Ephesians: Tear Down These WallsShembull

The essential difference between genuine faith and religion is grace. 

Grace makes all the difference. Grace is the powerful work of God in awakening dead souls. 

Our spiritual dead-ness renders us incapable of doing anything to change our state of being. 

But God acted. Out of his rich mercy and love, he made us alive! 

What does grace produce in our lives?

1. Grace produces humility

There is no room for boasting with grace. What credit can we take for the work God has done in saving us? None! It was all him! 

The opposite of boasting is humility. Grace ought to made us deeply humble. It levels the playing field. We all come to God on equal terms: sinners in desperate need of rescue. The ground at the foot of the cross is flat.

2. Grace produces confidence

Since this was all God, and not you, we can have a deep confidence that our salvation is effective and certain. Grace works! When God made us alive, he did a proper job! We’re not kinda alive. We’re fully alive! We have life to the full (John 10:10). This gives us a deep sense of assurance and confidence.

3. Grace produces holiness

If the religious temptation is to boast in works, the irreligious temptation is to boast in freedom. Neither legalism nor license is the appropriate response to grace. Cheap grace is when we take the grace of God as a license to live however we want. 

Grace produces a life of righteousness and good works (2:10). 

Our lives should be marked by humility, confidence, and holiness.