If you would, turn back to Ephesians chapter 2 with me. Let's read verse 8 of chapter 2. For by grace are ye saved through faith And that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians and he said, by grace are ye saved. The ye, the you that he's talking about, says in verse 1 of chapter 1, he said, that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. The saints are the ones that God sanctified. This is not written and applied to every man alike. This thing of grace, this thing of faith and salvation is all of the Lord. And I pray that the Lord will show us that, that it's all of the Lord. This thing of grace, that's how a man is saved. That's what it says here. By grace are we saved. It's free, unmerited love and favor of God. God didn't have to bestow any grace upon us. He chose to. And he chose to bestow it upon undeserving sinners. Undeserving. It's free unmerited love and favor from God to undeserving sinners. And as I said, Paul wrote, he wrote much about grace. When I pulled up the word grace and just did a word search, It was all through the epistles. But the Apostle Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He went about trying to destroy the Lord's work. He thought he was doing the Lord's work. He was living under the law, which he said is not according to knowledge. But the Lord stopped him. The Lord saved him. If you would, turn back a few pages to Galatians chapter 1. Paul told of this when he was writing to the Galatians. He said there, he said in verse 13, For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation. being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father's. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, Paul knew something of this grace, like all of God's chosen If he's chosen us, revealed himself in us, spoken to us, we'll see his grace. We'll see his grace in everything. He called us by his grace. Philippians 3, he also makes mention of this. He speaks of his qualifications as a Pharisee. He tells us that he was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching the law, he was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching righteousness, which is in the law, he was blameless, what he thought. But he said in verse 7, what things were gained to me, one of those I count at loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness. That's a complete 180 for the Apostle Paul. He went from trying to establish his own righteousness to seeing that God was his righteousness. It was by God's grace that he saved him. This grace, this thing of grace, this thing of salvation, and this thing of faith, it's all in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all in a person. God chose the Lord Jesus Christ to come save his people so he could be gracious. That faith is of Christ. That salvation is of the Lord. I had three questions that I wanted to ask this morning. And when I was researching this, these questions kind of kept coming to me when I was looking at this verse. Whose grace is this? Who is saving grace for? And who receives this grace? The first one is easy. It's God's grace. God's grace. God told Moses, he said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. This grace is from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's grace. God is a just God and He can only justify men through the Lord Jesus Christ. Back over in Ephesians 1 here, verses 6 through 10 tell us about this being God's grace. It's to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." It doesn't say anything about us doing anything there. It says it's to His praise. To the praise of the glory of His grace. And He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption through the blood. That's how we're redeemed, is through the blood. The forgiveness of sins. Because Christ paid for our sins, we're forgiven our sins, and it's according to the riches of His grace. Wherein He hath abounded toward us all wisdom and prudence. And it's wisdom and prudence, not the Lord Jesus Christ in us. Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. This is all of the Lord. Every bit of it. We're told his grace is great. And Paul wrote in Romans 5. He said worry worse sin about it. Grace did much more found. Grace did much more. There's no. This this thing of grace that the Lord Jesus Christ bestows upon us and he is the grace of God. is greater than all of our sins, greater. There's no, if he saves a man, that man's still a sinner, but he has two persons in him. He has the Lord Jesus Christ, but he still has that man of flesh. And they're at war with each other. They are at war. Just trying to study and prepare for this. The world wants to enter in. Have to pray more. Pray more. And secondly, who is this saving grace for? Well, 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, Paul said, this is a faithful and true saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Save sinners. This is for sinners. This saving grace is to all that the Lord shows are sinners. Every man's a sinner, but you'd be hard-pressed to go out here in the world and find one. Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, Paul gave a description of our sin. He told us, he said, we're in time past. You walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, we all walked according to the course of this world until God changed our path, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others." And the next verse, but God. He chose a people. He applied his grace to them. They found grace in his eyes. It was unmerited. It was undeserving for us. But He showed mercy on us by His grace. Turn with me to Isaiah 59. I heard a message by our pastor that was a radio message. And I have to look into this passage. And this passage tells exactly what we are in God's sight until He does something, does a work in our hearts. Verse 2, he tells us, he says, your iniquities, our sins, have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid his face from you. That's exactly what happened to Adam when he sinned. He could no longer look upon God. When he chose to disobey God, and all men are the same way, we can't look upon a holy God. Only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hands are defiled with blood, our fingers with iniquity, our lips have spoken lies, our tongue hath muttered perverseness." Down in verse 7, Telzer says, their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths. There's nothing good about man. Nothing good in man. But verse one, the Lord started this way off before he told about who, what man's condition was. He said, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. The Lord's hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. sent him down here to do the work of salvation and he said it was finished. He said it is finished. God purposed it. It was finished before the foundation of the world. Christ shed his blood so that God could have grace on his people and mercy on his people. And then we see who receives this grace. Well, it kind of goes hand in hand trying to talk about the sinner and Christ. But who receives this grace? Who receives this grace? Well, John 6 said, Christ said, all that the Father has given me shall come to me and I shall lose none. And this is the Father's will that sent me. that of all he's given me, I should lose none. So everyone that the Lord, that God gave Christ, that's who's going to be saved. Everyone. Right down to the last one. None can be lost. Ephesians 1. We have to go there to see it. Verse 4. starting in verse 4 anyway, he said according as he hath chosen us there again the us is the saints and the Lord Jesus Christ the faithful in Christ Jesus according as he hath chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated unto us the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. This is all of the Lord. He chose a people. That's what he told us right there. He chose a people. Man tries to deny election in the Bible. It's there. It's written. God said it. To deny is to deny God. But if our God makes us willing, We will love this. We will look to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to look at some instances of grace in the Bible, but the first one I want to look at is Genesis chapter 6. The first time that the word grace appeared in the Bible was Genesis 6. And it says here in verse five, it says, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And at every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord said in verse seven said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the foul there for it repented him. for repent of me that I have made them." And verse 8 says, but Noah was different. No, that's not what it says. It says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was just like the rest of these people. He was a sinner. That's who Christ came to save, was sinners. This was a sinner that the Lord chose, that the Lord showed his grace to, showed his mercy to, put him in the ark, shut the door, told him how to build it, put him in it, he sealed the door. Noah couldn't leave if he wanted to. He couldn't have left that ark if he'd have wanted to. The Lord put him there, and that was where he was to be, in Christ. The ark represents Christ. But that's not the first time that someone found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Adam and Eve directly disobeyed God. He said, do not eat of this fruit, and they did. They went. They decided, they actually decided not to. They did it according to his purpose. But they rebelled against God. They sinned against God. That's what David said. He said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. Every one of us that's sinners, that have sinned, that God reveals that to, we've sinned against God. A holy God, we need a savior in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first thing he did was the Lord came to Adam and Eve and told them of the womb and seed of Christ that would come, that would crush the head of the serpent of sin. And then he killed a lamb. and he covered them from their sins. He covered their bodies, which is a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute, as our sacrifice, covering by his blood, covering our sins. Abel, Abel came to the Lord with a sacrifice. That's the only way we can come to the Lord. is with a sacrifice. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our sacrifice. He is the sacrifice that the Lord chose to put away our sins. It's under the remission of sins for Him that Christ died on that cross. Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 9. This is a picture of God saving his people. This is the story of Moshe Febosheff. David, here, is a picture of God. He says, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake. Our God did it for Christ's sake. He did everything for Christ's sake. Mephibosheth was lame. He couldn't come if you called him. He couldn't have got there if you'd have wanted him. But the king sent and had him carried and set at the best table, set at the best table, restored everything to him. But this was, like all sinners, the Lord comes and has to carry us. He has to do everything for us. He has to save us. He has to give us the faith to trust in Him. He has to make us seek Him. We will, of our own, we will not. We will not seek the Lord. And then In John 8, the woman that was taken in adultery. It's another picture. Christ. Christ there. These men, they thought they were doing the bidding of the law, but they were doing the bidding of the Lord. They brought one of his sinners to him for him to save. They brought her. She was taken in the act of adultery. which according to the law meant being stoned. But the Lord Jesus Christ had grace upon her and saved her. He said, thy sins are forgiven. Go and sin no more. And this thing of by grace, that's how we're saved by grace. And this thing of being saved, we need to be saved from our sins. And the only way we can be saved from our sins is by His grace being bestowed upon us. That's the only way. And this thing of faith. This says here, right after, through faith, and that not of yourselves. I must confess that I've always read that as that this faith was not of yourselves. studying for this, researching. That, that it speaks of, that not of yourselves, is speaking of grace, saved, and faith. All three of them are not of ourselves. We're saved by grace through faith. This faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. That grace is the Lord Jesus Christ. That salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Because it goes on to say it is the gift of God. But this thing of faith, Hebrews 11, 1 gives a description of that. It says, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Our faith is not ourselves. It's looking and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe God. Faith, believe God. The Philippian jailer, he saw his need being saved. He realized he needed to be saved from himself, from God. He needed to be saved. And he asked what he needed to do to be saved. Believe with all thine heart. He said, believe with all thine heart. That's what we need to do. And we can only do that if that faith is given to us. If that faith is given to us in a measure, we will. In Matthew 9, the woman with an issue of blood, the Lord had done something for her, obviously, before this, but she believed that by touching Christ's garment, that's all she believed was she needed to touch Christ's garment. She didn't need to go to him for anything other than to just reach out and touch him. She believed and Christ said, her faith hath made thee whole. Her Christ made her whole. And yet the disciples, these were men that walked with Christ, talked with Christ, were taught by Christ. They're on a ship in a storm. Christ is below sleeping. These men got to looking at themselves and became fearful of this storm and called for Christ. And he said, oh, ye of little faith. In ourselves, we have no faith. We have nothing to justify ourselves, nothing that can help us in this thing of salvation. It's all of the Lord. We need to look to the Lord. We need to believe God in all things. Act 6, when Stephen Before Stephen's message, the Lord had written of him, said Stephen was full of faith and power. He was full of Christ and power. Christ was there with him delivering that message while he was being stung. And he saw Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father. Look at Romans, this thing of faith, look at Romans 8 verse 29 Romans 8 29 we're told that for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate he knew us before he predestinated his people to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren Christ was the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, those he chose before, them he also called. He didn't just stop at the fact that he predestinated us. He called us. And whom he called, he justified. And whom he justified, he also glorified. In Christ, we're just. Habakkuk 2. Paul may mention a couple of places of this, but in Habakkuk 2, verse 4, it says, the just shall live by his faith. His faith. We can only be just in God. Our faith is of him. We look to his faith. He is the one that's faithful to keep us. It's not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. I wanted to read Hebrews 11, a few of these, about the faith. But instead of the word faith, I'm going to substitute it with the word Christ, because Christ is our faith. And it was these men's faith. These men, this was their faith. It says in verse three, it says, through Christ we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. By Christ, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By Christ, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. Verse six, but without Christ, it is impossible to please him. Christ is all in and all. We cannot please God with our faith. We cannot please God with our righteousness. We need to believe God, not believe in God. It says the devils believed in God. They believe in God. It doesn't do them any good. We need to believe God. Everything he says, he says that he is angry with the wicked every day. We need to believe that. He said he loved Jacob. We can believe that. He loves his own. He sent Christ to die for his people. He sent his preachers to declare that. And he sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of that, to convict us of that. Going down in verse 33 of chapter 11 there, Hebrews, it says, who through Christ subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to the flight, the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again, others were tortured not accepting deliverance, all these trials Christ was in these people and kept them and it was all because they preached Christ. They preached Christ and Him alone And these things were done. This thing is a gift of God. All the faith, this grace, it's undeserving. We're told to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. It's not of works. That's what verse nine says in our text. It says, it's not of works, lest any man should boast. If we have something to do with our salvation, we could boast, but not before God. That's what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans about Abraham. He said if it was anything to do with Abraham, he said he could boast, but not before God. But this thing is not of works. There's nothing we can do. We are his workmanship, that's what it says in the next verse, there in verse 10. We are his workmanship. All that the Father gave the Lord Jesus Christ, they're his workmanship. He's the one that lived the perfect life by the law, kept the law of God. He's the one that went willingly to sacrifice himself laid down his life for his sheep, and he's the one that raised himself from the dead. Everything is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we are his workmanship, we're created unto good works. Our good works will not save us. Nothing we can do. There's no hope in it. But because we're his workmanship, we want to do good works. We fail. We strive. We fail. But we're his workmanship, and it's his faith that saves us. That was what Jonah found was Jonah, the Lord told him to do something. And he tried to run from God. He tried to run. If you're God's, you can't run. But God prepared a great fish to swallow him. That's about as physically low as you can go. I mean, you think the depths of the ocean. The Lord's hand is not short. The Lord's hand is not short that he can't save. But it was all done to show Jonah. And he said it in chapter 2 in his prayer. Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. Nothing to do with him. He couldn't have saved himself if he'd have wanted to. Our God is gracious, merciful, and faithful to save all those he loves. And Jude tells us that Christ is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory. Salvation, grace, and faith. all are found in Christ. Christ is all in all. I hope that helps. Thank y'all.