Episode 9: Grace That Rescues & Empowers

In Episode 9 of Live It Out, Adam Green and Pastor Jason Lancaster unpack the beautiful and life-changing truth of Ephesians 2:8-10.

We were not saved by our own works — we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone as a gift from God. But this amazing grace doesn’t stop at rescue. It empowers us to walk in the good works God prepared in advance for us to do.

This episode explores the incredible implications of God’s grace: it not only saves us from sin but transforms us into people who live for His glory and the good of others. Discover how understanding grace correctly motivates us to serve, love, and live with purpose instead of guilt or striving.

We pray this conversation fills you with gratitude for God’s grace and stirs you to walk boldly in the good works He has prepared for you.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey friends, welcome to this episode of Live It Out, a podcast where we talk about God's word and we encourage one another and our listeners to live it out for the glory of God and for the good of others. Well, I'm Adam Green, and with me today is Pastor Jason Lancaster here at Village Bible Church in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. And we want to thank you for tuning in with us today. And if you're in the Hot Springs Village area, we'd love for you to take that next step and to join us in person here at Village Bible Church Sundays at 9 15 a.m. And while you're here, go ahead and introduce yourselves to anyone on staff. We'd be thrilled to get to meet you, and we hope to see you soon. Well, today we have a powerful passage that we're going to be diving into, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10. Let's dive in. Was there anything in your sermon that didn't make it in which you wanted to incorporate but just wasn't the right context, wasn't the right fit?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Yeah, I don't know if there's things that didn't make it in the sense of not the right fit, but there were several ways that we've talked about salvation, grace, that are kind of uh kitschy illustrations, or they're kind of just illustrations that are just like they just they don't really hit. They're almost like transactional. Uh God does this, I'd be like faith, and then it's like, is it really like that? And that's why I really wanted to hone in today that no, saved means saved, like in rescue from not just sin, Satan, death, and the world, but saved from God's wrath. Right. You know, that's we're talking about saved, saved. That's what we're talking about. That's the context of the passage. We are by nature children of wrath, yeah, like the rest of mankind, and we need to be saved from God.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, yeah. I think that was a hopefully it was kind of an eye-opening, you know, that I think you you'd outline we need to be saved from sin, yes, Satan, absolutely, the world, right? Uh, death itself, but you kind of brought it to the head of saying we need to be saved from God Himself, yeah, and that punishment in which we all deserve because of the sin, because we're not good, and God is. Amen. And so I think that was an excellent point.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, I think too many times we think the gospel is how we enter into Christianity, and then once we enter, we move on to more loftier thoughts, more loftier things. And yet the gospel is not just the ABC of Christianity, it's the A through Z of Christianity. We keep returning to the gospel every day, and it could be it can apply to things like low-grade guilt. I feel guilt, I feel condemned, I'm not quite sure, I didn't do things right. And we look maybe to our works to feel better rather than looking to Jesus. But the gospel can just have implications on that, something like that daily.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yeah. It is something that should truly be something that sparks your everyday life, everyday perspective in gratitude for the Lord and what he's done for you, your position, where you are now in Christ. So, yes, it truly should fuel us. And it was kind of my hope was that we come into a more profound, a more just a greater awareness of God's love through what Jesus has done.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

And I think if we could grasp the gospel, not of how can I be a better person, but how can I, as an evil person, be rescued from the wrath of God. You know, just have that question and answers. Christ alone, faith alone, Jesus, you know. Oh my goodness. But if we we have that, that gratefulness should spill out every day because I was lost. Not just I was lost, but now I'm found. I understand that concept, but I was lost, headed, not just in the wrong direction. I was I was headed toward devastation and destruction. Yeah. And I've been picked or plucked from the fire, yeah, and I'm no longer lost, but I'm found. The one who found me did a divine rescue.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Right. Um, maybe you can expand. I I kind of want to dive into this part about it's not anything that we've done, but it's solely on God's work through Jesus Christ alone. Maybe you can, because again, a lot of our culture, there's that little inkling or those little uh um hints of, well, I gotta do something. I gotta have a part in this.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Maybe you can I mean that's that's the predominant gospel of America or the world. How do you go to heaven? Be a good person. I mean, it's it's it's that's just the nature of humanity, thinking that there's something we can do because there's more good in us than bad in us somehow, maybe. Yeah, and so we can just be become a better person. But here's the thing that one of the main problems, at least in the what we would call the Christians who are in a culture of Christianity, it's the idea that I have made the transaction, I have believed in Jesus, I have walked the aisle, I'm good. And what a lot of people will do, you ask them, you ask them how you going to heaven, they'll say, I believe in Jesus. And they live their lives like trash. Sure. Live their lives not following the Lord. And you're thinking, so is this like a little simple transaction where we get in and then we can do whatever we want?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

We'll get our ticket to heaven.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

And it distorts the gospel. Yeah, distorts the gospel because those who are truly saved act like they're saved because they've been rescued. So that's why I'm saying, try to get away from this quick transaction thing to the divine rescue. Like I need to be saved.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Desperate need of salvation. Yeah, um this story is so a few weeks back, I was getting my hair cut and I was just making small talk, and I was kind of sharing this very similar story of about being good. And uh, and so I was sharing, you know, how oftentimes it's it's kind of things that we throw around where we're going through hardships, or maybe we've got like an ailment, or maybe we see something happen and we go, Man, I sure hope Jesus comes back before then. And we kind of throw it out there, and uh this this this guy at the barbershop was like, I sure he hope he doesn't, because I still got some things I gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

So that it kind of outweighs the bad stuff that he's done. And and I was kind of a kind of an alarm moment, like, wow, like I'm sure a lot of people maybe live in that vein of, okay, I've I've done some bad things and I gotta do some good things so that when Jesus does come back, I've it it can hopefully balance out. But I think they're missing the whole point. And that's why I love this passage. I mean, it just puts it out there. It's nothing we have done or can do or ever will do, but it's solely on what Christ has done.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Amen. Amen. And that's what we gotta hit over and over again. It's by grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. We hit it over and over again because it's not about our works, not about adding anything to it. And it's not even about God paying a difference. We do our part, he does extra party. No, it's it's about Jesus. And the apostle Paul says that you bring in a distorted gospel, whether it's an angel or someone else preaching that, let them be condemned, cursed, damned.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

That's how serious this is.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, that was pretty powerful when you said that. I think the room kind of got like extra quiet when they realized the gravity of when we do hear a different gospel, how much that should spark in us, oh, like this is not right. And either we should admonish that person or turn away or give them the real gospel and say, you know, this is where you're wrong. Um, maybe I I was just even thinking about other religions in our culture, I mean, Christianity it seems so graceful. I mean, so full of grace compared to, you know, I mean, thinking of like uh Catholics, right? You've got this uh living faith that has to be acted out by certain works, or even in a Mormonism culture, right, where yes, you've got Christ, but it's plus these ongoing works. So so many other religions in our culture, it's it's not this free gift of God. And um it like I I've even talked to some and they say it seems too easy that like you know that I've like I gotta do something. So I mean, I just you know, I I think there's so many opportunities for us to be able to, I mean, just be so blown away by how much God loves us.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

And anytime someone says it seems too easy, there's gotta be something we can do, I think it's a lack of understanding of what the Bible consistently says that we're evil, yeah, we're depraved. There's nothing that we can do that's gonna fix that except for Jesus. He's the only one that can save us. And so if we think we can do something, we we have overestimated our ability and underestimated our sin.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Right, right. Um well, I guess maybe in this last verse, you know, talked about that we are God's handiwork, right? His workmanship, his masterpiece. We're creating Christ Jesus for good works. So works has an implication here, but it's not salvific. Maybe you can chime in on how important this verse is in conjunction with we're saved by grace, and it's not anything that we've done.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Yeah, and what's so cool is that not only is our salvation from the foundation of the world, so are the works from the foundation of the world, right? So God had a plan for us to be saved for the foundation of the world, and also to produce works that we may walk in them before the foundation of the world. And those who are saved have the root of salvation, and that is the fruit of good works. Don't get them mixed, and the order matters. The order is crucial, it is never works before salvation, it is always salvation works, and somebody may think that's just semantics, that is just theologians in a room talking about something. No, that is the basis of the gospel. Yeah, the gospel is saved by grace, by faith first, and that will produce works. It's not works first at all. That's not the gospel.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

And we shouldn't boast in our works. We boast because our only works are only possible because of what Jesus has done to give us a new heart. And as we I think I was trying to point it out even during the service, that as we grow in our love for the Lord, that's gonna also grow in our love for one another. Yeah. Because we're gonna be so overwhelmed and so blown away by the love of God, the grace of God, as you said, that rescue plan that we're gonna want to share that love and have grace. I love that you did that, have grace towards others.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah, and that's hard to people, especially people you live with, right? You're gonna be so hard on them. But I think when we're hard on others, we really don't see how God's been gracious to us rather than being hard on us. And those who are truly saved and understand that grace on a day-to-day basis, we'll extend it to others. Extend it to others, grace to others, patience with others.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

What are some actual things that we could do every day to help us set our minds and our eyes right on this order of God's amazing grace and how those works in which he's already prepared beforehand, how we should walk in this. So I think the key is just it's almost like not that it's a check the box, though.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

No, right, right. It's it's catching yourself before you go down the road of despair. It's like you've done something wrong, done something bad, you start to spiral, and you start to go down the road of despair by confessing quickly, receiving grace, receiving forgiveness, because daily you can spiral. Daily you can go into low grade guilt. Daily you can think you're doing awesome because you had a quiet time, or be crushed because you didn't have a quiet time. And so it's it's a daily thing that you can catch yourself from spiraling by continuing to come back to Jesus, who's the one who gave you grace and mercy. And I think out of that will come not just works, but grace-filled, sacrificial works. And I think you just gotta keep telling yourself, you know, it's about doing the hard thing. And the hard things are probably what God is God's calling you to do on a daily basis. So if something's in front of you, it seems hard, someone to love that is difficult, or some port of obedience, that's probably where God is going to empower you by his grace, and you are to walk in it.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Don't sprint through it. Yep. Don't hurdle over it, walk in it. Yeah, I love um just that awareness of you know, maybe as you start your day being grateful, maybe set your mind on the grace of God and all the sin that he has known, and in even in light of it, he died for it, and even the future sin that we're gonna commit and do in the flesh yes, yes, absolutely in that moment, be thankful. So I I I I'm always trying to, you know, I'm thinking about parenting advice too, of just extending grace to your kids when they when they mess up. Um and you know, even ask for forgiveness for yourself when you mess up or I mess up. Yeah, that's important. And also outlining to them just the importance of forgiveness and grace, and that we've got grace in Jesus, so we're also to extend forgiveness and mercy for them. And I'm just trying to think of just some practical implications that we can live out in our lives, maybe spouse to spouse, you know. But again, I think really finding the uh true um love of God and just being blown away because of how much God loves you and died for you, died for me. Any last points you you want to bring up, things that would just, I think, help us this week.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

I really think once again, it's not the ABC of Christianity. The gospel is the A through Z. It's first and foremost not just to enter, but to continue to walk by his grace and his love every single day. Amen. Love it. Thanks, Jason. Thanks, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Live It Out. If you were helped or you encouraged in any way, we invite you to drop us a comment. Let us know how God is working through his word, through the encouragement in which you hear, through his spirit this week to live it out for his glory and for the good of others. And if you have any topics or questions for us for future episodes, we invite you to email us at LiveIt Out, all one word, live it out at VBCHSV.org. Well, we hope you have a good week. Keep living it out for God's glory and for the good of others. God bless you.