SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

The Grace Factor

Words of Faith Final

The Grace Factor

Words of Faith 2-1-2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

www.faithfellowshipweb.com

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

 

Ephesians 2

  [8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast.  

 

       Salvation is a gift from God.  This is the big truth of the New Testament that sets apart the way of Christ from all religions.  This is the great hope that shatters all of our notions about striving to earn or deserve either peace with God now or an eternal place with Him.

      What exactly is salvation? We tend to think in terms of a heavenly destination and of course this is a huge part of salvation, but there is so much more. The Greek word used here is sozo, which literally means to be healed or made whole.  Salvation is a healing in the deepest and most comprehensive sense. 

      Salvation is a wholeness that begins now and is worked out in us all the days of life and into eternity.  Salvation is both eternal life and abundant life.  Salvation is life with Christ for which God raised us up from spiritual death.  Salvation shows us the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Salvation is God's act of taking hold of us for the coming age.

       Salvation is made available to us by God's grace and is received by us through faith. Since salvation is a gift, it cannot be earned, merited, or otherwise deserved. The Holy Spirit emphasized through Paul's pen that this is not by works so that no one can boast.  Plainly, if God were to take people to Heaven based on their good works, it would then be possible for those people to brag-- "I am here because I did this." "I am here because I did not do that." "I am here because of my sacrificial giving." "I am here because of my austere style of living."

      Boasting is an expression of pride. Pride was the original sin, the sin that transformed Lucifer into Satan. Because of his pride, Satan was cast out of Heaven, and the destructive cycle of sin began. Boasting in Heaven about one's works would create a destructive expulsion and give rise to a fresh outbreak of sin! God has put salvation on a basis that levels a holy ax at pride and completely eliminates boasting. Salvation is the gift of God. It is not by works. Period.

      Every false religion has at its heart the principle that salvation must be earned, merited, deserved, or purchased at a price. In these human systems, the sinner must do something to deserve God's favor. The gospel strikes at the root of all false religions by declaring that salvation is God's gift, available to sinners solely because of His grace and unmerited favor.

    Salvation can be obtained only by believing-- trusting wholly in the truth of Jesus' work done for us.  The interesting thing about a gift is that we can only do one of two things with it.  If it is a true gift, we can only receive it or reject it.  We cannot pay for it or barter for it.  We can only unwrap the gift to receive it or leave it on the table.  Don't leave such a precious gift on the table.  Through all eternity, the nail prints in Jesus' hands will remind us of the enormous cost of God's free gift in Christ.

 

    Father God, I thank You for Your grace and mercy.  Thank You for Your love.  I choose to daily unwrap the gift that is the healing of my soul.  I choose to trust in the work of Jesus for my salvation in eternity and my wholeness today.  I set aside any notion of trusting in myself or in my works.  I trust in nothing but the finished work of Jesus as He continues to work out His healing in me.  I give You this day, as a day of saving me by faith.  In Jesus' Name.

 

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2010, 2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an E-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an E-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -     

The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.