Over the last few weeks we been learning about Man’s (Mankind) need of salvation
Today we begin to learn what it means when we say that God is sovereign in His saving work in our lives
This means that God is the One who does the saving – we cannot save ourselves
Ephesians 2: 8
Illustrate: Matthew 19: 16-26 (Luke 18: 18-27, Mark 10: 17-27)
16 ‘What good deed must I do to have eternal life’
17 ‘keep the commandments’
18-20 He had kept/practiced the 6 commandments concerning being in right relationship with other people
(Exodus 20: 12-17)
(In the eyes of the ‘World’ he was a good man)
21 Jesus invited him to keep/practice the first 4 commandments, (Exodus 20: 3-11), which concern being in right relationship to God, and which Jesus summarized by inviting him to, ‘follow Me’
22 He turned and walked away
Q. Why did he turn and walk away?
A. He believed he could save himself by being a good person, living a good life and doing good things
25 Look how the disciples reacted
26 Jesus reminded them that sinful Man (Mankind) cannot save himself – God is the One who does the saving
Let us remind ourselves again why we cannot save ourselves
Ephesians 2: 1-3
We cannot save ourselves because we are ‘dead’ in sin and subject to God’s punishment
Here’s the Good News of the Gospel: God alone is the one who does the saving
And He does this by raising us from the ‘dead’ and giving us new life
Ephesians 2: 4-5
5 ‘It is only by grace that you have been saved’
Think about this: How can a sinner save himself?
He can’t!
Only God can save him
1 Timothy 1: 13-15
In the past, Paul was a wicked man, he was the worst of the worst
But God had mercy on him and saved him (Acts 9)
Paul was transformed by God’s love and mercy and the Main Message of his ministry became “Christ came into the World to save sinners”
God can save the worst of sinners, and, God can save the nicest of sinners
Though God saves us, we have the responsibility to respond to the offer of His saving grace
Ephesians 2: 8 ‘God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God’.
Even our belief/our faith in Jesus is given to us as a gift by God
Illustrate: Acts 16: 11-15
13 Several woman heard Paul’s message but God only saved one of them
14a Lydia was not a New Testament Believer, she was a convert to Judaism – she only believed in parts of the Old Testament
14b ‘and the Lord opened up her heart (CEV ’made her willing’) to respond to what Paul was saying’
Sequence: (1) The Lord opened Lydia’s heart/’made her willing’ (2) Lydia responded to the Gospel
Dear Friends, the Gospel is the Good News of God’s sovereign saving work in our lives!
revdotdavid 