God's Glorious Grace

Well, it was 504 years ago today that Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Chapel, sparking the Protestant Reformation. And we celebrate that today because the gospel was wonderfully recovered. The unrivaled authority of scripture was recognized. And the truth that God saves by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, was wonderfully clarified and proclaimed. And as is always the case in every revival, there was a new and profound sense of the lowliness of man and the greatness and the all-surpassing glory of God. And yet even as we celebrate that reformation of 500 years ago, I pray that it would stir in us today a greater yearning for reformation now. Because of that, the heart of revival Is the undoing of man-centeredness and a renewed recognition of the centrality and the glory of God? Well then, reformation and revival are needed today as much as ever. I hope it won't be hard to convince you that we live in a society that's totally man-centered. The message we constantly hear is that life is about you and what you want. It's your dreams, your aspirations, and your future. The message we hear again and again is that whoever you are, you can be who you want and you can do what you want to do, perhaps in its most extreme form. We see that in that if you want to be a different gender, that's your choice. If you want to express yourself sexually however you please, no one should have anything negative to say about that. And if you wanna free yourself from the responsibility for the life that's in your womb, you should be enabled and empowered to do so. We're told that life is about us and our desires. And in different ways, this same mindset often pervades churches. One megachurch's website says, our heart is to help you reach your full God-given potential. Another says, no matter where you're at in your journey, you can be confident that you're more than welcome at our church. You're wanted. It's where you can find hope, healing, and purpose. And of course, there's a marketing aspect to all that as well. We live in a society that knows how to appeal to our inner desires and how to convince us that whatever those desires are, they really ought to be satisfied. So comfort, convenience, and personal preference become king. Another church speaks of providing a worship experience structured by casual dress, modern music, and friendly faces. A casual atmosphere. where you are free to experience God at your own pace. We've become so man-centered that we've even made worship about us. And just think of all the churches today that have traditional and contemporary services, so that you can come and worship according to the style of your own preferences, Or increasingly common, the live stream option, so that as one church exclaims, you can tune in from the comfort of your own home. You see, we're deeply man-centered in our thinking. It's as if we think God exists to serve us. And sadly, I've personally seen that reflected in the lives of many people that I've interacted with. You know, people will suddenly seem very excited to come to Bible study, to come to church. They will begin trying to obey God in their lives. But then some time goes by and something happens and I realized that actually all along, what they were really excited about is the idea that maybe if they just did a little for God, then he would help their dreams come to fruition. And he would give them what they really wanted. Once the right boyfriend or girlfriend came along, once some suffering set in, They leave Christ behind for the next thing. See, God for them was just a useful tool that they thought might be able to give them what they really wanted. But brothers and sisters, this is why we so desperately need revival and reformation in our own day. Just like 500 years ago, we need the true gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached with new clarity and power. We need a man-centeredness that still resides in our hearts to be rooted out. And we need to be brought to the place where we love and we yearn for the glory of God in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. And so this morning, I want to focus our attention on Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10. We find in these verses the gospel of God's glorious grace declared with wonderful clarity. And I hope it will stir us up to love God more and to desire his glory like we ought. And as we study these verses, I want us to focus especially on how this whole plan of salvation that is laid out here has been designed for the glory of God alone. So if you're new with us, there's a few Bibles available. You can turn to page 976 to find this passage. I'd encourage you to follow along. And if you don't have a Bible, please take that with you. We would love for that to be our gift to you today. Now please hear with me Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your undoing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now as we work through this text together, I'd like to point out five things that Paul tells us about salvation. And we'll be considering how each one points us to the glory of God. And the first of these is that salvation is by grace. Verse 8 begins, for by grace you have been saved. Now grace is unmerited favor. It's God's goodness and blessing extended not to the deserving, but to the wicked. Look back at verses one through three of this chapter. There Paul tells us that we all once walked in trespasses and sins. That is the daily, regular, continual practice of our lives was in flagrant violation of God's commands. We lied. We cheated. We stole. We committed sexual immorality. We gossiped and slandered others. We fought, we cursed, we blasphemed, we disrespected authorities. And as we live this way, he says we were following the course of this world, that is going along with everybody else in rebellion against God, and following the prince of the power of the air, that is the devil himself. And in verse three, he explains that we were living in and carrying out the passions of our flesh and the desires of our minds. That is, we were controlled by lust, controlled by greed, motivated by selfishness, guided by pride and envy and jealousy. And therefore, he says, we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. That is to the very core of our being, our very nature itself, we deserved God's wrath and condemnation. And in light of all that, you'd expect for verse four to continue, so God, followed by an explanation of judgment. But shockingly, instead we read, but God. being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. In other words, not only did God not give us what we deserved, not only has he graciously rescued us from the very pit of hell, but he's also given us what we did not deserve. He has raised us up to the very heights of heaven. He gave his own son to suffer and die in our place. so that we might be freely forgiven and redeemed and brought near, so that in Christ we might be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Him. And why would God do this? I mean, what did He see in us to motivate Him to do this? Nothing at all. But He did this because, as verse seven says, so that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He did this so that for all eternity, God's glory in his grace and his kindness might be displayed through us for all to see. You see, the only thing we contribute to our salvation is our sin. We contribute as much to our salvation as a lead weight contributes to an airplane taking off. And yet God's grace and his love and his mercy and his kindness is so great that it has overcome it all. And that is why this salvation of grace should humble us to the dust and give all the glory to God. It's why Revelation chapter 5 tells us that when the living creatures and the elders and the angels in heaven behold this immeasurably rich grace that Ephesians chapter 2 is talking about. They cry out with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who is slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And then every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them say, to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever, amen. And so brothers and sisters, what about us? You know, how much do you want God to be glorified in his church? How much do you want God to be glorified in his world? How much do you want God to be glorified in your life? Is the grace of the gospel moving you and causing you to yearn for that like we ought? How do you approach corporate worship? I mean, just coming this morning to worship Jesus, do we view this as a sacred privilege? Do we realize that we are standing on holy ground? Do we come eagerly and expectantly, or do we come lazily? Not even really paying attention to the song lyrics, zoning out during scripture readings and prayers, thinking about other things. Or do we come, You know, focusing on our preferences, on which songs we like, how comfortable we feel, or do we come to render to God the worship and the glory and the service that he deserves? Also, how do you respond when others fall into sin? Especially those other people that are sort of in close relationships with us, you know, people like our family members, spouses and children, our coworkers, our younger siblings? Are we impatient with them? Do we become irritable? Are we harsh? Do we shame them when they fall short and sort of begrudgingly forgive them? You see, if we do that, we're hypocritically acting as if we ourselves are something other than beggars in need of grace. In fact, implicitly we're denying that and therefore we're robbing God of his glory as the God who saves us by his grace. Also, how do we respond to trials in our lives? What thoughts dominate your mind when you face family drama? When you feel excluded or left out or overlooked? When you suffer loss? like a loved one, or you're seriously ill? Or what about when just every little thing your whole day long seems to be going wrong? Are you like, why do these things always happen to me? Why do I have it so hard? Do we begin to view ourselves as victims? Do we become angry with God? Well, brothers and sisters, consider how different our response might be if the grace of the gospel were to dominate our thoughts instead. If instead of thinking of ourselves as victims of these trials, we thought, I was a child of wrath. I deserve to be in hell this very moment. And yet God has freely forgiven me. He has freely rescued me. He's given me an inheritance in Christ that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for me. No trial can touch it, no trial can take it away. In fact, all the trials in the world are not even worth comparing with it. You know, friends, from that perspective, how different would our attitude toward trials be? Instead of viewing them as terrible things that ruin our plans for our lives, we might see trials as part of God's sovereign plan for our lives that actually provide a unique opportunity to give glory to Him. No one's going to bat an eye when we're joyful and thankful, when everything's going well. But it's when there's trials and sufferings, and yet we respond with joy and peace and gratitude that only the gospel of grace can provide. That's when others are surprised. That's when they pay attention. But friends, may we be more like the apostles in Acts chapter five, who after being beaten for proclaiming the gospel, they left rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame. for Jesus's name. The gospel is a gospel of grace. Well let's look now at the second thing we learn about salvation. And that is that salvation is through faith. Verse eight continues, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Now faith is personal trust in Jesus Christ. It's not just believing in Christ in the sense of affirming that he's real or even thinking that he's God. Even the devil acknowledges that. Faith is believing in Christ in the sense of personally relying on him and depending on him and him alone for salvation. It's like if you fell out of a plane and I threw you a parachute, you would grab hold of that parachute and cling to it with all your might, knowing that it is your only hope of salvation. Well, faith is clinging to Christ like that. It's recognizing that you need a Savior, that you really are a child of wrath, deserving of God's righteous judgment, and believing God's word, that Christ will actually save you. that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for your sins and he rose again so that you might be justified by his blood. And friend, if you are here as a non-Christian this morning, I pray that you would believe in Christ right now and receive salvation today. It is a gift of God's grace. You don't have to try to improve yourself to earn it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And also notice here the relationship between grace and faith. It says we're saved by grace and through faith. So grace is the basis or the reason for our salvation and faith is the means through which that salvation is received. God's grace to us in Christ is like the source or the reservoir of salvation. And faith is like the channel or the instrument that connects us with Christ and enables us to receive God's grace in him. To put it another way, we're either in Christ, and through that union and relation to him, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, or we're outside of and apart from Christ. And therefore, we are under the curse of our sin. And the way that we go from being outside of Christ to in Christ is through faith. Now, have you ever wondered why in the design of God, salvation is through faith? Why might it not be? Well, by grace, you've been saved through love. By grace, you've been saved through joy. By grace, you've been saved through peace. Well, I think it's because faith is the thing that by its very essence looks away from itself to another. Faith intrinsically recognizes that it needs grace. Faith sees its own inadequacy and it lifts up all its hope for rescue to God. And that's why faith is the one thing that most clearly surrenders all the glory and salvation to God alone. You know, think about it like this. If I have the opportunity to take the game-winning shot, but I tell the coach, you need to let him take it. You know, he's the one that's gonna make it, my faith's in him. Well, who's gonna get the glory if the shot goes in? Not me. He will, right? By placing faith in another, I'm surrendering my opportunity for the glory to him. And I think that's why God has designed this plan of salvation to be through faith. He wants it to be absolutely clear that He is the Savior and the glory is His. It's like Gideon's army. Remember, they start off with 22,000 and God's like, no, that's too many. And so they will it down to 10,000, God said that's still too many. They will it down to 300 to go against this vast army of Midianites. And the battle plan is literally to go crash some clay pots and shout. I mean, if God does not save them, they're ruined. I know, brothers and sisters, that's how it's supposed to be with us. I mean, just think about it. One of the greatest ways that you and I can bring glory to God is by not doing anything to try to save ourselves, but just believing that God is going to save us in Christ. I mean, how counterintuitive that was for so many in the early church. Don't get circumcised. Don't try to start keeping all the Mosaic laws. Don't try to do anything to make yourself more acceptable to God. As Luther said, sin boldly. He didn't mean by that, well, just keep living in sin and don't repent. But what he meant is that when you sin, don't try to make up for it. Stop doing penance. Don't think that there's something you have to do to fix your sin. Sin boldly, and then when you sin, don't try to hide it. Don't think that if you can conceal it, you can present yourself a different way, maybe he'll accept you. No, confess it. Recognize that yes, I am a sinner. Yes, my sin is worse than I can possibly imagine, but I am believing that God has provided a sacrifice to forgive it. Oh brothers and sisters, we give glory to God not by pretending to be better than we are, but by boldly believing that God is as gracious and forgiving as he says he is in his word. So let's confess our sins to one another and to God. Let's not hide in shame. Let's not be paralyzed by guilt. But let's go boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So we've seen the first two things about salvation. It's by grace and it's through faith. Thirdly, we read that salvation is not of us. It's not of us. For by grace you've been saved through faith and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Literally, you could translate this, and this is not out of you. It's God's gift. Now, I think that this here refers back to the whole first clause. Paul's saying, salvation by grace through faith, this is not your own doing. All of it, the whole thing, it's God's gift from beginning to end. And of course that really should be self-explanatory from the fact that salvation is by grace through faith. Paul's really not adding new information here. But he's adding a clarification because he knows us. He knows how prone we are to contaminate and compromise the purity of salvation by grace through faith. So let's just take a moment to consider, what are some ways that we might subtly introduce our own effort into this equation? I think one of the ways we might do this is by crediting ourselves with the reason why we're saved and somebody else isn't. Maybe we think, well, I believed. I walked the aisle, I prayed the prayer, I got baptized. You know, I responded like I was supposed to, and there could even be a sense of pride associated with that. But just look back at chapter two, verse one again, where Paul says, and you were dead in trespasses and sins. We weren't even flailing around, calling out to God to save us. We were drowned and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. You and I contribute as much to our conversion as a dead man does to his own resurrection. Spiritually speaking, we had blind eyes and deaf ears. We had hearts of stone. No matter how clearly anybody presented the gospel to us, we would never have responded to it unless the Spirit of God had not done a work of supernatural resurrection in our heart. This is why Philippians 1.29 calls faith a gift. It's why Acts 11.18 calls repentance a gift. And it's why Paul says right here that all of this is not of us. It's the gift of God. You see, the ultimate reason why you're saved and somebody else isn't, isn't because you chose God. It's because he chose you. In Ephesians chapter one, verse four, it says, God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose us before we even existed, before the world existed, before we ever could make any choice. And why did he choose us? Well, the next verses tell us. He chose us according to the purpose of his will. and to the praise of his glorious grace. He chose you for his own glory. And far from that being a reason to take pride in your election. And I think, well, he must've chose me because I was something special. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 16. He says, I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, that is, as the foremost of sinners, the chief of sinners, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe. Oh friends, God chooses us that we may be living examples of his perfect patience to all who will believe. Now, a second way that I think we can subtly introduce our own effort into the equation is by thinking, well, God saved me, but it's up to me to keep myself saved. If you're here this morning and you struggle with assurance, this might be you. I mean, do you live in this fear that your foot will slip or your faith will fail and that you won't make it to heaven? Do you feel like you're there just dangling from a rope, like holding on, but your grip is slipping, it's getting ready to give out, and you have this paralyzing fear? Well, take to heart these words. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. It wasn't your effort that brought you to God in the first place, and it's not your effort that keeps you saved. It's not your grip on him that preserves you, it's his grip on you. He who has begun a good work in you will finish it. It's his doing, it's his work, and it's his gift. And then a third way is I think we need to beware of introducing human effort into the equation of salvation in evangelism. For some of us, it's like it's really clear to us that yes, I was saved, not my own doing. It was the gift of God. And yet we turn around to evangelism and we forget that. Many of us have family members or children that aren't saved. And we need to be bold and faithful witnesses to them. But you need to remember that it is not your fault if they don't believe. I mean, some people carry this false sense of guilt as if, if only I were a better witness, if only I just presented the gospel the right way, well then, they'd believe, they'd be saved. But you need to remember that salvation is not our own doing, it is the gift of God. And then on the flip side, I think this also leads to a failure to evangelize. Because we think, this person's never gonna believe. They have a heart of stone, their eyes are blind, their ears are deaf. They're smarter than me. They don't respect me. I mean, how could I make them a Christian? And the whole point is you can't. You need to remember again, it's not your own doing, it's the gift of God. And God delights to show his power and his glory by converting people in the most unexpected of ways. And so we just need to be faithful to share the gospel. So, salvation is by grace, it's through faith, it's not of us. And number four, we read that salvation is not of works. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your undoing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Now once again, Paul is being redundant here. He shouldn't have to say this. But he really wants to make clear that salvation is by grace through faith, and it is by grace through faith alone. Our works do not contribute to this equation. They do not provide the reason or the means of our salvation in any way. And Paul specifically adds that God has designed it this way to preclude works so that no one may boast. So that all the glory would be for God alone. You know, I think what God wants to do is make sure that none of us are like the Pharisee in Luke chapter 18. You may remember that parable Jesus told about a tax collector and a Pharisee that went to the temple to pray, and he says that when the Pharisee goes to pray, he says, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. Now what's interesting is that at least outwardly, this Pharisee actually credits God with his own righteousness. He thanks God that he's not like these other people, but really he uses that as an opportunity to boast. As an opportunity to look around and think, you know, I am not like these sinners out here. But oh friends, the gospel won't let us do that. The gospel is that we are saved not as a result of works so that no one may boast. The gospel reminds us that we never graduate from being sinners in need of grace. We never leave that category. We perpetually need to remember I, just like everybody else, am equally undeserving and unworthy of salvation. Salvation is a gift of God's grace. It's because of the gospel that we will forever say, nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. And brothers and sisters, I think we need to take a moment and just ask ourselves, where am I forgetting that? Where am I letting self-righteousness or boasting take root in my life? Maybe it's through theological knowledge. Maybe we feel really sort of proud of ourselves or even a sense of righteousness because of how well we know the Bible. How well we've dotted our theological I's and T's. But just like the Pharisees of Paul's day, we need to remember that it is not the hearers of the law or the knowers of the Bible who will be justified, but the doers of the law. How well are we living out that knowledge we have? You see, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. What about pride in this church? You know, on one hand, it's wonderful to hear people be enthusiastic about what God is doing here. But I pray that we as a church would also have the humility to recognize our faults and the humility to appreciate and celebrate what God is doing elsewhere as well. I think we need to beware of self-righteousness by the church that we are a part of. Also, what about in the way that we respond when we're corrected? If there's anything that exposes self-righteousness and pride, I think it's when others correct us. Do we respond to criticism like people who believe that we are saved by grace through faith? Or like people who believe that we're saved by safeguarding the illusion of our own righteousness? How do you respond to criticism? And then finally, what about when we do something good? You know, of course, we don't want to be obvious in our boasting. I mean, that would be distasteful. But do we really have that same heart where we're just yearning for recognition and praise and the opportunity to point out what we've done? And does that reveal boasting? and self-righteousness in us that's much like the Pharisee of Luke 18. You see, the gospel ought to help us to repent of these things. He reminds us that in terms of contributing to our salvation, all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags. We are saved by grace through faith, not a result of works, so that no one may boast and so that all the glory might belong to God. But this does not, however, mean that works play no role in our lives. We come now, fifthly and finally, to the fact that salvation is for works. It's for works. We read, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your undoing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So we're not saved by works or as a result of works, but for them. We're saved not because of our workmanship, but so that we ourselves might become God's own workmanship, his handiwork, his craftsmanship, You see, works aren't the root of our salvation, but they are the fruit of it. Works don't cause our salvation, but salvation causes works. And good works are an essential part of the purpose for which God saves us. And it's crucial for us to realize that all of the glorious truth of verses eight and nine is only as glorious as it is because of verse 10. You see, if you lose the fruit of good works, you lose the glory of the grace as well. You know, imagine that someone stole your car, and they crashed it into a tree, and they have no money to pay the debt, and they would spend years in jail. But instead, you step forward and say, I'll absorb the cost, I'll drop the charges, you can go free. Well if that thief is touched in his heart, and he amends his ways, and he uses the life that you've given him to work hard and to begin to serve the community, it's a touching story. It's a beautiful example of the power of grace. But on the other hand, if that thief takes your forgiveness, laughs, and goes back to a life of crime, then the grace you've shown him becomes ugly and cheap. And the point of verse 10 is that God will not allow his grace to become cheap and ineffectual. He rescues us from the junk pile so that we might be his workmanship, his craftsmanship, his handiwork, so that his own name might be stamped upon us. The picture here is of God as the master sculptor. And we are the block of stone. Taken not from the good stock, but from the scrap pile, from the junk heap. And he is now at work to fashion us into whom he created us to be. Into new creations in Christ. Radically transformed by his grace, moved by the free grace and love and mercy we've received, moved to live in Christ Jesus for good works, for his glory. You see, that's our purpose. It's what he saved us for. It means that if Christians fail to be devoted to good works, we're like guard dogs that don't bark. blankets that don't keep you warm, flowers that have no scent or beauty. I mean, we are fundamentally failing to fulfill our purpose if we are not living lives of good works. As Jesus said, we have been saved to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And so that we might let our light shine before men so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Now what exactly are these good works? What might Paul have in mind? Well, in Titus chapter three, he calls meeting cases of urgent need a good work. Things like visiting a church member in the hospital, bringing a meal to someone who's sick, counseling and caring for someone who's depressed, showing up for a funeral. First Timothy 5 speaks of faithful parenting as a good work. Showing hospitality, inviting people into your home, especially people you don't know well. And just generally living an others-oriented life characterized by service. Second Timothy 2 speaks of handling conflict with gentleness and without being quarrelsome as a good work. 1 Timothy 6 says that being generous and ready to share is a good work. 1 Peter 2 speaks of submitting to governing authorities as a good work. And then also as we look ahead to Ephesians chapter 4 and 5, I think Paul is gonna flesh out what a life of good works is supposed to look like. And he's gonna tell us to do things like be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Being a source of reconciliation and unity and forbearance in the church. Speaking the truth in love to build up the body of Christ. He speaks of working hard at your job so that you can provide for your family and have something to share with anyone who's in need. He says, speak edifying words that fit the occasion and give grace to those who hear. So we eliminate words that tear down, words that are unfitting, and we use language that will build others up and be gracious. He says we should forgive others as God forgave us. That's a good word. When we genuinely from the heart forgive someone who's wronged us. He speaks of singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another. Of course, that's part of what we did this morning. I mean, to hear people singing loudly and exuberantly and joyfully, that is a good work that stirs up others. He mentions submitting to one another out of reference for Christ. You know, having the humility to give up your preferences and your ways and to submit to someone else. I mean, these are just some of the things that good works include. And notice we're told that God has prepared these good works for us beforehand, that we should walk in them. It's like every day, God has scheduled for us good works that our lives are to be about. You know, what if when we get up every morning and we're thinking about our day or we're praying in our quiet time, what if we're thinking, Lord, what good works would you have me to do today? And then we set about in our day to walk in them. You know, and don't misunderstand this, it's just a call to random acts of kindness. I mean, this is a call to purposeful, regular, thoughtful acts of service to Christ. And also, please don't misunderstand this, it's just a call to be busier. Certainly some of us need to get off our phones and spend more time doing others good. But others of you are already overwhelmed. You're already stretched too thin. You don't need to add more. You just need to figure out what has God prepared for you. And then just do those things and figure out how you can do them with all your heart to the glory of God. And if you're wondering, well, how do I do that? How do I figure out what good works God has prepared for me? Well, I think one of the most helpful passages is Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. Paul tells us, I beseech you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In other words, the way that we would know how to do good works is through having a willing heart that's willing to offer our very life as a living sacrifice and through a renewed mind that's able to discern what is God's good and acceptable, perfect will. Recognizing God is not calling me to be in two places doing two different things at the same time. His will is good. and acceptable and perfect. And the way I can get to know what that will would be is by spending a lot of time in his word. So that I can be transformed by the renewing of my mind. So that I can learn to think like him. So that I can be refreshed in this wonderful gospel of grace and I think, oh, he's so worthy, I just wanna serve him. And then his word directs us. And we can understand, well, what priorities would please the Lord? What thing should I invest my life in that would be pleasing to Him and not just be scattered, always feeling like there's more I'm supposed to do. No, I am saved by His grace. And now I'm His workmanship, just called to walk in the good works that He has already prepared for me. Friends, we've seen this morning that we are saved by grace, through faith. not of ourselves, not of works, but for works. And we have seen how every aspect of this whole plan of salvation has been beautifully designed by God for the glory of his name. I began by commenting on how man-centered our society is, and how man-centered often our churches are. And my prayer today is that this meditation on the gospel of grace, this grace that abounds to the chief of sinners, I pray that it would kindle in our hearts a new sense of awe and wonder at the gospel, a renewed sense of gratitude and joy, a deeper love for God and his truth, and above all, a greater zeal for his glory. and a determination to live lives of faith and good works that bring glory to his name. Amen, let's pray. Oh God, how great is your grace toward us. How glorious is that grace. What can we say but blessed be your name. What can we say but to Christ be all the glory in the church and in the world and in our lives. Oh God, we pray that you would strengthen us to be a people who believe you for your glory and a people who strive to live lives of good works. People who live lives as those who are your workmanship for the glory of your name. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let us now stand and we will sing as our song of response, all glory be to Christ.