“Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get.” Oh how true is that statement that Forest Gump makes. In this world you never will know what will happen next and even truer is you never know what kind of hand will be dealt to you. When you look at the story of Forest Gump it simply baffles you. This poor man you started out in life with difficulty walking. Forest was not a very intelligent man and some would say what good is it for someone to go through life like that. Why would God allow that to happen? But what you see with a man like Forest is a person that would tackle life with a child like faith that was all his own but understand it was by God’s grace that anything can happen.
Because the truth for us is everyday is brand new and everyday I do not know what is going to happen. But one thing I do know is this: But God.
Last week we came to understand the power and love God has for each and every one of us. Through the power of two little words “But God” Today we come to the true realization of all that God has done for us and more importantly how because it is all about Grace and God. And that life is not random but purposeful.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (NIV)
When we look at these two short verses (two verses that are just as famous as John 3:16 and probably memorized the most behind John 3:16) we see that there is three Biblical truths to understand:
By Grace: χάρις charis
Through Faith: πίστις pistis
Of God: θεός Theos
These are three critical areas in discovering our beliefs as Christians. Grace / Faith and God.
In recent times there have been lot’s of polls have been taken in recent years which have asks questions regarding people and their relationship with God.
• 57% of Americans believe salvation is earned through good character or behavior.
• 77% believe there is a heaven
• 76% say their chances of going are good or excellent
• 85% considered themselves to be Christians
USA TODAY: Man on the street survey asking ‘what do you think your chances are of getting into heaven’
• 50%, the older I get the more my chances will improve
• 85%, I don’t think the entrance exam will be that tough
• 50%, you have to be a nice person so I think I am still in the running.
Folks that is freighting I don’t know about you but I want to know my destination and how I am going to get there.
In the 1960’s a very famous Song: that the chores went: ‘Where, O where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me; She’s gone to heaven so I gotta be good, so I can see my baby when I leave this world’.
What false hope there is in that line of thinking?
When we live with a worldview that says well I need to just be good and do good things. I cannot be a murder, rapist, and drug addict. The bible has clearly stated:
Romans 3:10-12 “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.” (RSV)
The truth is we all have become worthless and useless for a relationship with God.
Being a good person, doing the right thing, acting a certain way will never save you or me. Our key to understanding salvation comes by understanding verse 8 of Ephesians and God Grace!
1. BY GRACE – For by grace you have been saved.
1. The only way to be saved is by GRACE: God’s Riches at Christ’s expense – unmerited favor – Undeserved honor or position.
This past week I read this story about grace that I would like to share with you all this morning. This story is about a man named Henry Moorehouse
“One evening as Henry was walking along the street he saw a little girl coming out of a basement store carrying a pitcher of milk. She was taking it home. But when she was a few yards away from Henry she suddenly slipped and fell. Her hands let go of the pitcher of milk and it fell on the sidewalk and broke and the milk ran into the streets. The little girl began to cry instantaneously.
Henry ran up to the little girl helped her to her feet and check to see if she was okay. As Henry attended to the little girl he began to say to her, “It’s okay don’t cry.” But there was no stopping these tears. Nothing Henry did would stop her from crying finally she utter the words every child has said when they make a mistake, “My mommy’s gonna whip me, my mommy’s gonna whip me.” She said repeatedly.
Henry tried to clam her down but it was no use finally he said to her, “Your mommy won’t whip you. Let me see the pitcher is not too badly broken maybe I can put the pitcher back together.” At that the little girls stopped crying and Henry began working to put the pitcher back together. The little girl had hope. She had come from a family that had repair and fixed pitchers before maybe this stranger could do the same.
Henry work very hard at putting the pieces back together but being a little to rough he knock the pitcher over again and back into many pieces. The little girl began to cry again. Henry said again, “Don’t cry, little girl. I promise your mommy won’t whip you.” And back to work he went again putting the pieces together.
This time they got it all back together except for the handle. Henry gave the handle to the little girl for her to put on but again disaster. Down the pitcher went into even more pieces.
Finally Henry picked up the little girl in his arms and headed the local store and bought her a brand new pitcher. With the pitcher in one arm and the little girl in the other he headed back to the store where the little girl bought the milk and purchased another pitcher of milk. Henry asked where the little girl lives and the headed to her house. They reached her house Henry set her down on the step, put the pitcher of milk in the little girls hands opened the door for her. As she stepped inside Henry asked her one final question: “Do you think your mother will whip you?” With a big bright smile she said, “Oh no, this is a lot better pitcher than the one we had before.”
What a perfect picture of God’s grace.
Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve.
In this story this the little girl did not do anything to deserve Henry’s favor.
She did not pay for her new pitcher or the milk.
She did not hire Henry for his services nor could she afford them anyway.
She did not prevail upon his sympathies.
Henry simply did this for the little girl because he desired to do so.
He did not expect any reward in return or payment.
That is Grace Matthew 9:12-13 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (NIV)
Our salvation is simply based on what Christ has done for us.
UNEARNED – UNDERSERVED – UNMERITED – Based on the work of another GRACE!!!!
Now there will many people that will be ecstatic about all that I am sharing about God grace but many others will say, “I admit that I cannot put the pieces of my life back together. I am a sinner. I cannot meet God’s standards of perfection. If I am to be saved, salvation must come graciously from God in Jesus Christ. But that is still remote and not tangible. How does a salvation as great and free as that become mine personally?”
Answer: 2. THROUGH FAITH – For by grace you have been saved through faith…
1. Faith is the channel and not the cause of salvation. It is the hand that reaches out and receives what is given by grace. Faith is what makes our relationship with God personal
2. Grace shows us that Christ has done all the work for us. ‘IT IS FINISHED’.
Faith is our extending ourselves upon that truth, resting completely upon what God has done for us and no longer trying to achieve our own salvation. That is faith: trusting all that you upon all that He is.
3. Three elements involved in faith:
a. KNOWLEDGE: right facts, faith is not faith in faith but has an object. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ: His sinless life, His death, burial, & resurrection.
b. APPROPRIATION / HEART RESPONSE: More than just knowing He died as some historical event but knowing that HE died for me. I have a personal need to benefit from His finished work.
c. COMMITMENT: I personally accept Him as my Savior, I cast myself upon Christ and rest on His promises.
THOSE ALL ADD UP TO BIBLICAL FAITH
3.BY GRACE – THROUGH FAITH OF GOD – For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
1. Salvation is a gift and the giver is God. It is His work in our lives.
2. The word for ‘gift’ in the NT is usually the word ‘charis’ from which we get the words charisma or charismatic. But it is truly grace.
Long ago a very poor woman living in England near Windsor Castle. She lived so close that she could look over the palace gardens and see grapes growing there.
Her little child became very sick and she thought how good it would be to have a few of those grapes for nourishment. She took a single shilling and went to the Queen’s garden, ‘My little girl is sick could I buy a shillings worth of grapes’.
‘Do you not know that those grapes belong to the Queen madam and the Queen does not sell grapes’?
It so happened that one of the Queen’ children overheard what was said. He came over and said, ‘My good woman, my mother does not sell her grapes, but she will give you just as many as you need’.
Salvation is not for sale, the price is too high. It is a gift or nothing at all.
BY GRACE - THOUGH FAITH - OF GOD
“Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get.”
