Another Sermon Outline by Brian A. Yeager
Are We Saved Alone by Grace Through Faith?
I. Introduction: Recently, a fellow named James Thompson wrote me saying:
“The message of the Bible from Genesis (15:6) to Revelation (22:17) is that
salvation is a free gift of God's grace, accepted through faith alone…  Any gospel
that includes our works, whether baptism, communion, feeding the hungry, or
anything else, is a false gospel.”

    A. To deny that we are saved by grace through faith is to deny the truth (Acts
    15:11, Romans 5:1-2, Ephesians 2:8-9, and Titus 3:4-7).

    1. The arrogant claim that you can get to Heaven by works alone is false
    (II Timothy 1:9).
    2. In fact, we could not be saved without Christ dying for us (Romans 5:
    9, Ephesians 2:11-13, Hebrews 9:22-28, and Revelation 1:5).

    B. However, saying we are saved by grace through faith alone, is saying
    something that the inspired scriptures differs with (Hebrews 13:20-21)?

    1. Consider reading Ephesians 2:8-10 (instead of stopping at verse 9)
    or Titus 3:4-8 (instead of stopping at verse 7).
    2. Don’t we receive faith from a work (Romans 10:17)?
    3. Fact is, God demands that we count on more than just grace and faith
    (Romans 6:1-2 and James 2:14-26).

II. Body: The fact that we can do nothing to deserve God's grace through Christ,
does not mean that there is nothing we have to do to acquire this grace (Genesis 6:
8; cf. Hebrews 11:7)!

    A. If salvation were by grace through faith alone, most of the scriptures would
    be useless (II Timothy 3:15-17).

    1. The scriptures would be useless because they teach more than
    salvation through grace and faith alone (Mark 13:13, Mark 16:15-16,
    John 5:34, John 10:9, Acts 2:21, Acts 2:47, Acts 4:10-12, Romans
    1:16, Romans 8:24, Romans 10:10, I Corinthians 1:18, I
    Corinthians 5:4-5, I Corinthians 15:1-2, II Corinthians 7:10, and I
    Peter 3:20-21).
    2. The scriptures would be useless because they teach us how to live,
    not just believe (Psalms 119:105, Romans 12:1-2, Titus 2:11-14,
    and II Peter 1:1-4).

    B. God demands obedience and rewards / punishes accordingly (II
    Thessalonians 1:7-9).

    1. If we do not obey, we cannot please the Lord (Romans 2:5-11 and II
    John 9).
    2. Heaven is the reward (Revelation 2:10 and Revelation 22:14).

    C. The very fact that a Christian can fall away denies the false doctrine of
    grace through faith alone (I Corinthians 10:12 and Galatians 1:6-7; 3:1; 5:
    4-9).

    1. Consider the punishment of falling (Hebrews 10:26-31 and
    Revelation 2:5).
    2. We need to be aware, through knowledge, that we can fall (II Peter 3:
    16-18).

III. Conclusion:
    A. Through Christ we learn obedience and through inspiration we learn that
    we do have a role in our salvation (Philippians 2:5-12).
    B. Grace by faith alone, really (Hebrews 5:8-9 and I Peter 4:17-18)?
© 2006 May be used if permission by author is granted and proper acknowledgment as to the
authorship of this material is made.  In other words, preachers do your own work.  Use this as a tool
for your own work if such is helpful! – Brian A. Yeager