Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8, and that's on page 1179 on your church Bibles, in your church Bibles. Page 1179. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Well friends, this is Just one single verse and we're going to be focusing and thinking only upon this verse. Now, my subject, my title for the message is The Vocabulary of Salvation. And we're going to be looking just at the words, three words that are found in this particular text. In one verse here, really we can say we are instructed in the way of salvation. How succinctly the Bible puts it, how easy it is to understand really these words. Oh dear friend, here is all the theology that you need to begin a walk with God. In just three words, we have the way to be reconciled with our maker, We have the way and the path to obtain forgiveness and peace with God and a place in heaven. Understand these three words, friends, and this is what will be opened up to you. Know them, not only in your mind, but also in your experience, and you will obtain these things. It's not necessary for you to understand all the Bible's teaching for now. Just get this. Just get a hold on this, these three things. Focus on this. Make it your own. Make it personal. Something that is yours, in your possession. Your life will be transformed. This, friends, is the ABC of salvation. This is the starting block from which you must begin your walk, your run. This is the baby steps you need to take first. This is the elementary lesson in Christianity. This is, as the Americans say, class 101. And this is where we begin. And unless you learn this lesson and learn it well, By experience, you really cannot go any further. You cannot go up to the next class or the next year. The Lord will have to bring you back to this stage again and again. Perhaps he'll have to teach you this lesson again and again, because it's a foundational lesson, and it's a necessary lesson. And without it, we cannot be Christians. Many skip this lesson, you know. Anything they don't need it. They have a personal dislike for these three words, and their bias is towards other words. Now, I haven't even told you what the three words are, but perhaps you can work it out for yourself. There it is in chapter two and verse eight. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And my three words are grace, and saved, and faith. Know those three words and you know the elementary things, but the necessary things of salvation. But there are people, as I said, they don't like these words. They have a personal dislike for them. They prefer self-trust, good works, merit. That's their words. Then there are others, or they use the same words. They use grace and faith and saved, but they mean something different. These words are in their dictionary, but they've redefined it to something else. And instead of saying that grace and salvation and faith are all of God, it will say something along the lines of, well, it's mostly of God, but also it's of us. It's some of God and some of us. Whereas the Bible's teaching is very clear, it's all of grace, it's all of God. So friends, this is an elementary but very necessary lesson in salvation. And I wish tonight to speak as simply as I can. And may the Holy Spirit enable you to get it in one sitting. May you not succumb to the same fate of many who have to learn this lesson again and again and again, who have heard it again and again and again, and they never get it. It never sinks in. They never come to understand it or to appropriate it for themselves. Ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth in their own lives. Well, let's look at these three words. Firstly, saved. I start with saved. For by grace are ye saved. I'm sure you've heard that before. People saying, it's become a little bit of a cliche now, but it's very biblical. Are you saved? Are you saved? Well, friends, what does it mean? To be saved is to be safe, is to be delivered, is to be liberated. is to be rescued. That's what it means to be saved. Now don't laugh at me, friends, when I tell you this illustration. But when I was younger, when I was in primary school, and I was taking for a swimming lesson, and as you do in primary school, I believe they still do that, and I was learning to swim, and I was there, I was in the deep end, but I couldn't, my feet couldn't feel the floor, and I started to panic, and then I started splashing everywhere, and I thought that was it, and up and down I was going in the water, I thought I was gonna drown. And then, suddenly, there was this rod with a hook on the end of it, which came out, was stretched out to me, and I grabbed a hold of that. The teacher, obviously, heard the splashing, heard maybe the cries of the other children, and I grabbed a hold of that rod. And it brought me to safety, to terra firma. And I felt rescued. That was a simple illustration. This week as well, isn't it? Another illustration we saw on the news, the collision of an oil tanker and a cargo ship. Both vessels caught fire. Black smoke was billowing high into the sky. The lives of both the crews were in great danger. that the vessel possibly could have blown up at any moment, and those people needed saving. And there was our Coast Guard, as fast as they could. They heard about the peril and the danger that they're in, and out they went as fast as they could, and they managed to rescue 36 of the 37 crew. Sadly, one person perished. But they were rescued from great peril. Their lives were in danger. And they could have drowned or been burned or died in some way or other, but they were rescued. Then again, there's another rescue story as well. Think of those two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station. An eight-day trip it was meant to be, and it turned out to be nine months that they were stranded in space. Their spacecraft apparently had developed some propulsion issues, and it was deemed unsafe for them to use it, to return back to Earth on it. It was impossible for them to come back from space. There they were on the International Space Station, stranded, helpless, can't do anything to save themselves. totally dependent on NASA to intervene and send another crew to rescue them, which is what is happening even now, even today, as we speak. But they were stranded in that helpless, perilous position. Well, friends, we are in a helpless position spiritually. We are stranded from God. We are far, far, far away from God. And it's impossible for us to get back to God. We cannot do it. Sin has separated. And it's impossible for us, by our efforts, by what we think are our good works, to be reconciled to Him again. It's out of our hands. We are totally dependent on Him to come and do something to reconcile us to Himself. In other words, we need saving. We need rescuing. We need a Saviour, we need Jesus Christ to come and to save us from the perilous, dangerous situation that we find ourselves in because of our sins and because of our captivity to those things that are displeasing to Him. And He has done that, He has sent the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come to save sinners. Do you know the meaning of His name, Jesus? Jesus means he shall save his people from their sins. That's what he's come to do, to be the savior of sinners. Our friends, we need to be rescued from many things, really, spiritually speaking. We need to be rescued from that deadness that is, that deadness to God that is so naturally in our hearts. Look at verse one, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Oh friends, before we are converted to God, there's no sincere feeling towards our Creator. There's no humble acknowledgement that He is God over all, that He is the Lord, that He is worthy of our praise. We don't open our mouths to praise Him. We happily sing the pop songs and the worldly songs, and they flow from our hearts, maybe, and they flow from our minds, and so freely, and we get some joy from these things. But we never open our mouths to sing the Lord's song, and to praise Him, and to admire Him, and to thank Him with all our hearts. It doesn't happen. It's like a deadness there between God There's no feeling for him. We never thank him for our meal, our food, or all the things that we are provided for, for our life that we have received from him. He is worthy of praise, but it never hurts, never comes from our lips. We thank other people. We thank somebody for giving us even a cup of tea, but we never thank God who has given us so much more. We think of, we dote on our child. We love our child. We're always thinking so affectionately of him or of her. We feast with delight on our food, and we enjoy those things, and we even have such a great affection for our dog and our cat, and we spend so much of our love, as it were, bestowed upon them. But we have no affection for God. We have no feeling for the Lord. We're dead. Nothing there. Nothing there. And we need to be saved from that kind of a feeling. We need to be saved from that kind of a heart. Well friends, we could go further and say really naturally we need to be saved from enmity to God. Some people very openly express their dislike of God, but most of us don't do it openly perhaps. but secretly in our hearts. There's an enmity to God. We don't like him. We don't want him to rule over us. We don't want him to be our Lord. We want him to take us to heaven, yes, but we don't want to listen to him. We don't want to obey him. We don't want to worship him. And we don't like his holiness, especially because we are unholy. And there's this enmity in our hearts against him. It's not only that we don't think about him, we are an anti-God. We need to be saved from that kind of feeling and that kind of disposition in our hearts. And this is what Christ can do for us. We need to be saved from the judgment to come. We need to be saved from the wrath of God because of our sins. We need to be saved from hell itself, which is real and true. And only one person can save us, and that is Christ. Friends, we are shackled, we carry on reading, we are shackled to our lusts and our sinful desires. The devil, as it were, uses, gets a hold through, or rather, through our lusts, through our sinful desires, he has a hold over us, he has a grip over us, he has us in his chains. These are the chains that keep us in his power. And very securely, too. He lies to us. He tells you, you're free. You're free now. You can do as you like, isn't it? You don't have to worry about God's commandments. You don't have to worry about God's law. You're free, you can do what you like. Isn't that wonderful, he says? It's bondage, friends. That's not freedom. What he doesn't tell you is that you're actually his slave. His slave. And that's how he likes it. He holds us in captivity by our sins. And we need to be liberated from those chains, those lusts, those sins, from the power of the evil one. And Christ has come to save us from these things. Christ has come. We need a person. And the Lord Jesus Christ has come to liberate us from the power of the evil one. This is man's deepest need, to be saved. from death and sin and hell, to be saved by another, even by Christ. And God himself has put this rescue plan in place, that the Son of God will come with The second person of the Trinity would come and take to himself a human body and a human soul, and come and live amongst us in a very human way, in an ordinary way, and yet he would be the God-man who would go to the cross, and when he was on the cross, the penalty of sin, the sins of all who trust in him, was placed upon his shoulders. And he paid God's justice in full so that we could be forgiven, so that God could freely dispense the gift of salvation to us. That's the rescue plan God has put into place. So if we trust in what Christ has done, we shall be saved. It's easy, isn't it? Simple, not difficult. But we are helpless if you remember that We are helpless, we are needy, and we need a saviour to save us. Grace, that's the next word. Saved is the first one, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Grace, what is grace? Grace, friends, is the almighty God bending towards you to give you something. Grace is this, it's the benefactor giving to the beggar. You know, if you pass by a beggar in the high street, he has no claim over you. He has no right to stop you in your tracks and grab you by the arm and say, you've got to give me some money. You've got to give me something before you pass on. You have a right to do that. Give me some money. He can't do that. He has no right to do that. Who is he? You have a perfect right to walk straight past him if you want. You have no obligation to stop and give to this stranger something. You don't even have to look at him. You can just walk straight on. Now friends, grace is God also having that obligation to go straight on, but he doesn't do that. Grace is God stopping by you. Grace is God freely giving to you forgiveness and pardon and life. You do not deserve it. You have not earned it. You have not merited it. You cannot merit it. But grace says, I'll still give it to you. I'll give it to you. Not because of anything in you. Not because anything you've done. but because I am gracious, because I am merciful, because this is my nature, this is who I am. It's purely and only, friends, because of the love and the kindness of the giver. God is conferring favour. Grace is God conferring favour, loving kindness, goodwill on those who do not deserve it. And we can go one step further and say not only on those who do not deserve it, but on those who deserve the very opposite. Those who deserve The very opposite, we don't deserve anything from God, but what do we deserve? We deserve to be separated from God forever. That's how serious sin is. We deserve to go to hell, but God says, I will forgive you if you turn and believe in Christ. I will be gracious to you, and I will give it to you freely. You don't have to do anything for it. All you have to do is turn to me, trust in Christ, and in what he has done, and it's all yours. Oh, friend's grace. You don't have to do anything. You mean I don't have to pray? I don't have to come to church every single week to try and earn merit brownie points with God? No. It's a free gift of God, and with a gift, if somebody gives you a gift at Christmas or on your birthday, well, you say, thank you very much, and your heart is filled with joy. Somebody's given you something that is so freely given because they love you, they care for you, and you open it, and you enjoy it. That's what salvation is. It's a gift from God. He deserves to die, we say of some people. And yes, he does. He deserves to die. He's done such terrible crimes. He's a wicked person. Look at all that he's done. He is not fit to live on the earth. Yes, the same can be said for all of us. But grace says, let him live. Let him live. Oh, friends, this is such a lovely word. You know, you won't hear this word grace in other religions. You don't have this word, really. We sang it in our last hymn. Grace tis a charming sound, harmonious to the ear. Oh, this is music to the sinner's ear. You may not be forgiven all my sins, even though I've been so terrible and so awful. Yes, God will still forgive you all your sins. God will still be merciful to you if you turn to him. There is free forgiveness. We deserve nothing but judgment from God. He stands ready to be gracious to us if we respond to Him, if we turn to Him. Our friends, look up to God. I encourage you this evening, look away from yourselves. The more you look within, the more horrified you will be at what you see inside. Look to the Lord. You know you're a sinner. You know you need salvation. You know you need rescuing, but look to Christ. He is full of pity, full of love, full of compassion. He feels, he cares. Look at him in the gospels. See how he dealt with people during the three and a half years he was on the earth, how he touched people's lives, how he cared for people, how he even wept on certain occasions when he saw the things that were happening to them. Oh, friends, He is a Savior who loves. He's a Savior who pities. He is merciful. Look to Him and see these things in Him. And then say, He's ready. He stands ready to save me. He stands ready to help me, to rescue me. Oh, friends, this is what I would encourage you to do. Look at our gracious Savior. Grace, the second word. save the first, and then, finally, faith is the final one. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Now, you may struggle to understand this particular word. I know I did for a very long time, and I couldn't quite get it. And it's more than just a mental belief of faith. It is that. but it's also something more. Now let me tell you first what faith is not. Faith is not blind faith. You're not a leap in the dark, as some people say. It's not jumping from a burning building and just hoping that you're hoping for a safe landing. It's jumping from a burning building knowing that there's a safety net to catch you there. Knowing this for sure. Faith is not taking a bet, taking a risk, taking a gamble. Oh, I'll cast in my lot with Christ and those Christians, and then just hope for the best. That's not faith. True faith, friends, is connected with knowledge. There's a link between faith and knowledge. True faith is never absent from knowledge, knowledge is never absent from faith. True faith knows something, believes that something, ascends to it with its mind, and then takes it for itself. It agrees, has a truth before it, it agrees with it, and then it exercises a personal trust in that fact, that spiritual truth. That's what faith is. Let me give you some examples to help you to see this. The Bible says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Will you look at that? That's a piece of information for you. And it's a marvelous piece of information. This is good news. And faith says, well, this is a true statement. I believe it. I ascend to it. I agree with it. It is, I'm in full agreement with the statement that Christ came into the world to save sinners. But it doesn't stop there. It goes on to that final stage. Since I am a sinner and Christ came to save sinners, then the logical thing for me to do is to trust in him. And I will trust in him. You see how faith is working? Let me give you another example. Christ, we are told, has the power to raise me from that deadness I spoke of, from that those feelings of enmity against God. Christ has the power to, the Bible says, to save me from these things and to change me, to give me a new heart with new affections and new inclinations that are for God, so that I begin to love God and I begin to love the things of God. And I'm not just doing things because I have to, I'm forced, or because I'm afraid of God. I'm doing things because I want to. Well, Christ has the power to change me in such a way. And so I say, yeah, that's what I hear. That's what other people have told me. I say, yes, true. It must be true. And then I take it for myself. I say, Lord, were these things in me? Well, I believe in them with all my heart. Make it my own. Change me, Lord. Give me a new heart. Faith believes that God is merciful. It hears that information. It says, yes, it's true. Then I will pray, Lord, have mercy on me. You see how faith works? Well, friends, I've tried to put it as simply as I can. Faith is trusting in Christ with all your heart and Him alone to save you. Now, you trust your GP. You trust your GP when he prescribes the medication for you and you take it. You are sure that he has your welfare at heart. You trust him. You ask grandma to take the children to school. You trust grandma. You're not so sure about your next door neighbor. But grandma, somebody can trust with something so precious as your children. We tell our children, isn't it? I don't know if parents still do this today. We used to tell our children, anyway, don't take sweets from strangers. And that's very good advice. Here they are, they're taking sweets from this man. What are they doing? How come they're taking sweets from this man? Oh, it's okay. That's their father. Somebody they trust. There's no problem there. Oh, friends, this is just some simple way to try and show you what trust is. We know who Christ is. He is for us. He has our welfare in heart. He loves and pities us in our state. And he desires to bless us and to do great and wonderful things for us and to save us from our sins and bring us at last to heaven. If only we will trust in him. And this is what he calls on us to do. This is faith. trusting in Him because we know Him and we trust Him with all in heart. You're in trouble, Christ is the deliverer. All you have to do, friends, is to trust in Him. It's so easy. I've repeated it so many times, but it's so easy to do, really. Just put the matter into the hands of the Lord. You don't have to do anything. Grace. So friends, that's it. The lesson ends here. Saved, grace, faith. Just three words. Have you got the lesson? Have you understood? Have you taken these things? Then let me ask you, are you saved? Do you know personally the grace of God? Do you have faith? Do you have this biblical faith? Cry to him for these things if you haven't. For, listen to this, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Take that home, take that, make it yours. Say, Lord, this is what you have said. This is what you have promised. I believe it's true. Now, Lord, I'm calling upon you. Save me, make me one of yours. It's a promise for us, friends. Let's make use of these things. May God bless this word to us. Let's pray together. Our God and our Father, we thank you that you condescend to teach us the way of salvation and how glad we are. We know we sometimes find it so very difficult to learn even the simple and basic things. We pray that this simple lesson even tonight, Lord, you would bring it home to our minds and to our hearts, and they may do us such good and be such a blessing and such a help to us in our journey to come to know you, the living God. Come and save us, O Saviour. Come and make us your own. Come and deliver us from the power of sin and the evil one. And Lord, bring us safely at last to glory. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Let's close by singing our final hymn. Number 391, not what these hands have done, 391.