects of this?

30:41 What practical effect will this understanding have? Well, let me suggest two.

30:49 This fact will be found in our understanding to operate onto a greater appreciation for God's salvation. The usual pattern of God in dealing with His people is this. Not always, but usually. He shows them their need of His salvation.

31:07 He reveals Christ as the answer to that need. Enabling His people to believe what is usually the first conscious area of thanksgiving in the heart of a newly converted sinner. Is it not praise to Jesus Christ who died on His behalf? Thanks that one should be willing to die.

31:27 Praise to God for sending the Son. And then after a while, the sinner begins to ask the question, but Lord, my buddy Mike heard the same gospel. He heard the same Bible telling me he was a sinner. And he's whistling on his way straight to hell.

31:42 Lord, how come the message got through my thick head? How come the invitation reached my heart? When you begin to ask that question, then you take first chapter of Ephesians seriously. And you say, Lord, you planned it that way.

31:57 You chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. Lord, that's how I came. It was because you purposed it. Then after a while, you begin to ask the question, having seen, Lord, you sent the Savior.

32:09 Thank you for Him. You sent Him on purpose. Thank you for planning. And yet, then you begin to ask, but Lord, I'm beginning to understand how bad I really am.

32:17 I thought I knew when I embraced you, but I didn't know. I was just looking at the very first layer of my heart. And I begin to discover how bad I am. And how bound by nature I am to sin.

32:30 And I begin to ask the question, Lord, how in the world did I ever repent and believe? And God says, it's because I gave you the gift of repentance and faith. That's the general progression of thought. Now, follow me closely.

32:44 Is the man any more saved when he comes to that third level of understanding and conscious praise to God? Is he? Of course not. But does he render more glory to God?

32:55 Ah, he does. Let me illustrate it this way. Three beggars. They all of them are so bad off that they've entered into a coma.

33:04 I mean, they're just a few threads away from passing out of this life. They're destitute. They're unconscious. A kind man comes by and he nurses them all.

33:16 They're all to life. And their first consciousness when they come to life is that there's food set before them and they look at the food, devour it, and they look up into the face of the kindly, benevolent man and they all say thank you. Now, one of them never progresses beyond the realization. The last thing I remember is I was hungry.

33:37 The next thing I remember there was food and the kindly man who gave it to me and he has a measure of gratitude to that man for the rest of his days. He never asked the question, did he have to do anything to me to get me to the place where I'd eat? Why did he provide the food? He's just content to know that I was almost dead.

33:54 Now I'm alive. Thank the man. The second man, he goes a step further and he says, hey, wait a minute. Last thing I remember is I was feeling kind of dizzy and the rest.

34:03 I wonder if I blacked out. If so, for how long? I wonder what condition I was in. So he seeks out this benevolent man.

34:10 He says, sir, how come when I woke up to my meal, you were there? He said, oh, it's because I had passed by the day before and saw you in your condition and I went back to my own home and only one thing was on my mind to plan how I might rescue you. And therefore, I gathered around me all the medical assistance necessary, all of the food and all of the rest and by a decided and definite plan, I came back to you the next day to rescue you. Well, sir, what condition was I in when you found me?

34:42 Well, you were just a shade away from death. You were unconscious, unable to eat. But I nursed you back to the place of health and strength that you might eat.

34:53 Now, is he any more alive and well than the first man? Of course not. But will he appreciate the benefactor a little more? You see?

35:02 See? Then the third guy, he probes a little bit more and he wants to know, well, why in the world were you ever moved to care for us? You have nothing to gain by us. And he says, it's just because I loved you.

35:16 But why? Because I loved you. And why did you bear so patiently? Because I loved you.

35:22 You see what happens? Now, you can draw out the implications. I won't take your time nor insult your intelligence. You've got the point, I think.

35:29 All three of them are equally alive.

35:32 But oh, the richness of the relationship between the man who plumbs the depths of how and why and for what purpose this benefactor came and brought him back to life. And I have no doubt that sitting here this morning there are some Christians who know one thing You found a meal and in your thirsty soul Christ has come. Well, thank God for that. And in your heart of hearts you do not praise the church, the pope, the priest, the preacher, the rabbi.

36:06 You say thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. Wonderful, Christian. I hope you never move from that but I hope you move beyond that. I hope you never move away from that but I hope you move beyond it in this direction.

36:17 Have you ever asked why? Why God sent his son? Never asked what condition you were in when the son was set before you? What was necessary to bring you to the place where you could eat of the bread of life and drink of the water of life?

36:31 That's all Paul is doing here. He's saying you Ephesians are a bunch of restored beggars who were dead. And I want you to know not only that Christ rescued you and that he rescued you according to the Father's eternal purpose but that he actually nourished you to life so that you could take the remedy and indirectly proportion to our understanding of the magnitude of the work of grace will be the appreciation of that grace and consequently our response in loving obedience to the God of grace. And so the first practical implication of the understanding of this truth will be a new and expanded appreciation for the salvation of God that should result in an intensified devotion to God. But now on this final note I wish to sound and may God the Holy Ghost help me. The second profound effect will be seen in our laboring for the salvation of others.

Practical Effects: Impact on Evangelism

37:40 If we understand that even faith is the gift of God not only will our appreciation for our own salvation increase but there will be a profound effect upon us as we labor for the salvation of others whether we labor as parents for our children and our neighbors whether we labor as schoolmates for our fellow classmates or as school children or college students whether we labor as pastors and elders an understanding of Ephesians 2.8 will have a profound effect on how we labor for others. Let me explain. It will cause us to put prayer as the first priority in the work of evangelism.

38:24 Why? Because we realize that the work of evangelism if it's to issue in salvation involves a miracle.

38:35 The miracle of spiritual resurrection.

38:40 Sinners are dead and no matter how earnestly we present the remedy they will despise the remedy and damn themselves unless God quickens the dead.

38:54 Why Paul said my little children of whom I travel in birth till Christ be born. And that's why the early church would not allow its energies to be dissipated even in the holy exercise of caring for the widows. We shall give ourselves to what? To prayer and to the ministry of the word.

39:17 You don't find prayer central in the work of evangelism in one instance out of a thousand in our day. Why? Because men don't really believe that faith is the gift of God. Faith is either some inherent spiritual capacity that all men have or that God has given to all men and therefore the emphasis is upon nothing and human pressure not upon divine intervention.

39:43 And the day this church ceases to do its most essential work of evangelism in the closet of prayer may God bring its walls down upon our heads.

39:54 The second profound effect will be in keeping preaching central in evangelism whether preaching one to one quietly in the home or preaching publicly preaching preaching by means of literature that explains the scriptures if we believe faith to be the gift of God then we'll also believe God gives it in his appointed means and what is his means? Faith comes by singing faith comes by joking faith comes by storytelling faith comes by flexing the muscles of Mr. America who's made a decision and now can attract people to Jesus faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and by the word of God and by the word of God and by the word of God faith is God's gift then we'll keep preaching central because it's the appointed means to produce faith my spirit was so stirred yesterday I'm still not simmered down when I arrived home I received correspondence that could not be more marked in its contrast one the pouring out of Harvey Pankrat's burdened four page letter as he's trying to be honest with the scriptures in the work of evangelism in Sweden and I'm not then I received a letter that said looking for something unique

41:21 and there's two puppets my wife and I are missionaries with the blank mission I won't mention it appointed to the field of blank as children's workers we'd like to have the opportunity of sharing with you the talents Christ has given us we're graduates of such and such a school and such and such an institute specially trained in working with children now listen marionettes ventriloquism huge flannel graph boards and magic are all a part of our unusual approach to missions if you'd like to have us come you can contact us at beloved this is an evangelical mission board that's recognized by the EFMA graduate of evangelical schools dangled puppets to evangelize children gonna perform magic in the name of Christ why because the undergirding philosophy is that if we can just somehow put the right kind of pressures upon people to make their almighty decision they'll do it and therefore the end justifies the means beloved this ought to make us weep and cry to God

42:46 Lord hasten the day and the simplicity of apostolic method will once again be the possession of the church of Christ and when people like this who try to get the support of churches we'll be right out of town if you want to dangle your puppets get a little sideshow and go to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey if you want to win men to Christ and boys and girls steep yourself in the word of God learn how to pray and begin to cry to God for the intervention of the spirit upon the preaching of the word brethren the battle lines are drawn and I believe true vital religion is at stake and I believe I've prayerfully weighed whether I should speak as I've spoken this morning and I speak if I'm wrong with a good conscience before God and he will have to deal with me before I will retract a word that I've said very guardedly and very rationally that's the end result the end result of denying the truth of Ephesians 2 in verse 8 if faith is not God's gift if it's something men have got and we just need to draw it out then let's have Christian burlesque shows we'll reach people there

44:15 we won't reach any other way let's go ahead and send our money to Oral Roberts who runs his three ring circus in the name of Christ the same foolishness some of our eyes beheld from a local church this past week on television thousands of dollars and what was it if you saw it nothing but more music and something that couldn't pass for preaching in a ballpark storytelling what's behind this dear people I'll tell you what's behind it a failure to believe Ephesians 2 salvation is of God if it's of God then prayer will be central the divinely ordained message will be central and thank God our reaction to any fruit will be Godward what did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 3 one sows another waters but who gives the increase but God so then neither is he that watereth anything he that planteth anything but God that gives the increase people ask me what are you doing at your place understand that you're packed to the walls and you can't so we're just doing what we've done for 13 years pray and preach yeah but there must

45:41 pray yeah but there must pray God's been pleased to give us a season of increase how long that season will last I don't know but we're not going to do anything different the season of increase wanes we'll search our hearts to see if we aren't praying as we ought see if we aren't preaching as we ought may God have mercy of any of you if you touch the ark of God's glory by putting the credit anywhere else but where God puts it what's happened in these days and months in this place is simply a manifestation of but God rich in his mercy great in his grace taking unworthy vessels magnifying his grace by serving many of you sitting here this morning a year two three years ago were dead blind blind and bound and condemned now you sit here trophies of grace why God gave the increase that's it God gave the increase God gave the increase you see these are not issues remote to the practical are they by grace if you've been saved through faith what's the origin of that faith not yourself

47:09 but God oh that God would increase the testimony of his sovereign grace until the earth is filled with the knowledge that it's God who saves and if I'm speaking to sinners in this building and downstairs below this morning what is our message to you you say you don't give us much hope you tell us even the faith doesn't come from myself what am I to do sit back and do nothing no no my friend you can't you can cry to him who has told you in his words seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he's near you can call upon him you can say son of David have mercy on me Lord I don't have something called my faith to bring to you that will be sort of a ticket to admit me into the orbit of grace Lord left to myself I'll go on in my death I'll go on in my blindness I'll go on in my spirit in my spirit in my spiritual callousness Lord Jesus have mercy upon me open my eyes that I may behold my malady that I may behold the glory of your salvation Lord Jesus quicken me that I may run after you that's not only what you can but what you must do you say but do I have any hope that that will avail anything ah yes my friend there is every encouragement to the seeking sinner

48:37 for the scripture says ye shall seek me and find me in the day that you search for me with all your heart ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you the prophet Isaiah who commanded us to seek the Lord followed those words with these wonderful words seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he's near why for that very God he says that very God will abundantly pardon you may seek in the confidence that he's the abundantly pardoning God who receives needy sinners if you're here as a Christian you're like one of those beggars who's been so happy with the gift and you even appreciate the giver will you not this morning have an enlarged perspective and see that he not only brought the gift but he gave you the ability to feed upon it by grace have you been saved through faith in that not of yourselves it is the gift of God let us pray