1. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 What grace is:  “Unmerited favor” – favor expressed to us by God that we are not worthy of.

2. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 What grace is:  Two different concepts with respect to salvation… 1. An enabling power that God exercises on people. “…when God makes sheep out of wolves, he forms them again by the powerful influence of grace, that their hardness may be subdued, and that he does not convert the obstinate, because he does not exert that more powerful grace, a grace which he has at command, if he were disposed to use it.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 2. p. 227). “By the very fact that we believe in things unseen and hope for the promised reward of those who love God, we are witnesses to the action of a superhuman power, which is divine grace operating on the mind and will and enabling us to see and want what the natural man cannot perceive or desire.” (The Catholic Catechism, p. 172

3. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 What grace is:  Two different concepts with respect to salvation… 1. An enabling power that God exercises on people. 2. An attribute of God peculiar to and essential to His nature. This favorable attitude was expressed through the giving of Jesus (Rom. 3:21-26).

4. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 What grace does:  It has made salvation possible to all mankind (Eph. 2:4-8; 2 Tim. 1:8-10). God, by His grace, has provided the means for salvation, i.e., Jesus (2 Tim. 1:9-10; Rom. 3:24-25). God, by His grace, has provided the information we need to know about this plan of salvation (Titus 2:11-13).

5. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 What grace does:  It has made salvation possible to all mankind (Eph. 2:4-8; 2 Tim. 1:8-10).  This salvation made possible by God’s grace cannot be earned (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:1-4).

6. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 Grace does not eliminate conditions. Noah’s salvation from the flood (Gen. 6:8, 14, 22). Israel’s reception of Jericho (Josh. 6:2-5). Naaman’s cleaning from leprosy (2 Kgs. 5:10, 14). Obeying God’s conditions for receiving the gift He has made available by His grace does not constitute a work of merit by which one earns the gift promised. Doing what God commands by faith does not negate the power of grace.  A gift given by grace may be contingent upon meeting certain conditions expressed by the giver of the gift.

7. God’s Grace Ephesians 2:4-9 Grace does not eliminate conditions.  God has made salvation possible by Jesus Christ, totally by His grace.  But to receive this salvation, God has placed conditions broadly recognized as obedient faith (Rom. 5:1; Heb. 5:9). Repent (Acts 17:30). Confess (Rom. 10:9-10). Be baptized (Acts 2:38).