Saving Grace - The Great Gateway into the Kingdom

Well, if you go ahead and just have your Bible there in your lap, I'm not going to ask you to turn to any specific place in Scripture this morning. I know that might seem strange for you. For some, you know, if you don't turn your Bible to a specific place when we're preaching, you know, that's kind of one of those cardinal sins. Well, you'll have to pardon me for that this morning. I'm going to reference many, many places in Scripture. I would rather you follow me in the message rather than turn here and there and everywhere because we are faithful to go and study on our own, study our notes and study these Scriptures.

And I do challenge you to do that because I know this message this morning will stir up a few questions. And if Brother Keith and I can help you in any way in this subject, we will be glad to. So let's take our notes this morning. Let's have our Bibles at hand and we're going to move into and in through our study of the ten pillars. And this morning we'll be at pillar number four, which is salvation or saving grace. Now, as you're taking notes, you could write salvation. You could write conversion. You could write saving grace. Any of those are very accurate. To be honest with you, I struggled with which word to use.

So what I did was I just decided to use them all. So you will hear me use different language to describe salvation within the message. And I don't think that's necessarily wrong. No matter what we use, what language like this we use, we just need to make sure we understand what it means. So this morning we'll be in pillar number four, salvation or saving grace. Now I want to start us off this morning with a question. The question is, why is it so important for us to study salvation? Why? Why should we take the time to study man's conversion to Christ? Why is it important? For several reasons, this is an incomplete list.

We must see that salvation is the only way a person may be made right with God. Outside of salvation, man will be lost. They will stay in their sin. They will remain in their rebellion against God. Outside of conversion to Christ, man is destined for an eternal punishment in hell. That would be the eternal lake of fire. Also, we must see that salvation is the only entryway for a person into the church. When a man is saved by God's grace, they are born into the body of Christ, the scripture teaches. In that they are born into the church. Before a person can join a church, we understand that language.

Before a person can join a church, they must first become a member of the body of Christ through personal salvation. We must see that salvation is required of a person to be involved in true kingdom work. True kingdom workers are converted to Christ first. Sadly there are many false converts trying to do kingdom work. Many churches are full, and I emphasize that word full. Many churches are full of false converts and they are doing fraudulent work and they are fraudulent workers. And then we must see that salvation is at the center of redemptive history. When looking at history, God has been about two things.

First, the redemption of man, and then second, he has been about acquiring glory for himself. And at the center of all human history has been God's plan for the redemption of man, and that brings him glory. Now this leads us to another question. What does salvation look like? What does conversion to Christ look like? The way we can ask this question, what happens when a man is converted to Christ? What does that look and sound like? Well this morning we will answer that question from the scriptures. And like I said a couple of times, I know I said this Wednesday night in our Bible study time, this is really an overview of the subject.

We could spend weeks and months and even years studying conversion and never get to the bottom. Now at the end of the message I will tell us why this is important for us as individuals and also for us as a church. And I will make an application for us as individuals and for us as a church. Now there are three truths that we will explore this morning. Three truths that I would encourage you to write down. First you'll see we will look at man's impossible situation, man's impossible situation, then God's wonderful solution, God's wonderful solution, and then last God's gracious strategy.

I know we read earlier out of John chapter 1 verses 9 to 13, that's one of the passages we will look at, but we will look at many scripture references. Again I challenge you to write them down so that you can go back and be faithful to study them along with your message notes so that we will digest and learn all that the Lord wants to give us. So let's look at our first major truth this morning, let's examine together man's impossible situation. Man's impossible situation. Now to understand salvation, if we're going to explore the subject we must first start with the bad news of the gospel. And that is the fact that man is a sinner.

Now we covered this back in our study, or that one message that we had on the gospel. Now I say this is a fact because the authoritative Word of God teaches us that man is a sinner. Also we must see that God's Word always starts with man's sin. We go all the way back to Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden there in Genesis 3, God started with their sin. So if we fast forward to the New Testament church or the birth of the New Testament church in Acts chapter 2 during the first sermon after the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter started with the crowds sin. So starting with sin, this is simply biblical in every way.

Now in studying man's impossible situation of sin we need to start with one verse. This is one we're familiar with, this is Romans 3.23. Romans 3.23 reads, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Remember we dealt with this verse when we looked at the gospel. But we need to go a little deeper than this verse. I want us to see the depth and the breadth of man's sin before we continue. So we're going to go a little deeper here and there are three specifics I want us to see. First I want us to see man is a sinner because of his actions. Man is a sinner because of his actions.

Whether you know it or not, God's standard for human behavior is found in the scriptures and that is the Ten Commandments. We have the Ten Commandments in two places in the Old Testament. Exodus 20 verses 1 through 17 is one of them. Now originally the Ten Commandments were given to God's covenant people, that was the Jews, Israel. God's purpose was to set Israel apart as his covenant people. Now Jesus, he went on to apply these standards to all peoples born into the world. This would include all of us although we are not Jews. Simply a quick reading of the Ten Commandments will prove to us that we are sinners because of our actions.

All of us, we have formed other gods before the one true God. All of us, we have taken the Lord's name in vain. All of us, we have dishonored our mothers and our fathers. All of us, we've all born false witness. And James chapter 2 verse 10 says that if we have broken one of them, we've broken them all. So man is a sinner because of his actions. Oh, but it goes a little deeper. Look at, I want us to see man as a sinner because of his attitudes. Man is a sinner because of his attitudes. Now at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches on the Ten Commandments. We see this teaching in Matthew 5 starting in verse 21.

Jesus explains that the commandments reveal that sin is far greater or deeper than man's actions. Sin can be attitude. Sin can be thoughts. Here we see that Jesus holds man accountable for not only the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. The letter of the law says do not commit adultery. But the spirit of the law says do not lust in your heart. The letter of the law says do not murder. But the spirit of the law says if you hate in your heart, well, you have murdered. So it is easy to say that Jesus takes a giant. I mean a giant step forward and Jesus proves that man is a sinner because of his attitudes.

You might even say because of his thoughts. Oh, but it gets even deeper. Third, we need to see that man is a sinner because of his nature. Man is a sinner because of his nature. Man is a sinner because of his attitudes and his actions. We see this, but man's sinful condition goes well beyond external and internal behavior. Man is sinful because of his sinful nature. Some commentators call this the inner character of man or the essence of who human beings are. We see this reality in quite a few scriptures. I'll read a couple. Ephesians 2.23, Paul says, "And we were by nature." See that essence of who we are?

Children of wrath like the rest of mankind? Romans 5.12 shows us where this sin nature comes from. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man," that's Adam, "and death through sin, so death spread to all men." See that sin nature of Adam has spread to all. So we see that nature or the essence of a man is sinful. So in summary, what do we see here? Now let's work in the other direction. Man is born with a sin nature. That comes from Adam. Man is born in the image of Adam. The Old Testament teaches us. But man is acted upon that sin nature. He is guilty of sin both in attitude and action.

You can easily see this guilt in his thoughts and his deeds. It's there. So we see man, he is in an impossible situation. Now you can summarize all that I've shared in one word, and that word is guilty. Guilty. Man is guilty. I'd love for you to write that word down. Let's continue. Let's notice our second major truth. We see God's wonderful solution. Let's examine God's wonderful solution. Here we see, we must see that man's impossible situation, this did not sneak up on God. God knew that all men would sin before the foundation of the world according to Ephesians 4.1. Before time began in Genesis 1.1, God knew that Adam and Eve would sin.

In eternity passed, God saw every sin that every man would ever commit both in action and attitude. Truthfully, God had every right to judge Adam and Eve immediately after they sinned in the garden. The same applies to all mankind. God has the right to judge sin immediately, but he has not done so. And we need to see that any space of time between sin and death, it is nothing more than an expression of God's mercy. Truthfully, if God would have sent us straight to hell after our first sin, know even before we were born, he would have been perfectly just and fair and right. But God did not do that.

God provided a solution for man's guilty situation. Now there are two parts to this solution. I want us to see. First, we see God's predetermined plan. We need to see God's predetermined plan. When Peter was preaching at the day of Pentecost, I referenced that earlier. That's found in Acts chapter 2. What does he say to the crowds? This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan in foreknowledge of God, you crucified. So it is important to see that God sending His Son Jesus was a predetermined, eternal plan. In eternity past, God decided to send His Son Jesus to die on the cross for sin. And this was not a plan B.

Lots of people think this is a plan B. Now let me give you some Old Testament evidence that points to this truth. 800 years before Christ, Isaiah spoke of the crucifixion in Isaiah 53, specifically verses 3 through 5. Oh, there are a lot of Bible commentators. They call these passages the gospel of Isaiah because of the beautiful description of the cross. So we must see that this was a predetermined plan by God to give His Son Jesus. And then second, we see Jesus was the sacrifice for sin. Jesus was the sacrifice for sin.

Now we all know probably the most famous New Testament verse, John 3.16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." But we all need to know another verse, 1 John 4.10. I reference this verse quite often. John writes, "And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now that word "propitiation" is extremely important. This means that Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice holds back the wrath of God that would otherwise be directed at us because of our sinful attitudes and actions.

Occasionally I'll reference the amplified, which is a paraphrase. They have their place. I like the amplified. It captures this meaning beautifully. Let me read it. The amplified reads, "And this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation." And then they put it in brackets. That is the atoning sacrifice and the satisfying offering for our sins, fulfilling God's requirement of justice against sin and placating God's wrath. Simply Jesus died in man's place, suffering the wrath of God for man's sin, and Jesus satisfied God's demands concerning sin in every way.

So in summary, we must seek God's wonderful solution. God determined forever ago in the past to sin Jesus as this atoning sacrifice for sin. God's solution was a substitute. God's solution was a substitutionary sacrifice in not just man's sin, but for our sin. Now with man's impossible situation, we had one word, guilty. Well, what is the word here with God's wonderful solution? Some of you might have guessed it already. It's one word. It's called grace. Would you write that word down? That's nothing but grace.

One verse that shows us this, Ephesians 2.8, Paul says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and it is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God." This is nothing more than grace. Now let's continue on. I want us to examine God's gracious strategy. God and His gracious strategy. Now truthfully this will be a little more lengthy, so I really want you to follow me well because all this just builds. We can't stop with God's wonderful provision of Jesus. We can't stop there. We must see how salvation is worked out in a man. Now let me pause here and let me clarify something.

This is not, I repeat, this is not getting someone to make a decision for Christ. This is not asking someone to ask Jesus into their heart. This is not decisionism in any way. I've spoken about decisionism. So much here in the life of our church. You know that we have been pushing back from decisionism because it's so prevalent in our culture. And decisionism, it is really a man-made and it is a damnable doctrine that is leading many, many people astray. It's not found in the Scripture. So here we're going to look at God's strategy. You can say it like this. This is God's plan for salvation. Now it's two-sided.

If I could use the image of a coin. I use that quite often. There are two sides to this coin. Now I'm going to give you a warning here before we get started. We can't emphasize one side at the expense of the other. We must be careful. We cannot emphasize one side of this coin at the expense of the other and we cannot ignore the one side at the expense of another. We must seek to fully understand both sides of this work. Two things I want us to see here. First, God's work of regeneration. God's work of regeneration. Now I will give you a definition of regeneration. It's from a respected Bible theologian, Wayne Grudem.

And this is a good definition. It's easy to understand and it is thoroughly biblical and we're going to see as we continue. But Wayne Grudem defines regeneration as such. And I'm quoting, "Regeneration is the secret act of God in which He imparts new life to us." Again, this is good. A good definition because we can grasp it and it is biblical. Now some of the greatest teaching on regeneration comes from Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus. And of course we know that is out of John 3. I'll read just a few verses out of that interaction.

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus starting in verse 3, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again or born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 4 shows us that Nicodemus was perplexed. How can I enter into my mother's womb a second time? Jesus says, verse 5, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit," capital S, Holy Spirit, "he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." This is regeneration or being born again. Let me go back to the definition.

Regeneration is the secret act of God in which He imparts new life to us. That's what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus. Now I want us to explore this subject a little more. I want us to look at a couple of Bible verses that will help us see this. I go back to the verse I read earlier in our scripture reading, John chapter 1, verse 12 and 13, "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." Verse 13, "Who were born, who were born not of blood," that's heredity, "nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, that's an act of man, but of God." So John says back in chapter 1 that men and women become children of God when they're born of God.

That's regeneration. Paul writes in Ephesians dealing with this in a very in-depth manner. Ephesians 2 verses 4 and 5, "Let God, being rich in mercy because of this great love which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." So we see regeneration taught there. Men are made alive in Christ. Again, I go back to this definition. Regeneration is the secret act of God in which He, God, imparts new spiritual life to us. And that is exactly what we see taught in these verses in many, many more. Man is given new life from God. This is an act of God in man or on man.

And this is thoroughly biblical because this is even taught in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 36, verse 26 and 27, the prophet reads, "And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, a new heart, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and to be careful to obey my rules." Honestly, Ezekiel's writings fit right in with John chapter 1 and John chapter 3. The language and the teaching is very much the same. So regeneration is even in the Old Testament.

Now I want to give you a little more information about regeneration. Regeneration to me is like a priceless painting. We really need to take our time and see every detail. Let me help us here. We must see that man cannot produce regeneration. Man cannot produce regeneration. This means that a man can do nothing to bring about this work. Ezekiel 36 says, "I, I will." It means that God is doing this work. We see this taught in these other passages, John 1, 12, and 13. What does he say?

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born of God." We see this in Ephesians 2, verse 4 and 5. We are made alive together in Christ. Simply this is a work that man cannot produce. Also we must see that man cannot work or merit regeneration. This means that man cannot earn it. Ephesians 2, 8 says, "For by grace you've been saved through faith." And this is not of your own doing. It is a gift from God. John 1, 13 says, "Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but it is of God." So this is a grace gift that man can never earn or merit.

Then we must see that regeneration affects the whole person. It affects the whole man. Ephesians 2, 1 reads, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sin." When a dead man comes to life, it affects the whole person. And Ephesians 2, verse 4 and 5, "But God made us alive together in Christ." These verses and many others teach that man is dead, and man is dead in his sin, and then he is made alive by God, and it is impossible for the whole person not to be affected. And then we must see that regeneration is an event, not a process. It is an event. Man must not be confused with sanctification.

Regeneration is a one-time historic event that happens in a person's life. After a person is converted to Christ, then they begin to walk with Christ. And walking with Christ and growing with Christ in life is the work of sanctification. So what do we see here? This first part of God's gracious strategy for the salvation of men is a work that only God can do. Regeneration. Again, I keep going back to what our friend Wayne Grudem says because it's so accurate. It is a secret act of God in which God imparts new life. I can't say it enough. It's a work that only God can do. Man can't earn it. Man can't produce it.

Man can't even predict when God will do this. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus? It's like the wind. He can't even predict when God will do this work. Now we're continuing with this gracious strategy, our third major truth. And let's move on to our second observation. This is the other side of the coin. Second, we see man's act of responding. Man's act of responding. Now here we come. We come to man's responsibility. Our man's act of responding. Now regeneration is the secret act of God, but man's responsibility, it can be seen. We can observe it. These are the events in a person's life that we can see.

We can see it when this person experiences true salvation. Truthfully, we tend to focus on what man does in salvation because we can see it and we can explain it. In many ways we can say it like this, this is tangible. But we must remember to start with God's work first because man can never respond to God unless God works first. I remind you of our John chapter 6 verse 44 passage. Jesus said, "No one can come to the Father unless I work first." That's why we deal with regeneration first. Now let's get into man's act of responding. Man's responsibility as we see it in scriptures. Notice in responding to God, man repents.

Man he repents of sin. Wayne Grudem defines repentance as such. Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of sin, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ. It just doesn't get any better than that. There are many verses that teach repentance, I'll give us a few. Starting with Jesus' ministry. All in Jesus' ministry he commanded men to repent. Luke 13, 3 reads, "But unless you repent, you all will likewise perish." Repentance is a prerequisite to conversion and salvation. Just before his ascension into heaven, Jesus taught his disciples that repentance would be a part of the apostolic preaching.

In Luke 24, verse 46 and 47, "Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day should rise, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem." The Apostle Peter, he commanded those at the day of Pentecost to repent. Acts 2.38, Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." So the preaching of repentance towards God for salvation is found all throughout the Apostles' teachings and found all throughout the New Testament. So in responding to God, man repents.

Then notice in responding to God, man expresses faith and belief in Christ. Just like in repentance, when a person responds to Christ biblically, they must express trust and faith in Christ. Again, I'm using our friend Wayne Grudem. He describes this in a very good way, and I'm quoting, "Conversion is our willing response to the gospel call in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation." We willingly respond to the gospel call, and we place our trust in Christ for this salvation. And there are a few verses that will help us here. I'll go back to our familiar verse in John 1.12 and 13.

Notice what John writes, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name." So we see man responding there. John 6.37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out." Jesus is describing men coming to him, expressing faith. And in both of these passages, John teaches that man receives Christ and that man comes to Christ for salvation. People are seen trusting by faith in Christ for salvation. We see this in John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but I have everlasting life.

Again, I go back to John 1.12.13, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name." And here these passages in John teach that man believes in Christ. People believe in Christ for salvation. Believe in Christ for salvation is seen as expressing a trust and a faith in Christ. So you tell me in summary, what does man's salvation look like? How does this work? Biblically, it can be seen as a two-part work of God, a work of God and a work of man. I call it a strategy. You can call it a plan. I use the illustration of a coin. First on one side, we have regeneration, that secret act of God in which God imparts new life to man.

This is a work that only God can do. And then second, we see conversion, our willing response to the gospel call in which we sincerely repent of our sins. We place our trust in Christ for salvation. We believe in Christ. And this is what we can see. This is what we can explain. This is man trusting and believing in Christ. This is conversion. Now I want to boil all this down into a very simplistic manner. I've been doing this all along. What was the first word we saw? Guilty. And the second word we saw was grace. And I worked real hard to help us with a word that would start with G, but it just didn't work out.

The third word that we must see is conversion. Man is guilty before God. God graciously gave his son and man must be converted to Christ by Christ. So in your note taking, I would encourage you to write those three words down. Guilty, grace, and conversion. Now at this point, I want to move away from the teaching portion of the message. I know we have a lot that was put before us this morning. Now for some of you, this answered some questions. For some of you, I know that I stirred up quite a few. Good preaching many times will start up questions. And this is good. Again, I would encourage you to go study these passages.

Go study this message. If you need some counsel, Brother Keith and I will be glad to sit down with you over a cup of coffee, even meet you for lunch, or come to your home and help you work through what the scriptures say about salvation. But I want to move to some application. I want to answer a couple of questions. This will be very practical. First, our original question. Why is this so important? Pastor why is this so important? Listen, people, if we get this wrong, people spend eternity in hell. Because we know even our own friends and mothers and fathers and children, if we do not get this right, people will spend eternity in hell.

Remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus? He told Nicodemus if he was not born again or born from above, that he could not even see the kingdom of God. You can't even see it if you're not born again. For us as a church, if we do not hold fast to regeneration and conversion to Christ, then we fill the church full of lost people. And I want you to listen to your pastor here. I'm not going to do that. I've seen far too many churches that are full of lost people. And we're going to stick with regeneration and conversion to Christ. It is eternally important. Second, how do we get this right?

Now I'm going to be honest with you, there have been people fighting over how to interpret this for generations throughout the history of the church. But how do we get this right? Oh, we must go back to God's Word. Remember what we learned last week. God's Word is sufficient and authoritative. So when it comes to the subject of men being made right with God, God's Word is sufficient. God's Word can tell us what we must do, what we must believe, and how this works. And not only is it sufficient, it is authoritative. And if we don't do it according to God's book, we've invented our own way. Decisionism has flooded our churches with lost people.

It's an invention of man people. And I think there are people, they were well-meaning when they began to move away from the scripture, trying to make it easier, trying to make it easy for us to understand. But oh, the culture that we come from, decisionism has flooded our churches with lost people. And we must get back to what God's Word teaches. Regeneration and conversion to Christ. And then third, I want you to listen to your pastor here. We're dealing with the ten pillars of the church. We're warning a church built on the Word of God. It's Christ's church. He suffered and bled and died for it.

Every drop of blood spilled on Calvary was to purchase a church for himself. Oh, and we've dealt with all kinds of lost people in our families and in our churches. How do we work hard here? Listen, there is one key. It's called the new birth. You must be born of God, born from above. You must be born again. One is the key to the lock, and I'm afraid many churches have thrown the key in the trash can and throngs of people are locked out of the kingdom of God and they think they're going to heaven. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus? You can't even see the kingdom unless you're born of God. And there are people like that today.

They can't even see the kingdom of God because they're not born again. Now, I want to give you an additional warning here. There are some people that I've come across, I've studied, listened to. They really study hard to understand it theologically. That's good. That's important. I'm not nullifying that or making light of that. But you know, you can even believe wholeheartedly in justification by grace through faith and still not be born again. You might not realize that that's what the reformers fought and died for. Justification by grace through faith.

Not an active man, not adhering to church tradition, and our forefathers died to preach justification by grace through faith. But you can believe in justification by grace through faith. You can have all of the T's crossed and the I's dotted and still not be born again. Nobody had their theology as straight as Nicodemus. And then fourth, very practical. Why don't you give an invitation at the end of the church services? That's a common question. I don't ever mind someone asking a common question. You know, the old saying, "I hate to ask a dumb question." Well, don't hang around me very long. I'll have plenty of dumb questions.

We all have them. That's a good question. What we must see, people, is that the Word of God and the message from God's Word, that is the invitation. The scriptures that we read, that is the invitation. The truth that is sung in the songs that we sing, that is the invitation. Practically, we do not give an invitation for two reasons. First, we just don't see an invitation as we know it in God's Word. It's not there. This is a modern invention, and when you compare it to church history, it is a very recent modern invention. And second, we do not want to entice you to make an emotional spur of the moment decision. We trust in the Word of God.

Remember what we learned. It's sufficient and it's authoritative. We trust in the Word of God to do the work in man. And listen, I believe in the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit of God gives that invitation. And not only that, I believe in the power of the gospel to bring men to Christ, and listen, the gospel does not need my help. And the Holy Spirit does not need my help. Sad are all kinds of churches and so-called ministers of the gospel. They're trying to help out the Holy Spirit and they're trying to prop up the gospel with their own inventions, and actually they're leading people astray.

And I know I've covered a lot in a short amount of time this morning. Gone very fast. Again, I know I've stirred up some questions, probably some big questions and serious questions. Go study the Scriptures. Pray and ask God for understanding. Revisit this teaching more and more. If you need counsel, if you need help, we'll be glad to sit you down. Talk with you and share with you. And go through God's Word because we want to all be on the same place with this subject of salvation and conversion and coming to faith in Christ. Now I'll say one more thing here before we move to the title of the message.

If you have questions about your own condition, if you have questions about your own condition, if God the Holy Spirit is convicting you that you are not born again, that you do not have this new life from Christ, I call you to Christ. Oh please, friend, come to Christ. Come to Christ. He can and will save you. And again, if we can help you in this area of your life, we'll be glad to help. So what have we seen this morning? Pillar number four. This is our study of the ten pillars of the church. Pillar number four. I have titled it, "Saving Grace, The Great Gateway into the Kingdom." Saving grace. Now why that first part, saving grace?

All of these passages I've read, many of them have this word grace. For by grace, you've been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing. It is a gift of God. May the Lord help us to yearn from the bottom of our hearts, study diligently to know what the word teaches, and embrace true conversion to Christ, a work that only God can do as He brings us to the place of trusting and believing in His precious Son. Let's pray together.