02- 26- 11 MI DAILY DEVOTION (Ephesians 2:4- 9)
FAITH FOR OUR SALVATION
4- “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5- Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6- And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7- That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8- For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9- Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
We can see here in our text the important key words that play a very important role for the salvation of mankind. We have here the component of man’s salvation in 6 verses from the book of Ephesians. We have first of all God, and then God’s mercy, and His great love, we need Christ, and He offered us God’s grace, and it was through God’s kindness, we need faith, and last but not the least is God’s gift.
Let’s start with the first component for man’s salvation which would be God. There will be no salvation without God and we cannot have faith without Him working in us. (Hebrews 12:2) “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” God is the author of our faith which means that even in our decision of taking a step of faith is not even because of what we have done; it is God’s gift to those who come to Him for salvation. The second component is God’s mercy which means that we were under His mercy when we came to Him for salvation. If you’re living under the mercy of others, you don’t expect them to do or initiate something on your behalf, because you are living under their mercy. God can turn His back from us and forget about the salvation He offered, but He did not and He will not due to His mercy and He is God. The third component is His great love for us. Here’s the most popular verse in the Bible. Someone said that this is the heart of the whole Bible. (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The other verse that I believe would really be hard to picture in our mind is in (Romans 5:6; 8) “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 8- But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And then, we have Christ and His grace which would be the fourth component. Love, mercy and grace are God’s great combination for man’s salvation and they are inseparable. The fifth is God’s kindness. Kindness is one of the word that we seldom use and practice. When I was a little boy; in our school we were taught to show kindness to our fellow men. God showed us His kindness through the Lord Jesus Christ. The sixth would be faith, faith in God for our salvation. You have to believe in Him and in what He has done, what He can do and what He will do for you. Now, that’s a good definition of faith. (Hebrews 11:1) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The seventh which would be the last is God’s gift. (Romans 5:15- 16; 6:23) 15- “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16- And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 23- For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
