Hello, friend. Welcome back to Authorized Sword Ministries.

We're so glad you're here again.

Where We've Been

In Lesson One, we learned that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

In Lesson Two, we learned that "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

In Lesson Three, we learned why God would give such a gift. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son."

And we ended with one more question. How does this salvation become yours?

Today is Lesson Four, the last lesson in this course. It's called "By Grace Through Faith, Not of Works."

Our Key Verse

Here is our key verse. Ephesians 2:8-9.

"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 2:8-9 (KJV)

These two verses answer the question plainly. Let's take them one piece at a time.

By Grace

First, "by grace are ye saved."

What is grace? Here's a simple way to say it. Grace is God's kindness to people who don't deserve it. Mercy means God doesn't give us the punishment we earned. Grace means God gives us a gift we could never earn.

Paul says it this way in Romans:

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" — Romans 3:24 (KJV)

"Freely." That means it costs you nothing. It cost Jesus everything. But to you, it's free.

Through Faith

Second, "through faith."

Grace is where salvation comes from. Faith is how you receive it. Faith simply means trusting. It's taking God at His word, and resting your whole weight on Jesus to save you.

In the book of Acts, a jailer fell down before Paul and Silas and asked the most important question a person can ask:

"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." — Acts 16:30-31 (KJV)

They didn't hand him a list of chores. They didn't tell him to clean up first. They said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."

And when we believe, God gives us peace with Him:

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" — Romans 5:1 (KJV)

Not of Works

Third, "not of works."

This is where many good people get stuck. They think, "If I go to church enough, if I'm kind enough, if my good outweighs my bad, then God will let me in."

But friend, listen to what God says about our very best:

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." — Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

Not just our sins. Even our righteousnesses, our good deeds, are as filthy rags next to God's holiness. We can't scrub ourselves clean with dirty rags.

Paul says it again in Titus:

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" — Titus 3:5 (KJV)

Remember Lesson Two? A wage is earned, but a gift is received. If we could work for salvation, it would be a wage. But God says it's a gift.

And look at the reason God gave. "Lest any man should boast." Nobody in heaven will say, "I made it because I was good enough." Every one of us will say, "I made it because Jesus saved me."

What About Good Works?

Now, does that mean good works don't matter? Not at all. Look at the very next verse:

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)

Here's the order. We are not saved by good works. We are saved unto good works. Good works are not the root of salvation. They're the fruit of it. A saved person serves God because he loves Him, not to earn his way in.

You Can Know for Sure

At the start of this course, we promised you could know for sure that you have eternal life. Here is that promise from God's Word:

"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." — 1 John 5:13 (KJV)

"That ye may know." Not hope so. Not guess so. Know. If your salvation depended on your works, you could never be sure you'd done enough. But it depends on Jesus, and what He did is enough.

Will You Receive Him?

So, friend, here is the way of salvation, all four lessons together.

All have sinned. The wages of sin is death. But God so loved the world that He gave His Son, who died for our sins and rose again. And salvation is yours by grace, through faith, not of works.

You don't have to earn it. You only need to receive it.

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" — John 1:12 (KJV)

And God's door is open to anyone who will call on Him:

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." — Romans 10:13 (KJV)

If you've never trusted Jesus, you can do it right now. Turn from your sin, stop trusting in your own goodness, and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone. Here is a simple prayer you can pray from your heart.

A Prayer

Lord Jesus,

I know that I am a sinner, and I cannot save myself.

I believe that You died for my sins, and that You rose again.

I stop trusting in my own works, and I trust You alone to save me.

Thank You for the free gift of eternal life, by Your grace.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

What's Next

Friend, if you prayed that prayer and meant it, we'd love to hear from you. You can send us a note anytime through our Prayer Requests page.

This is the end of The Way of Salvation. To look back over what you've learned, take our short Way of Salvation review quiz on our website. And when you're ready for your next step, our Growing in Grace course will help you walk with the Lord day by day.

Thank you for walking through this course with us.

From all of us at Authorized Sword Ministries, God bless you.