SALVATION BY GRACE

Lesson 2

A person can do nothing to save himself. No amount of good work or adherence to law
can save him.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation is a free gift from God, which man cannot merit, earn, or deserve. The atoning
work of Jesus Christ—His death, burial, and resurrection— has made this free gift of
salvation available, and the only way to receive it is to believe in Jesus and in the
sufficiency of His sacrifice.

Romans 3:24-28 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be
just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Romans 4:22-25 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was
not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it
shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.

There is no salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus asserted,

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me.

John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not
that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

The holiness of God demands that He separate Himself from sinful man. Ultimately,
separation from God, who is the source of all life, means death—physically, spiritually
and eternally—so God’s holy law requires death as the penalty for sinful man. God
chose to bind Himself by the principle of death for sin. Without the shedding of blood
(the giving of a life) there can be no remission or release from this penalty and no
restoration to fellowship with the holy God.

Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without
shedding of blood is no remission.

The death of animals is not sufficient to remit the sin of man,

Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins because man is much greater than the animals in that he was created in the
spiritual image of God.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them.

Neither can an ordinary man be a substitutionary sacrifice for another, for each
deserves eternal death for his own sins.

In order to provide a suitable substitute, God manifested Himself in flesh as Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation.

Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus;

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Christ is the only sinless man who has ever lived, so He was the only One who did not
deserve to die and who could be a perfect substitute. His death became a propitiation
or an atonement— the means by which God pardons sins without violating His holiness
and justice.
Romans 3:23-26 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus.

God does not excuse our sins but has inflicted the penalty for those sins on the innocent
man Christ. This substitution avails to us when we place our faith in Christ and apply His
gospel to our lives. Thus the substitutionary, atoning death of Christ was made
necessary by:
(1) the sinfulness of man,
(2) the holiness of God,
(3) God’s law requiring death as the punishment for sin, and
(4) God’s desire to provide a way of salvation for sinful men.

Jesus many times used parables, stories which illustrated spiritual truths.
Luke 18:9-14 begins, “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in
themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.”Jesus was targeting a certain
audience: those who trusted that they were righteous and automatically despised and
looked down on everyone else. He told this parable to these people who trusted in the
things they did. We would call them self-righteous, which is what Jesus was speaking
about when He said they looked down on everyone else saying, “I am better than you!”
In verse 10, Jesus says, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee,
and the other a publican.” We would say in modern language that they went to the
church to pray, and one was a Pharisee. A Pharisee was a very religious person. The
word actually means “separated one,” someone who was so religious that in a sense
they would say, “Don’t defile me! Don’t get too close to me. I’m not like other men! I am
better than everyone else!” The other man Jesus mentioned was a publican. Publicans
were tax collectors and were known to be very evil, sinful people who cheated and
defrauded. They collected taxes by any means they could, stuck a lot of the money in
their pockets, and gave some of it to the Roman government, so they were not looked
upon favorably by their peers.
The story continues in verse 11, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God,
I thank thee, that I am not like other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even
as this publican.” I want you to notice that. Who was he praying to? He was actually
praying to himself even though he was saying “God” and using the right words. God was
not acknowledging his prayer, and we’ll see later why that was so. Notice that he
prayed, “God, I thank You I am not like other men.” This Pharisee, this religious man,
said, “I am not like other men. I am not sinful. I am not an extortioner, not unjust, not an
adulterer, and I am not like this publican right here who came to pray.” You see, he
despised and looked down on others because he thought he was better than them.
In verse 12, the Pharisee said, “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”
He was saying, “Notice what I do?” Do you know what it means to fast? It actually
means to go without food. He also gave money to the church. He was one of those
people who said, “Don’t bother me! I live a good life! I give to charity! I give money
down at the church!”
Then we come to the tax collector in verse 13: “And the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me a sinner.” Notice his body language: “standing far off.” He didn’t
even go all the way into the church. He was so ashamed of his life and the things that he
had done that he stood afar off and wouldn’t even look up, wouldn’t lift his eyes to
heaven, but smote his breast.
When the Bible talks of smiting the breasts in the Old Testament, many times they also
tore their garments, which was a way of saying, “I am sorry, God, for what I have done!”
It was a sign of repentance, a contrite heart, and a broken spirit, which God would not
despise. This tax collector, the sinful man that he was, cried out to God and prayed,
“God be merciful to me, I am a sinner!”
Verse 14 says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted.” The publican went home justified, declared righteous before God, in
right-standing with God, forgiven by God. Why was he forgiven? Why did he go to his
home in right standing before God and not the religious Pharisee? It was because the
Pharisee exalted himself, saying “I am better than other people! I am not sinful! I am not
like other men,” while the tax collector knew he had no standing before God, nothing he
could offer Him. He was a sinful person. The Bible says Jesus didn’t come to save
righteous people but sinners, and we have all sinned and come short of the glory of
God. This tax collector humbled himself and found forgiveness and pardon.
We’re talking about salvation by grace. Grace is a wonderful word, and I am going to
give you an accepted definition of what it means, but grace means much more. In the
Greek language in which the New Testament was written, grace is the word charis. An
accepted definition of grace is this: the free, unmerited favor of God toward people who
don’t deserve it.
This tax collector didn’t deserve anything from God, but he found God’s favor because
he humbled himself. There is another word in the Greek, charisma, which is charis with
the suffix ma on the end. It means a specific manifestation or form of God’s grace, and
this tax collector found justification, right standing, before God as a gift.
Romans 5:17 says, “They who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” God offers you and me right
standing before Him as a gift and, according to our passage, the tax collector found that
gift of justification, that gift of righteousness that only comes through Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ.” This grace is only offered to one kind of person—those who humble
themselves and know they have no standing before God, who cry for God’s mercy.
These people will find God’s mercy and pardon.
Discipleship Questions
1. Read Luke 18:9. What is a parable?_________________________________
2. Read Luke 18:9. To whom did Jesus direct this parable? ___________________
3. Read Luke 18:9 (the last part of the verse). People that are self-righteous always
reveal an attitude toward others. According to Luke 18:9, what is that attitude? A. They
like others. B. They despise others or look down on others. C. They love others.
4. Read Luke 18:10. Two people went to pray; in modern language, where did they go to
pray? ________________________________________________________
5. Read Luke 18:10. Who were these people? _____________________________
6. Read Luke 18:11. What was the Pharisee’s prayer? ________________________
7. Read Luke 18:12. What does fasting mean? _____________________________
8. Read Luke 18:12. What does it mean to give tithes? _______________________
9. Read Luke 18:13. Where was the tax collector standing? ____________________
Why? ________________________________________________________
10. Read Luke 18:13. Why did the tax collector hang his head and not look up?
____________________________________________________________
11. Read Luke 18:13. What was this tax collector’s prayer?_____________________
12. Read Luke 18:14. Which one of these men was declared righteous before God when
he went to his home?______________________________________________
13. Read Luke 18:14. Why was the tax collector declared righteous and not the
Pharisee? ____________________________________________________________
14. Read Luke 18:14. Did God forgive this tax collector?______________________
15. Read Romans 10:13. If you right now got down on your knees and cried out to God
from your heart “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” would God treat you the same way
He treated the tax collector?