Memory Verse: Faith

“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast.” -Ephesians 3:8-9 (KJV)

If you ask a person if he/she is going to heaven when death comes, you might get various answers: “I hope so.” Or “I’m living a good, clean life; I hope I will get to heaven.” But Ephesians makes it quite clear that we can never get to heaven by our own merits. We cannot be “good enough,” “clean enough,” or “do enough good works.”
      A person is saved by grace through faith. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace and salvation are gifts to the person who comes in faith to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for sins—meaning an individual believer’s sins.
      “Justification by grace through faith” was the rallying cry of the Reformation.
      Works, no matter how many or how good, cannot save a person. Good works follow faith and acceptance of the grace offered by the Lord Jesus Christ. But good works are not the means to grace and forgiveness.
      John Bunyan who wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress stated: “One of the greatest mysteries in the world—namely, that a righteousness that resides with a Person in heaven should justify me, a sinner on earth.” - Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.20.2016