By Pastor Chad
We are exploring a series on the story of redemption. The redemptive story is God’s story. It is the story of creation. It is the story of the fall. And it is a story of the good news. God created everything out of nothing. And the pinnacle of His creation was mankind. Mankind experienced an intimate fellowship with God, but that fellowship was severed by sin. Now all are born guilty before God. Now all are born dead in their trespasses and sin. What are we to do? How can this relationship be repaired? That is the Good News! The gospel is that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. He was buried and raised three days later according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
But here is the question: How does one take advantage of the good news? How is it applied to our lives? In other words, how is one redeemed? Paul gives us a clear answer to that question in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; 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.”
There are three clear ideas in this passage that we explored Sunday morning: grace, faith, and repentance.
Grace is the undeserved favor of God. It is the power of God to desire and do what God wants us to do (Philippians 2:13). Thus, our redemption is not our doing. Our salvation “is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” If it were not for the grace of God, we would not be saved. We cannot earn our salvation. Nor do anything that merits it. It is completely and totally by God’s grace.
But what does God give us the power and desire to do? That takes us to the next idea in Ephesians 2. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Thus, God’s grace gives us the power to have faith. Faith is an assured belief in things not seen, but that doesn’t mean it is an irrational leap. Furthermore, saving faith is a trust in the redemptive work and power of Jesus Christ. It is an assurance that He will do what He said He will do. It is surrendering to the call of Christ. It is more than mere intellectual assent. Demons believe in the historic reality that Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead–they very likely saw it all happen–but demons will not be saved. Thus, the faith spoken of in Scripture is more than just an intellectual agreement with historic facts (though it is also that). In essence, it is making Jesus one's Savior and Lord.
Paul says Christians are saved so that we may “walk” in the “good works” God prepared before the foundations of the earth were created. To understand what Paul means by walking in good works, we must contrast the statement with verse 1 of the same chapter. Paul claims prior to salvation, we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked. We once walked in sin, but now Christians are called to walk in the works of God.
To me, this is a clear gesture toward repentance. Walking in the good works for which we were saved means we are no longer walking in the sin in which we were born. Perhaps we can say it like this, the call of Christ is to walk in obedience to God, not in obedience to sin. As Christ-followers, we are called to turn from our sins and turn to Christ.
Thus, repentance and faith must go together for true conversion. If one simply has repentance, but no faith, they are seeking to save themselves by works. And if one simply has faith, without repentance, they are only giving an intellectual assent to the death and resurrection of Christ.